‘Redefining Harris Broadcast’

ENGLEWOOD, COLO.—Expect IP convergence and the cloud to be major themes for Harris Broadcast.

New CEO Charlie Vogt wrote a company blog post about his first 100 days on the job. “Our industry is poised to undergo transformational change as baseband is increasingly carried on IP, business management tools move to the cloud, and playout and networking solutions benefit from virtualization and both linear and nonlinear/VOD delivered everywhere,” he stated.

The company is the former broadcast arm of Harris Corp.; it was sold at the end of last year to an affiliate of The Gores Group, a private equity firm, for $160 million cash plus possible incentives that bring the potential value to $225 million.

Vogt said Harris Broadcast launched a new website at the end of October, www.harrisbroadcast.com.

“We have simplified the presentation of our product portfolio in an intuitive way, mapping your business requirements with our products and services,” Vogt wrote.

“When you enter our website, you can search by product (Media, Playout, Networking and Transmission), by solution or by workflow (Create, Optimize, Play and Deliver).”

He said the new Harris Broadcast has “the balance sheet, business acumen, intellectual property and a renewed customer-first culture” to succeed.

The emphasis on IP is not surprising, given that Vogtcame to Harris Broadcastfrom Genband, a privately held Frisco, Texas-based company involved in voice over IP. He recently replaced Harris Morris.