USA / Europe - Flightcase and speaker cabinet solutions specialist Penn Elcom has developed a new software programme - CaseDesigner - instigating "a new fully-flexible era in the world of flightcase construction".

Penn Elcom has developed this software to offer its distributors, dealers and their clients the best and most efficient possible design, order and build service.

The fully visual graphical interface enables Penn Elcom customers to plan and visualise potential new case designs in both 2D and 3D, and view in full 360 degree rotation.

CaseDesigner enables Penn clients to generate a quote for themselves, and within literally a couple of minutes, have all the facts available to produce that case at their fingertips.

Thomas Mostert, CEO of Penn Elcom GmbH, the distribution arm of the Penn Elcom Group in Continental Europe and programmer Klaus Koppenhoe

South Africa - From 1 May onwards, DWR Distribution will represent Prolyte Group and its full range of products as distributor for South Africa.

DWR is not entirely new to the Prolyte network, over the last years they have gained much knowledge of both Prolyte products and the working philosophy of the Prolyte organisation, re-selling the products in South Africa.

"It's the people who make our industry happen and investing in long-term professional relations builds a fruitful business" states Paul-Erik Haseloop, director group sales for Prolyte Group. "Prolyte Group is delighted to have DWR Distribution on board as distributors, the combination of a great drive, enthusiasm and professionalism makes this team a pleasure to work with."

"DWR Distribution is privileged to be given this opportunity," commentsDuncan Riley, founder of DWR. "Robert

UAE - The Prolyte Group has announced that Unusual Rigging & Engineering is appointed the company's sales and service partner for the UAE with effect from 1 May 2012.

The new partnership was announced at PALME Middle East 2012, and Alan Thomson, managing partner for Unusual Rigging & Engineering, said, "I am delighted to add Prolyte products to our inventory. The high quality trussing systems will ensure that we continue to provide first class equipment alongside first class service."

Set up in 2008 under the management of Alan Thomson, Unusual Rigging & Engineering LLC is highly regarded in the region. With a long history of supplying both equipment and services to the Royal families of the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the governments of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Oman, Unusual Rigging & Engineering will be pivotal in developing sales for Prolyte in the Middle East regio

UK - Backstage Academy enjoyed one of the busiest stands at the PLASA Focus exhibition in Leeds last week, where it led a well-attended debate on the future of training with a panel of industry experts and education professionals, and took over 100 enquiries for courses.

The Academy shared an exhibition space with specialist live events insurance broker Doodsons at The Royal Armouries Museum Centre, where the team spoke to students and those working in the entertainment industry about its roster of short courses in backstage skills and its Live Events Production Foundation Degree.

"We had an overwhelmingly positive response from students keen to hear more about our Foundation Degree in Live Events Production," said COO Robin Watkinson. "Many of them could see the benefits of studying in such close proximity to a real working environment as offered by the LS-Live

UK - The 3rd Annual PLASA Rigging Conference will take place on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 September 2012 at the Earls Court Conference Centre in London. This unique 2-day international event explores and debates all aspects of this specialist section of the industry. Running alongside PLASA 2012, the Rigging Conference has become a regular date in the diary for anyone involved in rigging and working at height for temporary installations.

As the only annual event of its size that is dedicated solely to the global rigging community, it attracts professionals from over 30 countries. Out of around 200 delegates, over 40% are international visitors. These include not only rigging practitioners themselves, but venue technical staff, production managers, health and safety staff and policy makers, providing an exclusive platform to examine and debate the use of newly devised products, in

UK - The Le Mark Group's range of Dirty Rigger gloves & accessories will be exhibited with more new products at the Safety & Health Expo 2012 at the NEC Birmingham from the 15-17 May (Stand E92).

Dirty Rigger products were designed for the diverse & arduous situations found within the rigging & outdoor event sectors of the international entertainment industry. Constant innovation and client requests have seen new gloves appear for exceptionally heavy duty industrial applications including mining, emergency services and mountain recovery. Dirty Rigger now has international distribution in over 40 countries.

