Digital Vision AB–with world headquarters in Stockholm, and a wholly owned subsidiary, Digital Vision (US), in Los Angeles–has acquired London-based Nucoda Ltd., a privately held developer of digital media content creation software for video and film, including systems that support the digital intermediate process in the 2k and 4k data domains. Digital Vision, a maker of image enhancement and color correction tools used on commercials, is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. The company declined to disclose the value of the deal, which was a mix of cash and stock.
“In terms of commercial post, one thing that we will be making a big statement about with the acquisition is our roadmap in migrating from the video to data domain,” said Digital Vision US president Hugh Heinsohn. “Right now in the commercial world, most work is done in standard definition video. That’s going to be changing soon. The flexibility of working in data is something they will find extremely useful.”
The move is reflective of what many pundits have predicted that this year would bring, which is consolidation in this emerging space; most say the number of tool developers is too large for the size of the potential market.
Heinsohn believes Digital Vision is in a position of strength, explaining, “Lots of [postproduction] companies are coming into this undefined market before standards are set. When companies buy software, the financial strength and stability of the [provider] becomes an important factor–Digital Vision has been around for seventeen years and we have a long history and financial strength that a startup doesn’t have.”
The acquisition of Nucoda is intended to help Digital Vision to broaden its range of postproduction tools and expand technical capabilities. The principals of Nucoda will join Digital Vision in similar capacities. All engineering and technical support functions for Nucoda will remain headquartered in London. Digital Vision will continue to invest in the technology already developed by Nucoda, as well as in further development of its own image processing systems for postproduction.
Heinsohn reported that no products from either brand would be discontinued, and that customers can expect the companies to take advantage of the combined expertise. As an example of future plans and movement toward data production, he offered, “We are going to take Digital Vision’s DVNR image processing and enhancement tools and migrate them to work in 2k and 4k using Nucoda’s platform.”