Avid Technology

This article is about the technology and multimedia company. For the educational program, see Advancement Via Individual Determination. For other uses, see AVID (disambiguation).

Avid Technology, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer software, Technology, Multimedia
Founded	August 1987; 37 years ago (1987-08)
Founder	Bill Warner
Headquarters	Burlington, Massachusetts, United States
Key people	Wellford Dillard (CEO)
Products	Pro Tools, Media Composer, Sibelius, Avid Play Avid VENUE, Avid NEXIS, MediaCentral, FastServe, MBOX Studio, Pro Tools Carbon, Pro Tools MTRX, Airspeed, Avid Maestro Graphics.
Revenue	US$417 million (2022)
Operating income	US$53.9 million (2022)
Net income	US$55.2 million (2022)
Total assets	US$287 million (2022)
Owner	Symphony Technology Group
Website	www.avid.com
Footnotes / references [1]

Avid Technology, Inc. is a global technology company headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, and was founded in August 1987 by Bill Warner.^[2][3] It develops software, SaaS, and hardware products used in media and entertainment.

Avid products and workflow solutions are used extensively in Hollywood and the film industry; in the broadcast television and streaming media industry; and the music industry. It is known for its video editing software, audio editing software, music notation software and media management and distribution services.

Products

Avid's software and hardware are used by companies and individuals in the media and entertainment industry.

Media Composer and Avid | Edit on Demand: Professional-grade video editing software.

MediaCentral and Avid | Stream IO: Workflow management for news and sports media.

NEXIS: Shared and nearline storage for video and audio.

Pro Tools: Software for music creation and audio production.

Venue: Hardware consoles and tools for live sound.  

Sibelius: Music notation and engraving software.  

History

Avid was founded by Bill Warner, a former marketing manager from Apollo Computer.

A prototype of their first non-linear editing system, the Avid/1 Media Composer, was shown at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in April 1988. The Avid/1 was based on an Apple Macintosh II computer, with special hardware and software of Avid's design installed. The Avid/1 was "the biggest shake-up in editing since Melies played with time and sequences in the early 1900s".^[4]

By the early 1990s, Avid products began to replace such tools as the Moviola, Steenbeck, and KEM flatbed editors, allowing editors to handle their film creations with greater ease. The first feature film edited using the Avid was Let's Kill All the Lawyers in 1992, directed by Ron Senkowski. The film was edited at a 30fps NTSC rate, then used Avid MediaMatch to generate a negative cutlist from the EDL.^[5][6] The first feature film edited natively at 24fps with what was to become the Avid Film Composer was Emerson Park. The first studio film to be edited at 24fps was Lost in Yonkers, directed by Martha Coolidge.

By 1994 only three feature films used the new digital editing system. By 1995 dozens had switched to Avid, and it signaled the beginning of the end of cutting celluloid. In 1996 Walter Murch accepted the Academy Award for editing The English Patient (which also won best picture), which he cut on the Avid. This was the first Editing Oscar awarded to a digitally edited film (although the final print was still created with traditional negative cutting).^[7]

Avid logo, 1999-2008

In 1994 Avid introduced Open Media Framework (OMF) as an open standard file format for sharing media and related metadata.

In the past, Avid released Avid Free DV, a free edition of Media Composer with limited functionality; Xpress DV, a consumer edition of Media Composer; and Xpress Pro, a prosumer edition of Media Composer. These editions were discontinued in 2008 as the flagship Media Composer was lowered in price.

On March 29, 1999, Avid Technology, Inc. adjusted the amount originally allocated to IPR&D and restated its third-quarter 1998 consolidated financial statements accordingly, considering the SEC's views.^[8]

In February 2018, Avid appointed Jeff Rosica as CEO, after terminating Louis Hernandez Jr, who was accused of workplace misconduct.^[9]

In November 2023, Avid Technology was acquired by an affiliate of STG for $1.4 billion.^[10] This process delisted Avid from the public stock exchange, making it private.

In April 2024, Avid appointed Wellford Dillard as CEO, succeeding Jeff Rosica.

Awards

1993: The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded Avid Technology and all of the company's initial employees with a technical Emmy award for Outstanding Engineering Development for the Avid Media Composer video editing system.^[11][12]

1998: Avid received an Emmy Award recognizing the real-time multi-camera grouping option in the Media Composer and Film Composer digital editing systems.

1999: At the 71st Academy Awards, Avid Technology Inc. was awarded an Oscar for the concept, system design and engineering of the Avid Film Composer for motion picture editing which was accepted by founder Bill Warner.^[13]

2000: Avid received an Emmy Award recognizing outstanding achievement in technological advancement for broadcast-quality PC video and compression plug-in cards.

2001: Digidesign receives a technical Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

2004: Digidesign receives an Oscar statuette representing the 2003 Scientific and Technical Award for the design, development and implementation of the Pro Tools digital audio workstation. The award marks one of the few times in the 76-year history of the Academy that a company is honored with more than one Oscar statuette, and that an audio company is recognized with a statuette for its contributions to the film industry.

2008: Digidesign ICON integrated console earns the Cinema Audio Society Technical Achievement Award.

2008: Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 11 receives PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice award for Consumer Video Editing Software bringing the number of consumer and retail awards received by the Pinnacle Studio product line to 36 since its May 2007 release.

2009: Avid Media Composer was recognized by American Cinema Editors (ACE)   Board of Directors with the Board’s first-ever ACE Technical Excellence Award which recognized the software as the preferred choice of the industry’s most acclaimed editors.

