Protec continues to grow
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UAE - The Dubai headquartered company that is celebrating its 18th year of business continues to show growth whilst retaining its undisputed position in the industry not only as the region’s leading event solutions provider but also a major player in the world market.
The company that already owns one of the world’s largest event rental stocks that include the latest equipment in lighting, video, audio, rigging & trussing, scenic & staging, automation & SFX, conference equipment, robotics & motion tracking, has once more invested heavily in new technology and equipment over a busy season in 2017.
The season has seen Protec at the core of some truly exceptional events that has taken them across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The year was kicked off by the multiple award-winning IDEX opening ceremony in Abu Dhabi, one of the season’s highlights. This is a spectacular show that the company has produced since 2013 and seen live by almost 75,000 people and broadcast to millions of television viewers and that doesn’t include the enormous social media engagement across multiple platforms!
The next few months saw the company’s involvement in events of every kind - from conferences to concerts and everything in between. The end of season’s highlight was another spectacular and enormous success in the form of the Dubai edition of Unite with Tomorrowland for which the company delivered the entire scenic and staging, lighting, audio, video, rigging and backline.
On the back of this busy year, the company has recently made some new investments again.
Peter Jones, Protec’s special projects HOD said: “We’ve recently invested in Notch - another exciting video graphics tool that has been designed to ease the process for interactive content and live visual effects. It’s a great visual effects engine for live events and what I also like about it is the fact that it integrates into all our existing systems like BlackTrax and our d3 servers for instance.”
Another interesting system that’s been added to Peter’s department is Bottoms Up. “The popularity of our robots has shot through the roof over the last year and having anticipated this trend we increased our stock which was a good move as we found out. While our robots have been used in many ways, I’ve found that the most popular is the bar service. So we have invested in a clever system called Bottom’s Up which measures drinks portions with superb accuracy,” Peter added.
The company also strengthened its lighting and audio departments. Aaron Russ, Protec’s lighting HOD said, “We placed an order for 96 Robe Pointe and 48 Robe Spikie fixtures which are expected to be delivered in October. We have noticed that the Pointe is becoming more popular on tour riders so to cater for that demand we have ordered 96 fixtures. They are a great beam light but also cross over into the spot category giving you a nice light weight (15kg), compact, multi purpose fixture.
“I am really excited to get these things out on a show! Also on the list are 48 Clay Paky Scenius Unico. The fixture is a true hybrid, operating as a beam, spot, profile and wash light. Coupled with a 1400w Osram discharge lamp, they pack a huge amount of power. These have boosted our existing stock of Scenius Profile, that have proved so popular. We can hardly keep them in the warehouse.”
Russ also added the fact that the company has taken stock of 6 new MDG Atmosphere hazers that he said would eventually replace the company’s DF50 / MVS hazers. “These things are the Rolls Royce of hazers. The machines use CO2 or Nitrogen as an atomizer for the haze fluid which not only gives a super fine haze that hangs for a very long time but also makes them super quiet as there are no air or fluid pumps,” Russ added.
Ed Ross, Protec’s Audio HOD was equally excited with his department taking stock of the new Syva Colinear audio system from L-Acoustics. He says, “It is a great system to use for medium sized corporate events. It is a slick and corporate friendly ground stack system (which can also be flown), that looks much better than your average speakers on sticks.”
CEO Stephen Lakin observes, “We are not just the typical audio visual equipment rental company. Anyone can throw some gear into a box, but it takes real creative vision and skill sets to transform that box into an environment that people want to inhabit. At the end of the day, gear is gear, it's the people behind the gear that make a show worth remembering.”
The Protec team, led by a team of individual experts who have an average experience of over 14 years in the UAE alone, is divided into the various disciplines required for its productions. “This streamlines our work efficiency, allowing us to achieve greater success”, justifies Lakin.
“Richard Bellia, our new managing director used to work for me in South Africa and Brunei and his vast experience and knowledge has already begun to reflect on our management systems. He has great skill sets that he has sharpened over the years I have known him. We’ve recently also taken on 10 very experienced professionals to reinforce our project management team as well as our video, robotics and design departments. With these new additions, we have grown to a 147 strong team and with all of our equipment and services coming from under one roof, our capability of raising the bar and creating truly extraordinary event experiences with the highest international standards of quality is guaranteed.”
In addition to Bellia, Protec has also further strengthened its senior management team by taking on Craig Wilson, Stefan Cebula, Matt Cashmore along with Martin Read and Ed Jarman.
(Jim Evans)
