"I surround myself with good technical people, but my strength is seeing opportunities - that's my niche," he says. "There was clearly a buzz surrounding MicroTiles, and I could see immediately it was the product I had been looking for."
Aztec was originally formed in 1989 but Robson took over one of its divisions following a successful MBO in 2006. Around half their work is in the exhibition sector and while they see opportunities for MicroTiles in this area. Last year they also set up a creative arm, Aztec Digital, enabling them to develop their own media.
These two factors presented a compelling argument for investing in 70 of the new MicroTiles. "It came at the right time as we had been considering investing in seamless LCD/plasma," says Robson. "We get a fair bit of demand for display walls in the exhibition sector, but I held off because of brightness and resolution issues, and the fact that they are big and bulky, making handling very difficult.
"I had hoped something would come along . and guess what - MicroTiles not only look fantastic but they have been really well thought through - how they lock together, talk to each other, and their constant colour balancing." Aztec's initial order is based on having sufficient tiles to replicate a 4 x 4 seamless plasma wall although they also will use them in many other shapes and configurations at corporate events.
(Jim Evans)
