Barco

KORTRIJK, Belgium, June 2022 – Barco today announced an update in its UK and Ireland distribution partnerships. The visualization company appoints LANG UK and Midwich Group as the preferred distribution partners in the United Kingdom and Ireland for projection and image processing solutions. The new agreement with the reputable AV companies, which comes into effect immediately, is aimed at strengthening the position of both product groups with customers in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Key takeaways:

• For projection, Barco continues its distribution agreement with Midwich, now the sole distributor for the product group in the region.
• Midwich/PSCo and LANG UK now share the UK and Ireland distribution rights for the image processing products.

Midwich appointed as the sole UK and Ireland distributor for Barco projectors

Midwich Group is a specialist AV distributor to the trade market, with operations in the UK, Ireland, EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America. Midwich and Barco have been working together for three years. In continuation of this successful collaboration, the updated agreement appoints Midwich as the sole distributor for Barco projectors in the UK and Ireland.

"We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with Barco projection promoting their professional models to the install market," says Lee Harris, Divisional Director of Midwich. "We believe our expertise in the laser projection market will enable Barco to expand their customer base and secure a stronger foothold in the 4K projection market. We see the cross-pollination with our Barco Clickshare, image processing and video wall technology customers as a key factor in driving this success."

LANG selected as joint IP distributor and Barco certified training center in UK

Continuing its successful distribution agreement for Barco IP products in the United Kingdom is LANG. The partnership with the supplier goes beyond the distribution agreement by also encompassing the common goal of serving the market as service and training partners offering Barco certified trainings for EventMaster and image processing products to its local customers.

John Hooker, Managing Director of Lang UK, comments: "We have worked extremely closely with Barco for the last 4 years and built a strong reputation for product expertise, coupled with the LANG UK Academy certified training centre; we have a unique offer for UK rental companies and system integrators. We anticipate continuing to expand our market share and introduce new customers to this class leading range of image processing products."

He goes on to say: "We continue to increase the UK's largest stock of Barco rental equipment, from EventMaster processors, controllers, switchers, fibre solutions down to individual cards. We have the most complete rental offering in the UK."

PSCo adds Barco image processing to its rental fleet

PSCo (part of the Midwich Group) focusses predominantly on the rental and staging market and has significantly expanded its rental fleet with a range of Barco EventMaster products.

"We are excited to partner with Barco to expand our trade rental offering to the live events industry, with a specific focus on the latest image processing solutions including the E2 Gen 2 and S3 Tri-Combo presentation systems, EC-50 event controllers, and PDS-4K presentation switcher," notes Stuart Holmes, Director of PSCo. "The investment demonstrates PSCo's commitment to providing event professionals and fixed installs with a complete range of image processing solutions to meet every application, complementing our extensive range of LED and projection display technologies."

In the new Barco UK distribution landscape, PSCo is now one of the two distribution partners for the image processing portfolio.

Richard Marples, EMEA Sales Director of Barco, concludes: "We carried out a comprehensive review of our options to increase our distribution coverage for both projection and image processing in the UK and Ireland. Following that review we believe we have more than fulfilled our original target and look forward to the collaboration with our renewed distribution partners."

About Midwich Group

Midwich is a specialist AV distributor to the trade market, with operations in the UK and Ireland, EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America. The Group's long-standing relationships with over 600 vendors, including blue-chip organisations, support a comprehensive product portfolio across major audio visual categories such as large format displays, projectors, digital signage and professional audio. The Group operates as the sole or largest in-country distributor for a number of its vendors in their respective product sets.

The Directors attribute this position to the Group's technical expertise, extensive product knowledge and strong customer service offering built up over a number of years. The Group has a large and diverse base of over 20,000 customers, most of which are professional AV integrators and IT resellers serving sectors such as corporate, education, retail, residential and hospitality. Although the Group does not sell directly to end users, it believes that the majority of its products are used by commercial and educational establishments rather than consumers.

Initially a UK only distributor, the Group now has around 1,000+ employees across the UK and Ireland, EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America. A core component of the Group's growth strategy is further expansion of its international operations and footprint into strategically targeted jurisdictions.

About LANG AG

LANG AG is a European wholesaler for the rental and sale of visual presentation equipment and its peripherals. The company has specialised in offering particularly high-quality products to the professional AV market. Thanks to constant research and development as well as close market proximity, LANG AG is able to offer rental and purchase customers the appropriate products from an extensive portfolio. LANG AG maintains close partnerships with leading manufacturers all over the world. Due to their independence in the market and experienced specialists; both manufacturers and customers can take advantage of the intensive exchange of experience during product development, project design as well as in pre-purchase decisions. To complement sales and round off the range of services offered by LANG AG. The company is an official service centre for Barco as well as many other well-known manufacturers.

At the beginning of 2017, LANG AG founded two independently operating companies in Switzerland and the UK, as well as in Spain in mid-2019. Together with LANG UK, LANG BARANDAY AG in Zurich and LANG IBERIA in Barcelona, LANG AG is well placed to serve the European market.