Le Mark celebrates 2012 as their 30th year in the production of specialist security and heavy duty printed materials. These products will be equally represented at the Safety & Health Expo with a display of both custom printed 'Tamper Evident and Heavy Duty' equipment labell

Belgium - Stageco has developed Arena Lift, a new hydraulic lifting system that raises larger ground supports with grids into venues to increase rigging capacities. The innovative Arena Lift has been used for the first time this spring on a run of Cirque du Soleil's Saltimbanco shows, where a 20.4m high, 21.8m x 24m mother grid was installed into venues in Budapest, Rome and Casablanca.

Cirque du Soleil's senior production manager for arena shows Pierre Guillotte explains, "Conversations first started with Stageco in August 2011, with the system first being used mid-February; an impressive turnaround. When looking to extend the reach of our tours we looked at the suitability of many arena venues, some have capacity but there are a significant number of buildings that cannot accommodate us. Our research and scouting has taken us into emerging markets from Eastern Euro

UK - HSL's mega busy spring and early summer season continues, supplying lighting, Kinesys automation system and crew to another high profile act - Il Divo.

The massively successful 'crossover' group who have just completed the first full production UK and European leg of their Wicked Game world tour.

It was HSL's first tour with the band, after being brought on-board by tour director and production manager Andy Proudfoot.

Lighting designer Matt Pitman started work with Il Divo for this tour following a one-off stadium show in Paraguay at the end of 2011 in front of 36,000 people. His design has brought additional vibrancy and vitality to the set and screen elements that are part of artistic director Brian Burke's visual concept.

The schedule of the first three months of the tour meant that they were picking up local production everywhere based on a spec - so effect

Qatar - During the recent Watch and Jewellery Exhibition in Doha, a gala dinner was held at the Sheraton Hotel, where the evening's entertainment included dramatic performances by aerial artists, dancers and musicians. Essential to the performance were two concentric rings, 8m and 10m in diameter, designed to look like cogs from a watch. Flown above the stage, the 'cogs' appeared to float in mid-air, moving and gyrating in time to the music.

With the original equipment delayed in transit, production manager Romain Rossel of MCI Geneva was put in touch with Unusual Rigging and Engineering, who were able to step in and provide the precise control required for the performance.

Project manager for Unusual Rigging & Engineering Leon Ingram explains, "The rings were suspended from a 10m high ground support system, the movement being provided by 11 hoists. With only days to come

Russia Trussing and staging manufacturer Prolyte Group is exhibiting at the first edition of the P+S Moscow, held from 16-19 May. Together with the support from distributing partner MF Group, Prolyte Group kicks off her presence at this exhibition offering a mix of products, support and seminars.

At the exhibition Prolyte Group is showcasing a broad selection of its products, including new products like the H40R truss, PreRigTruss and the LiteConsole.

During the exhibition Prolyte Group will present two seminars. Marc Hendriks, technical director, will present a masterclass on the ProLyft Hoist on Friday and will also present two build up sessions for an MPT roof on Thursday and Friday.

(Jim Evans)

Australia - Australia's Got Talent is an Australian reality television talent show based on the Got Talent series format that originated in the United Kingdom with Simon Cowell. The Australian production is produced by Freemantle Media for the 7 network and has become one of the leading rating variety shows.

Showtech Australia is working on the sixth season of AGT which is filmed at the Dockland Studios in Melbourne.

For this season Showtech is providing the automation system for the entire series. This consists of differing winches and other equipment from the hire stock held in Showtech's Melbourne base and controlled by a Stage Technologies console running eChameleon software. The winches will be used for flying aerial effects, specialist performances and stunts.

Australia's Got Talent is a challenging show for the production team. The nature of the s

South Africa - DWR Distribution's first shipment as the official exclusive Prolyte distributor in South Africa was delivered to MGG Productions on 11 May 2012. It so happened that Prolyte's Paul-Erik Haseloop was visiting South Africa at the same time and could personally deliver, along with Robert Izzett, three H30V- 3m circle trusses.

The new circles, along with the supply of Robe moving lights and accessories will be used for a rental at the Joburg Theatre, where the spectacular Grand Cirque Adrenaline show will run from 23 May 23 to 17 June.

(Jim Evans)

UK - Northamptonshire based Unusual Rigging has added in excess of £1m worth of stock to its rental inventory, including chain hoists, truss and control.

