PESA Switching Systems Acquired by QuStream

Dec. 16, 2004
Analog and digital video and audio equipment provider acquired by private equity group

PESA Switching Systems, Inc., a provider of analog and digital video and audio equipment, today announced that the company has been acquired by the private equity group QuStream Corporation, which intends to support the continued growth of PESA through further investment in product development and additional acquisitions. QuStream Corporation's founder, president and CEO is industry veteran Fred Godard, whose experience includes tenure as president of Leitch during its growth phase in the late 1990s.

With the acquisition, PESA has appointed Steve Miller to the position of president and COO. Miller joins PESA from Thomson Broadcast, where he spent the past four years as director of engineering for modular products. Previously he spent 18 years with Leitch in various roles, including vice president/COO of the server division, vice president of sales, and vice president of engineering. Miller will relocate to PESA's Huntsville office.

"QuStream has been seeking the right organization with the right product line to serve as the cornerstone of a larger industry group that will address the needs of today's broadcasters and video professionals," said Godard. "The industry is in a period of rapid change, and with PESA's solid product line, reputation for technology leadership, well-tuned sales organization, and attention to customer support, the company has an established position in today's market. We believe that with some additional investment and strategic direction the company will become a global leader in the professional video marketplace."

PESA's main development and manufacturing operation will remain in Huntsville, Ala., and the sales and marketing operation will remain in Melville, N.Y., headed by Bob McAlpine. McAlpine will stay on in the role of senior vice president of sales and marketing while also assuming the position of vice president of business development for QuStream Corporation.

"This is the opportunity we in PESA have all been waiting for," said McAlpine. "The company has achieved great accomplishments throughout its history, and with the resources of QuStream behind us as well as the extensive experience of their management team, we are poised to take the company to a new level, providing our customers with the products, solutions, and customer support they will need as the industry evolves."

PESA offers a full line of routing switchers, routing control panels, distribution amplifiers, and software interfaces, as well the MCLite master control switcher. With one of the widest ranges of routing switchers, PESA is able to address the needs of all sizes and formats of operation in a traditional broadcast environment, including single solutions for both SD and HD. The company has led the industry with its most recent developments, which include the first photonic switcher (the PESA XD announced at NAB 2004), the Cheetah V5 for distribution of computer video over single-mode fiber, and CAT PAWS for distribution of video over CAT 5 networks.