Nimbus bounces back into DVD

Longstanding MIDEM participant Nimbus announced at MIDEM that it is taking a leading role in the development of the next generation of DVDs.

Nimbus Technology and Engineering was sold to a Swiss corporation in mid-2001 as part of a restructuring that saw sister company Nimbus Records slide into administration.

"It didn't work out for the Swiss guys but it was not until mid-2004 that they started to look for a buyer," said Adrian Farmer, one of Nimbus' founders. New York financiers James Wu and Michael Dubilier, already owners of Optical Disc Corporation (ODC) bought the company in October.

"The day after they bought it they came to us [the original directors] and asked what it would take to get us back into the business," Farmer said.

The combination of Nimbus' expertise in hi-tech optical discs, honed in the 1990s, and ODC's patented chemical technology rapidly resulted in the evolution of the ability to make ultra-fine pits on an optical disc.

This, Farmer said, is just what the makers of next-generation video rivals Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD were waiting for to manufacture their products. Farmer said the new company, ODC Nimbus, had met the major electronics manufacturers "and they said we are virtually the only game in town."

The company plans to have its first Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs on show in May.

The return of Nimbus Records from administration in 2002 has resulted in a technological breakthrough for that company, too.

Antony Smith, sales and marketing director at ODC Nimbus, said one of the problems when the original managers returned to the record label in 2002 was that half the catalogue had been deleted because the titles sold too few copies, while a huge amount of capital was tied up in stock.

Again, a combination of optical disc technology and digital printing made possible Nimbus high-quality discs in short runs of between one and 500 units, with booklets of up to 32 pages, at an economical price. "Over the past two years we have managed to double the amount of catalogue available and halve our inventory," Smith said.

That had drawn around another 10 UK labels to place short-run orders with Nimbus.

For more information
Tony Holden Tel. +1 562 946 3050 Adrian Farmer Tel. +44 1600 890 007