Responsible for more than 40 theatrical productions - West End, regional and touring - plus upcoming corporate events and installations - plus an exceptionally busy summer - Unusual has added 500 Liftket chain hoists to its existing stock of over 1,500 units. The new stock comprises 50 x 2 ton, 350 x 1 ton and 100 x 500kg hoists, all of which are direct control and double braked.

Unusual's hire stock of truss has been increased with the addition of Prolyte's H40 and S52. The H40 is designed for permanent or semi-permanent installations such as theatrical sets and studio grids, while the heavy duty square S52 truss is designed for high load bearing demands and high frequency usage, such as supporting structures, overhead

South Africa - Eurotruss has appointed Prosound as its exclusive dealer in South Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa.

"Prosound has over 30 years of experience in the entertainment market and will be a great asset to our Worldwide Dealer Network," says Martin Kuyper from Eurotruss.

Eurotruss has a wide range of aluminium truss systems. Next to the lightweight truss system called FD, Eurotruss carries ground support towers and bigger truss systems like XD, ST, FT and the pre rig truss like XT and TT. Over the last few years Eurotruss has also supplied many roof systems - from 80sq.m till 400sq.m. Eurotruss also manufactures and sells wind up stands, the Euro-Lift, and barriers.

(Claire Beeson)

USA - Expendables and production equipment outfitters Wits End are the latest to join the Dirty Rigger retail & distribution team.

With 10,000sq.ft of distribution space spread across two NYC locations, Wits End offer an outstanding step forward in Dirty Rigger's expansion into the US market, says the company.

Wits End's CEO Keith Guliner says, "The products that we were finding here in the US for gloves and accessories were just not up to par. When we saw Dirty Rigger gloves, tool pouches and accessories for the first time....well...the products stood up and spoke on their own. The product is pure quality, and they are priced right. I believe that the Dirty Rigger brand will be a product line that we can count on as a quality product, and that Dirty Rigger as a company will stand behind its products."

Le Mark's export manager Matt Every says, "Wits End are a

UK - Stage Crew, the Belfast based crewing company, have been kept exceptionally busy recently with a whole host of Titanic related events in Northern Ireland.

The Titanic Festival kicked off in early April with a spectacular light and pyrotechnic show, using the Titanic Building to project onto and illuminate. StageCrew worked alongside Seeper, Whitelight and Culture Creative to create a truly awesome display.

The next week was packed with events, culminating in the MTV Titanic Sounds concert. Back in November 2011 Stage Crew had worked closely with MTV production teams as a preferred supplier on the EMA events, so when it came to MTV's outdoor concert on the Titanic Slipways they were the obvious choice for the supply of all local crew. The gig was attended by over 16,000 people. Olly Murs headlined, with support from Katy B, Sean Paul, Rizzle Kicks and Pixie Lott.

Stage C

UK - Prolyte Group has created a new website for its Litestructures brand as part of a new marketing initiative to increase awareness of the creative project work undertaken by the company.

In the two years since the merger with Prolyte Group, the Litestructures brand has evolved into a special projects division of the Group.

The website is focused on providing ways for new and existing clients to engage with the Litestructures brand and learn about the innovative solutions it offers. There is a facility to view and download case studies, and the opportunity to interact with the Litestructures team by registering to receive the newsletter, viewing the Twitter feed or signing up to the Facebook page. The site can be viewed at www.litestructures.com

Prolyte Group's website - www.prolyte.com - will continue to provide a wealth of information about the company's other brands - P

UK - PRG is supplied a comprehensive lighting and rigging package for this year's Royal Windsor Horse show, which included a glittering Diamond Jubilee pageant in the presence of Her Majesty to celebrate 60 years of her reign. The show included over 550 horses and more than 1000 dancers, musicians and performers representing countries from around the world.

PRG's account director Mick Healey worked with lighting designers Jon Pope for Horse Power and Al Gurdon for ITV who later handed over to Nick Collier, to deliver a plan that would satisfy the requirements of lighting the arena and also to illuminate the Pageant show stage and three satellite stages for TV transmission by night. The show was programmed and run by Phil Cole for the arena and Sam MacLaren for television using Chamsys and GrandMa Lighting Consoles.

