NEC Brings Latest Technologies to the Glamrous Cannes Film Festival

For the ninth year in a row, NEC Computers International (NEC CI) is the official IT partner of the Cannes Film Festival. NEC CI will install the Festival's information system using a complete range of computers integrating the latest technologies and will operate this system during the Festival's two-week duration.

Michel Motro, Executive Vice President of NEC CI & General Manager of its professional division says: “Since 1995, as official IT partner of the Cannes Film Festival, we have been working closely with the organization to provide festival goers with latest technologies. In 1995, we designed customized multimedia and Internet solutions. This year we will demonstrate brand new digital entertainment solutions.”

A sophisticated IT infrastructure

Made-up of over 300 machines running on a fiber optic network with Internet access, the infrastructure designed by NEC CI not only handles the 30,000 accreditations, the management in real time of ticketing, the screening room entry-control system, the Film Market, first market in the world that is visited each year by 7,000 people from 70 different countries, but also the press center equipped with latest technologies for data transmission in order to meet the requirements of almost 800 journalists from print press (including wireless “WiFi”).

Digital Entertainment solutions

As DVD offers a different approach to cinema, the Cannes Film Festival decided to create in 2002 an exclusive "Cannes Film Festival DVD Collection" label, in order to better adapt itself to the new media environment and meet the movie going public's needs.

The films that will receive the "DVD Collection" label will be able to compete for the "2003 Cannes Film Festival DVD Prize", which will be awarded to the best film in each of the two categories.

All the films of the Festival Collection will be made available to festival goers in the DVD showroom and a presentation of the prizewinning DVDs will be held during the Cannes Festival, on Saturday May 24.

This year again, Packard Bell, the consumer brand of NEC CI, will equip the DVD Showroom located in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes (Level 01 – Aisle 12) with more than 20 high-end PCs, all associated with a LCD flat screen. Moreover, an exclusive deal with ATI, will enable Packard Bell to provide its PCs with the ultimate ATI 3D board, the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. Thus, festival goers will benefit from best-in-class products to view DVDs.

In the DVD Showroom, Packard Bell will also demonstrate its vision for Digital Home Entertainment, using PCs running Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center Edition.

In a dedicated space closed to the DVD Show Room, Packard bell will present the Smart Display concept from Microsoft and unveil its brand new Slim TV 300W LCD TV screen.

Festival goers will also be able to experience for the first time in Cannes Microsoft’s new DVD HD technology.

For more information, please visit http://www.nec-online.com