2010: Avid was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with an Engineering Plaque for Avid Media Access (AMA) for its role in dramatically improving the process of working with tapeless media – by eliminating time-consuming transcoding processes and saving time and money in the production process.

2010: Avid received the Philo T. Farnsworth Award for outstanding achievement in engineering development.    

2022: Avid NEXIS | Edge and Media Composer took home TVB Europe and TV Technology's NAB Best in Market Awards.

2023: NEXIS | F2 SSD won NAB Show Product of the Year Award.

Acquisitions

Acquired	Company	Details	Sold
1993	EditDroid	A computerized analog non-linear editing (NLE) system which was developed by Lucasfilm spin-off company.[14]
	DiVA Corporation	developer of Videoshop, Quicktime-based home video editing software
1994	Digidesign	developer of Pro Tools, digital audio workstation, and Venue, brand of digital mixing consoles
	Basys	ITN's newsroom computer and automation system (from Digital Equipment Corporation), then implemented into iNews in 2001
	Newsview	Novell-based newsroom computer system^[clarification needed]
1995	Elastic Reality, Inc.	developer of Elastic Reality, morphing software
	Parallax Software	developer of Matador, Illusion and Jester, ink-and-paint software
1998	Softimage	developer of Softimage|3D, 3D graphics software (previously subsidiary of Microsoft)	2008 (to Autodesk)
	NewStar	strategic alliance Avstar with Grass Valley—then owners of Lightworks^[clarification needed]
2000	Motion Factory	developer of interactive 3D software for games and the Web[15]
	Pluto Technology	DDR playback servers
2002	iKnowledge	developer of Active Content Manager, newsroom management software
2003	Rocket Networks	private sharing network technology for Internet collaboration, then implemented in Digidelivery, encrypted file transfer system[16]	2007 (to Aspera)
2004	NXN	Media Asset Management software components
	Bomb Factory	audio plug-ins developer
	M-Audio	audio interfaces and equipment manufacturer	2012 (to inMusic)
2005	Pinnacle Systems	digital video hardware and software manufacturer	2012 (to Corel)
	Wizoo	virtual instrument, plug-in effect and sample library designer;[17] developed AIR (Advanced Instrument Research), series of plug-ins and virtual instruments subsequently included in Pro Tools	2012 (to inMusic)
2006	Medéa Corporation	high-speed RAID storage manufacturer
	Sundance Digital	broadcast automation software
	Sibelius Software	developer of Sibelius, notation software
	Maximum Throughput[18]	developer of MAXedit, visual effects editing software[19]
2010	Blue Order Solutions AG[20]	Media asset management software
	Euphonix[21]	digital mixing console and control surface manufacturer; EuCon protocols were integrated into Pro Tools; the Artist Series and System 5 Family were added to Avid control surfaces
2012	Rocket Network	provides online music recording studios[22]
2015	Orad Systems	developer of 3D real-time graphics and video servers products, then integrated into the MediaCentral Platform[23]
2024	Wolftech	provider of story-centric workflow management solutions to large broadcasters, enhancing collaboration and efficiency in news gathering & story creation

See also

• List of music software
• List of video editing software
• List of scorewriters

References

1. "Avid Technology, Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 1, 2023.
2. "About Avid". Avid Technology. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
3. "Avid Corporate Background". Avid Technology. Archived from the original on 30 December 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
4. Russell Evans, Practical DV Filmmaking, Focal Press, 2005 ISBN 0-240-80738-3, ISBN 978-0-240-80738-6 page 13
5. "Ron Senkowski". IMDb.
6. Kennedy, Ashley (10 December 2011). "Fun Facts and Dates in Digital Editing 'Firsts'". Retrieved 27 April 2017.
7. Scott Kirsner, Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo, from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs (2008) Publisher Scott Kirsner, ISBN 1-4382-0999-1, ISBN 978-1-4382-0999-9 page 84-85
8. "Avid Technology Announces Revaluation of Acquisition Charges".
9. "Avid Technology Announces Appointment of Jeff Rosica as Chief Executive Officer and Termination of Louis Hernandez, Jr". Avid. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
10. Giardina, Carolyn (November 7, 2023). "Private Equity Firm STG Completes Acquisition of Avid for $1.4B". The Hollywood Reporter.
11. Steve Hall Charged With Ensuring Reliable, Consistent IT Service Archived 2013-01-31 at the Wayback Machine
12. Curiosity Expert: William J. Warner
13. "Oscars Awards Database". Archived from the original on 2014-05-25. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
14. "Lucasfilm: Inside Lucasfilm | Company History". 2012-06-28. Archived from the original on 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
15. "Avid Acquires 3D Software Company Motion Factory". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
16. "Digidelivery – The demise of a great product". Ceri Thomas. 24 February 2010. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
17. "Digidesign buy Wizoo". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
18. "Avid Acquires Maximum Throughput | Mergr M&A Deal Summary". mergr.com. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
19. September 23, Alex Udell; Pm, 2009 at 6:06 (2009-09-08). "More transitions – Avid acquired Max-T". fxguide. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
20. Kerschbaumer, Ken (2010-03-12). "Avid Acquires Blue Order, Ties Media Asset Management to Production Workflows". Sports Video Group. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
21. TVTechnology (2010-04-22). "Avid Acquires Euphonix". TVTechnology. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
22. "Avid Acquires Rocket Network's Assets". Mixonline. 2003-04-10. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
23. "Avid Completes Acquisition of Orad Hi-Tec Systems". www.avid.com. Retrieved 2019-12-17.

External links

• Official website
• • Historical business data for Avid Technology:
  • SEC filings