PRG's Brixton Atkinson-Banner specified a bespoke SmarTmast to

Thailand - Prolyte Asia Pacific has recently added another i-line partner for the Asia region. With the addition of Dynamic Source, based in Bangkok, Thailand, the Asian i-line network now numbers five partners.

After the introduction of the i-line range and policy at the PALM show in Beijing last year, this policy -underlining the importance of not only supplying quality products at the best prices, but backing this up with excellent availability and the best service and support you can get - has proven to be very successful, says the company.

The Prolyte X and H trusses, MPT towers and standard StageDex are now in stock for immediate delivery in Asia and Australasia, as well as Europe.

(Jim Evans)

UK - The digital TV shopping channel QVC has been treating itself to some retail therapy with Innovative engineering company Triple E.

QVC, which claims to reach 15.4m UK homes, has installed Triple E track systems in all four of its new Chiswick Park studios.

In Studios 1, 3 and 4 QVC has installed twin parallel Unicyc track systems, which feature dropout sections and points. This particular system facilitates the easy swapping of Cyclorama backdrops between tracks or allows them to be easily lowered to the floor, minimising the necessity to work at height.

Studio 2 has been equipped with Triple E 2WAY track, which will be used to create a number of variable sized spaces, specifically for close up camera work.

"Triple E was first approached in 2010 when the new studio project was at early planning stages," explains managing director for Triple E, David Edelstein

UK - Remote energy supplier, Off Grid Energy, has launched a fleet of money-saving hybrid power generation machines specifically for rental.

Off Grid Energy provides remote energy solutions for people in places where grid power is unavailable, unreliable or too expensive to connect. Traditionally, if mains power is not available, then a generator has been the only way of generating electricity.

Managing director of Off Grid Energy, Danny Jones, says, "We've produced a viable solution to generate clean, silent and cost effective energy and significantly reduce CO2 emissions. Our off the shelf hybrid power system - E-Cube mini - is self-contained and particularly useful for commercial applications. Used on its own or coupled to a generating set the system can be easily deployed and transported to wherever it is needed."

With diesel costs so high, many in the building

UK - Independent Studio Services will be exhibiting for the second year running at ABTT where it will be showcasing its range of services and products (Stand 3). Specialising in the design, supply and installation of stage engineering systems and offering inspection and preventative maintenance services, the Independent Studio Services' team will be on hand to discuss customers' upcoming projects and how they can be best serviced - be it an install or inspection, or a full design and implementation package.

As newly appointed distributors for Tüchler, Independent Studio Services will be exhibiting the Tüchler Stage Platform Zoom 1200 and a selection of curtain tracks, alongside Tüchler's Tom Kat category 'A' chain hoist.

Independent Studio Services is also the UK distributor for HOAC, suppliers of staging and ASM Steuerungstecknik, manufacturers of drive and control technol

UK - "When one of the UK's biggest TV shows sets up in your back yard and say they need to equip the largest lighting rig that's ever been seen on prime time TV....it would be rude not to help them out." Says ELP project manager Barry Denison with a wry smile on his face.

He continues. "It's been brilliant having The Voice based here at Elstree as we've been able to instantly provide LD Mark Kenyon and his head rigger Dave Morrell with all the gear they need right from our Elstree office. We worked closely with them on-site throughout the whole process, from creating technical drawings during the planning process right through to supplying extra components on actual show days."

ELP were involved even before The Voice UK came to Elstree. The show was broadcast in three stages. The first stage involved blind auditions from BBC TV centre where co

UK - The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) will use the opportunity of its forthcoming Theatre Show (13-14 June), to present a seminar discussion on the future of industry training, at London's Old Truman Brewery, on Wednesday 13 June, 12:45pm-2pm, in the venue's Seminar Room. Speakers include: Robin Auld, operations director, National Skills Academy Creative & Cultural; Chris Parry-Jones, head of Gallowglass Training; and, Bryan Raven, managing director, White Light.

Throughout the last year, the Association has continued to develop and promote its Technical Access Passport (TAP) - launched at the ABTT 2011 Theatre Show - a scheme that creates an online repository for verified training, skills, insurance and other professional information.

Now, with TAP gaining weight within the industry, the second phase of the scheme is ready to start. Industry trainers will

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