Quantel has announced that Thomas Birner, director of sales for Central Europe, has also been appointed director of sales for the Middle East. In his newly expanded role, Birner is responsible for building Quantel's market presence throughout the Middle East alongside his existing responsibility for Central Europe.

Following on from the project to broadcast the Winter Olympics in HD on the NRK1 channel, NRK, the Norwegian government owned radio and television public broadcaster, has contracted Abit to upgrade its automation system. The software upgrade to Abit's installed HD ready Present-it automation system, will now provide the capability for the additional channels NRK2 and NRK3, to transmit in HD.

Dynamics processing specialist Jünger Audio has appointed Qvest Media FZ LLC to handle the distribution of its entire product range in the Middle East.

OmniBus Systems has announced that Sky Racing in Australia has further expanded its OmniBus iTX multi-platform transmission system with the addition of new international channels, bringing the total iTX channel count at Sky Channel in Sydney to nine. Sky Channel Australia first went live on 16 March 2010 with an iTX system configured for an initial four television channels, one online and two mobile TV channels.

Multimedia Research Group, Inc. (MRG) has announced that its updated report on global annual growth shows IPTV subscribers will reach 102 million in 2014, a 25% CAGR. Despite economic hardship in some countries, robust broadband and IPTV investments have been driving growth as a means to meet and outperform cable and satellite competition.

Dalet Digital Media Systems, a publicly traded company on Euronext which designs, develops, and sells media asset management and digital media solutions to broadcasters and content providers, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Gruppo TNT S.R.L., a privately held Italian company that specialises in advanced broadcast solutions. The acquired business further expands the Dalet product offerings built around an open, IT-centric framework, and provides additional functionalities that can be easily incorporated into its flagship product, Dalet Enterprise Edition.

Vinten, a Vitec Group brand, was presented with The Queen's Award for Enterprise 2010 during a ceremony on Tuesday 13 July. Her Majesty's representative, The Lord Tollemache, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, presented the Award and read the citation.

Vinten has been recognised in the innovation category for its continuous development of Perfect Balance, a unique engineering solution for professional television camera support that enables camera operators to focus on the perfect shot for longer.

Utah Scientific is expanding its worldwide market presence and its management team with the appointment of Reto Brader to a new position, general manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Brader, who has worked in high technology, broadcast, and
information systems markets for 18 years, will be tasked with developing Utah Scientific's EMEA presence, growing its market, serving customers, and promoting Utah's products in the regions.

Omneon, Inc. Has appointed Carlos Ferreira to the role of Southern European manager. Ferreira, who joins Omneon with more than 16 years of experience in the broadcast industry, will be responsible for reinforcing the company's position and furthering penetration of Omneon products into major broadcast installations across Southern Europe.

Grass Valley has staged its annual awards ceremony to celebrate key resellers throughout the world that have supported the company's extensive worldwide sales network. As part of the celebration, 11 companies within the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions were recognised with a Reseller Award from Grass Valley, representing a wide variety of Grass Valley sales, service, and support partners.