In this technology based world, longevity of a company usually means around 5 years. 10 years is better than average and 25 years phenomenal. So imagine then, a technology company that has been around for 50 years!

Well this is an achievement reached by Grass Valley, the makers of the Edius range of prosumer video editing systems and broadcast Grass Valley products.

In celebrating the announcement, a memo was issued today saying that the parent company, Technicolor, had received a binding offer from Francisco Partners -- a leading technology-focused investment company - that recognizes the value of the Grass Valley brand, the strength of the new and refreshed product line and the potential that can be realized through independent ownership of the company.

The memo goes on to say “The offer to acquire the business includes the complete product portfolio, the R&D centres and manufacturing facilities, as well as all current customer contracts and support agreements – everything that is part of the Grass Valley Broadcast & Professional business. Most important, because the business depends on its ability to design, manufacture, sell and support its market-leading products, the offer of course includes the great people within Grass Valley, from the design engineers in our R&D centres to the sales and customer support teams around the globe – and the many other people in between”

In a time when the industry is dominated by Apple with Final Cut, Sony with its Vegas lineup and Adobe, this hopefully will bring the Edius name (and Grass Valley as a consequence) into more prominence, as it is certainly worth deserving of a good hard investigation as an alternative platform.