Sonic Equipment Company Signs Agreement with Christie Managed Services

Online, April 19, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Christie announced that the Sonic Equipment Company has signed a major agreement with Christie Managed Services that will provide Sonic's customers with a wide-ranging new tier of technical support and maintenance that includes end-to-end turnkey solutions and a la carte service. Sonic's expanded technical resources will be available to current customers - already at more than 400 screens - as well as all future customers across the Midwest and beyond.

"Sonic is coming off one of its best years ever and, with hundreds of additional deals in the pipeline, we're already on pace to break our installation record again in 2010," remarked Eric L. Olson, Director of Operations for Sonic. "Our partnership with Christie Managed Services will assure our customers, not just the best choice of technology, but the best choice of service to meet their specific needs for every single system we install."

Christie Managed Services' expertise is drawn from more than 80 years of experience working with the exhibition community. It runs the gamut from planning, procurement, logistics, and pre-staging, to integration and implementation of system rollouts. It also offers a diverse menu of customizable predictive and preventative technical support and ongoing maintenance. At the heart of the service is a new, state-of-the art Network Operations Center (NOC) running 24/7. The NOC monitors, maintains, and services tens of thousands of digital devices across North America and is easily scalable to support tens of thousands more.

"Our customers want to work with companies that will support them for the long-term," observed Olson. "Our partnership with Christie Managed Services will further strengthen the level of trust that our customers have in the products and services we provide them."

Mike Covey, Digital Cinema Manager at Sonic, added, "Sonic's success is also a direct result of providing our customers with the latest technology, and that includes the new 4K-upgradable Christie Solaria Series DLP Cinema projectors, which are ideal for showing 3D movies. Christie Managed Services will play an important role as Sonic launches new implementation programs as part of Cinedigm's Phase 2 digital cinema deployment plan."

"The ability to service and maintain their new, high tech digital cinema systems is an important factor for independent theaters seeking to go digital and reap the full benefit of 3D cinema," said Sean James, Vice President, Managed Services at Christie.

James added: "Sonic's remarkable industry success is a testament to the confidence their customers have in their digital cinema solutions. Now, their customers will have even greater reliability, greater performance and greater security for all digital devices - a distinct competitive advantage."

About Sonic Equipment Company
Sonic Equipment Company is a total sales, service, consulting, remodeling and new construction company for motion picture exhibitors as well as a leading source for the installation and service of digital equipment. From building and equipping an entire theatre to diagnosing equipment problems, to finding and installing the replacement parts needed for customers' projectors, Sonic Equipment Company has the resources, ability and desire to handle it all. They have installed systems across the Midwest from Ohio to Texas to Colorado and have expansion plans that include Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas, Wisconsin and Indiana. For more information, visit www.sonicequipment.com.

About Christie®
Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. is a global visual technologies company and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio, Inc., Japan, (JP:6925). Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the world's most advanced projectors and complete system displays, Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world. From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images. Visit www.christiedigital.com.