GDS (Global Design Solutions) is celebrating a phenomenal response to its attendance at last month’s Pro Light and Sound, Frankfurt and USITT, Kansas City.

The Bristol-based manufacturer started its international trade show run at Pro Light and Sound in Frankfurt where it exhibited alongside its German distributor on the ‘Lightpower Village’.  Showcasing LiteWare HO (High Output), the newest edition to the highly successful LiteWare range, GDS received an exceptional response.  In addition to its successful product launches the award-winning manufacturer signed four new international distributors at the show.

Matthew Lloyd, Managing Director of GDS commented: -

“The response we received at this year’s Pro Light and Sound has surpassed all expectations.   The launch of the new LiteWare HO and the new TCP/IP CueSystem were very successful and attracted great interest from both international customers and press.”

The following week saw Scott Vontobel, GDS Director of Operations (USA) team up with Antonia Collins of the Stage Managers Association for the USITT conference in Kansas City.  Working alongside Altman Lighting the GDS team reported an astonishing success.  Antonia joined the GDS team in Kansas to showcase the new TCP/IP CueSystem, her grass roots knowledge of stage-management and extensive experience made her the perfect choice to highlight the innovative new product range.  GDS were invited to converse at the USITT seminar for stage-management technology and presented the TCP/IP system to over a hundred and twenty stage-management professionals. The seminar proved highly successful and found Scott and Antonia swamped with enquiries for the rest of the show.

TCP-IP CueSystem is a networked cue light system.  In an industry first, with the ever-increasing trend towards completely networked show control and lighting systems, the TCP-IP CueSystem bridges the gap for stage management environments.

The TCP-IP CueSystem uses the established ergonomic control platform with standard GDS outstations.  Output nodes are then used for cue-light channel distribution in the field all connected to a single network.  PC configuration from a GDS designed Graphic User Interface (GUI) allows for configuration and patching of cue-light channels.  Storage and playback of cues for running a show can be simply created by taking snapshots of the control platform or programming the system via the GUI.  In addition, RS232 commands can be used to either control individual channels or trigger stored cues for simple connectivity to other show control systems.

Scott Vontobel commented: -

“We have spent the last twelve months building the GDS brand in the USA and are working closely with internationally renowned theatre brand Altman, pooling our recourses and expertise in sales and on our trade show programme.  USITT was an opportunity not only to launch TCP/IP CueSystem, LiteWare HO and BluesSystem Mains to the US market but also to introduce our complete product portfolio to our new sales network.”

He added: -

“The US launch of the TCP/IP CueSystem has proved hugely successful, we are really excited about the newest addition to our portfolio and are working to continue building the success of the brand over the coming year.”

Other ranges exhibited at the shows included the multi-award winning BluesSystem and MainsSystem working lights, MotorControl - a four-way modular motor control system, The Stage Managers Console and MOBAL - the multi-functional Socapex fault diagnosis and correction tool.

GDS is a multi-award winning UK Manufacturer with a diverse range of technology-based products.  Based in Bristol with offices in the US, it has six innovative brands in its product portfolio, specialising in lighting and control solutions.