Собственно новость - всем известная компания Cyanogen (разработчик Maxim DL) покупает компанию SBIG (производитель CCD камер). Пресс-релиз:
Big News! We now have two brands of imaging products: Cyanogen and SBIG.
Full press Release follows:
http://www.cyanogen.com/down/Release.pdfFor Immediate Release
Ottawa, ON, October 1, 2014
Diffraction Limited, a company well-known for its Cyanogen brand astronomy
products, including MaxIm DL imaging software, today announced the acquisition
of the assets of Santa Barbara Instrument Group Camera Division of Aplegen, Inc.
As part of this acquisition, Diffraction Limited is assuming all
responsibility for manufacturing, product development, customer service, repair
and warranty support.
Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) has been a leading global supplier of high
quality CCD cameras and instrumentation for the scientific community for 25
years, as an independent company until 2011, and thereafter as a division of
Aplegen, Inc. SBIG instruments are in use at some of the world’s most
prestigious institutions including NASA, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
Palomar Observatory, and the German Space Agency. Since the introduction in
1989 of the venerable ST 4 autoguider, SBIG has been a major contributor to the
growth of modern amateur astronomy. SBIG led the revolution that saw CCD
technology replace film as the medium of choice for both scientific observations
and beautiful astrophotos. SBIG also supplies instruments to the rapidly
growing life sciences market and to OEMs in non-astronomy related fields.
Doug George, President/CEO of Diffraction Limited, explained, “The combination
of high quality SBIG instruments with our industry-leading software will create
the ultimate astronomical imaging solution.” He further commented, “We are very
pleased that key SBIG staff will remain in place during the transition period,
along with Diffraction Limited engineers, to ensure continuous customer support
and production. This acquisition will have a positive effect for SBIG’s loyal
customers and dealers.” Mike Lloyd, CEO of Aplegen, Inc., added, "Pairing
industry leading product innovation of software and hardware will go a long way
to address concerns of system ease of use, and help pave the way to a new wave
of product innovation required of this marketplace. Enthusiasts and
professionals around the world will be the true beneficiaries of the combined
strengths of Diffraction Limited and SBIG.”
“I am energized by the possibilities created by Diffraction Limited and SBIG
products being united under one roof," remarked Dr. Alan Holmes, President of
the SBIG division. “The resulting tighter integration of software and hardware
can only benefit existing and future customers. Doug’s commitment to continuity
of repair and customer support is also highly commendable.” Michael Barber,
Vice President of the SBIG Division agreed, "We could not have asked for a
better combination than SBIG's innovative hardware and Diffraction's cutting
edge software. SBIG has always been most comfortable providing products for
amateur and professional astronomers and this acquisition can only facilitate
that purpose." Dr. Holmes and Michael Barber, both co-founders of SBIG, will
continue to work with Diffraction Limited to ensure a smooth transition.
Diffraction Limited was founded by Doug George in 1993. Diffraction’s suite of
products, sold under the Cyanogen brand, include the renowned MaxIm DL
astronomical imaging software, MaxPoint telescope pointing refinement software,
MaxDome II observatory dome controllers, Boltwood Cloud Sensors, and Quick
Fringe interferogram analysis software. George is a professional engineer with
30 years of experience in electronics, embedded systems, and application
software. In 2001 he was awarded the Engineering Medal for Engineering
Excellence by Professional Engineers Ontario, and he is a past President of the
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He is an accomplished amateur astronomer,
having co-discovered Comet Skorichenko-George, and 12 supernovae as part of the
Puckett Supernova Search program.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Douglas B. George
President/CEO
Diffraction Limited
