QuStream Corporation has announced the acquisition of Fortel DTV, Inc., a U.S.-based technology leader in audio and video signal processing. Fortel joins PESA as a QuStream company, furthering QuStream’s strategic goal of becoming a complete system solution provider to the professional video industry. By combining Fortel’s top-quality conversion and signal processing technology with PESA’s leading routing switcher systems, the company will be able to offer customers integrated infrastructure solutions in broadcast, cable and satellite television, and production studio applications.
Fortel has built a reputation as the “quality standard” for signal processing and boasts four patents with a combined 138 claims and three more patents filed and pending. The company’s patented video technology has been recognized as best in breed and, through a relationship with a semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturer, it has found its way into a number of “System on Chip” ASIC implementations designed for home computers and appliances. Fortel retains the exclusive right to purchase these ASICs for deployment in the professional video and other high-end applications, thereby affording the opportunity for designing new products with Fortel quality at a very competitive price point.
“The Fortel name has become synonymous with excellence in the signal processing field, just as the PESA name has for routing switchers,” said Bob McAlpine, senior vice president of sales and marketing for PESA. “The combination of the Fortel signal processing products with the PESA routing solutions means that we can provide our customers with integrated, solid infrastructure products at the highest quality standard available.”
Virgil Lowe, a founder of Fortel, takes on the role of Chief Technology Officer for QuStream. Virgil has developed an outstanding reputation for innovation and quality, and he has been awarded numerous patents for groundbreaking technology, including several signal processing architectures, time and color correction systems, and a comb filter that revolutionized the quality of digital video.
“I am excited about the opportunity of bringing Fortel and PESA together within the QuStream group,” added Virgil Lowe. “With the additional resources that the companies gain by joining forces, we will be much stronger and able to deliver a broader range of solutions to our customers.”
Fortel and PESA products are available through an international distribution network, systems integrators, and PESA’s direct sales team in the U.S.
