The Vitec Group (Teradek, SmallHD, Wooden Camera) Acquired Amimon. Should ARRI be Worried?

Vitec (The Vitec Group) acquired Amimon on 8 November 2018 for $55.0 million. This business move brings Amimon’s zero-delay wireless chip technology straight into Vitec’s future products development. What does it mean for ARRI? Read below.

Amimon designs and develops chipsets and modules for real­time wireless video transmission, primarily for professional filmmaking and high-­end productions (“cine-market”). Amimon’s R&D based in Israeli. The company made a pivot from lossless video TVs transmission to the wireless cinema world, and owns patents and high end technology providing zero-delay wireless video which utilized by motion picture and television productions.

Zero-delay wireless video to eliminate cables

Amimon designs and provides the chips implemented on most of the wireless cine-market products like Teradek, Paralinx, SmallHD, as well as ARRI. Amimon chips allow zero-delay wireless video and thus eliminates cables, allowing the privilege of using cable-free drones, dollies, steadicam and handheld operation. 

Vitec’s Creative Solution

In the past, Vitec’s Creative Solution (a division inside Vitec Group) acquired Teradek, SmallHD, Wooden Camera, Paralinx, Rycote. Now, Amimon enters the group.

As stated in the press release: 

“Vitec and Amimon have had a strong customer / supplier relationship since 2012, having worked together to build a new market for professional wireless video. Amimon is the key supplier to Teradek, having developed a market ­leading, exclusive and patented technology which is recognized as the industry ­standard for zero delay wireless video. Amimon’s technology is used in many of our Creative Solutions products, enabling very high quality, zero delay video, up to 4K resolution, to be transmitted wirelessly between cameras and monitors. This connects a director and crew to the camera in a real­time, cable­-free environment, and allows fast changes on set, saving time and money

[bctt tweet=”Vitec and Amimon have had a strong customer / supplier relationship since 2012, having worked together to build a new market for professional wireless video” username=””]

Amimon is the key supplier to Teradek, having developed a market ­leading, exclusive and patented technology which is recognized as the industry ­standard for zero delay wireless video

“Acquiring the core technology found within many of our Creative Solutions products will enable Vitec to become vertically integrated. This will drive growth, including the cost­ effective and focused development of the next generation of highly differentiated wireless video products, enabling us to bring them to market faster. The acquisition will allow Vitec to quickly expand into the adjacent on ­location sports and news market, selling wireless video products to Broadcasters and Independent Content Creators under Vitec’s premium brands, using our established distribution network.”

Acquiring the core technology found within many of our Creative Solutions products will enable Vitec to become vertically integrated

[bctt tweet=”Acquiring the core technology found within many of our Creative Solutions products will enable Vitec to become vertically integrated” username=””]

What about ARRI?

Till now, ARRI has entered into a business partnership with Amimon in order to embed Amimon’s wireless HD video technology in the Alexa camera platform, to allow Alexa wireless cameras to deliver great benefits to production crew with its smaller and lighter wireless embedded solution.

The question remains whether Vitec Group that now owns Amimon will deal with the business partnership between ARRI and Amimon. Theoretically, Vitec Group might decide to preserve Amimon’s technology within Vitec’s Creative Solution products in order to reduce completion. In that case, ARRI will have to find an alternative wireless technology. That won’t be easy since Amimon owns the most advanced wireless technology that the cine-market can embrace.

[bctt tweet=”Vitec Group might decide to preserve Amimon’s technology within Vitec’s Creative Solution products in order to reduce completion” username=””]

Of course ARRI is not the only company outside Vitec’s Creative Solution that uses Amimon chips. There are other companies as well, like Freefly.

Should ARRI be worried? Let us know your opinion.