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Pexip, known for scalable, distributed collaboration software, announced that Åsmund O. Fodstad, formerly EVP of global sales and marketing at the company, has been appointed CEO. Co-founder and former CEO Simen Teigre will join the company’s board of directors and, through a transition period, serve as special advisor to the CEO.

Fodstad joined Pexip in April 2013 and has been EVP of global sales and marketing since January 2014. Prior to joining Pexip, he had 20 years of leadership experience working at companies such as Tandberg, REC, and projectiondesign, and as general manager for SuperOffice. Fodstad has extensive experience building global sales, marketing, and distribution networks. Based in Hong Kong, he developed Tandberg’s APAC business and led REC’s global sales beyond a billion dollars. In his New York-based sales leadership role at Pexip, he built a high-performing global sales operation and delivered strong commercial results for the company.

Since the incorporation of Pexip in April 2012, the company has experienced explosive growth and adoption of its innovative collaboration software in the global market. Fortune 500 companies across every vertical, leading education institutions, and public organizations have embraced the Pexip Infinity solution at record speed. Pexip customers are now using the Pexip Infinity platform at a rate of 100 million minutes annually, double the amount from just six months ago.

“It has been an incredible journey with the Pexip team over the past three-and-a-half years, building Pexip from the ground up to become a global disruptor in collaboration software,” said Teigre. “But being CEO of a high-tech startup is like running a sprint where the distance is a marathon — the race is thus best run as a relay. As CEO, I believe the time is now right to pass on the leadership baton.”

Pexip’s award-winning Infinity platform allows organizations to offer video, audio, and Web-based collaboration solutions to every employee via existing IT and cloud infrastructures. Built on a purely software-based and hugely scalable architecture, the platform is quick and easy to install, deploy, operate, and manage, allowing customers to capitalize on their existing investments, to create truly seamless virtual collaboration environments.

The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) has enlisted keynote speakers Erik Weaver and John Downey for the Digital Asset Symposium (DAS), which takes place Nov. 18-19 in Portland, Ore., at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower. This year marks the first time that DAS will run simultaneously with AMIA’s Annual Conference, taking place Nov. 18-21.

Weaver will open DAS Wednesday evening with an in-depth look at the future of digital media, and Downey will focus on the future of storage and the cloud in the second keynote following lunch on Thursday.

Weaver is a recognized expert on the intersection of the cloud with media and entertainment, and runs “Project Cloud” for The School of Cinematic Arts’ Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at the University of Southern California (USC). The project unites senior leaders from the six major studios in developing next generation cloud standards, supporting Hollywood organizations and major cloud vendors, and producing proof of concepts. The group encompasses many aspects of the cloud including transport, security, metadata, long-term storage, and formation of an agnostic framework that unites key vendors and studios. Previously, Weaver was CEO of Digital Ribbon, Inc., a very early pioneer in the field of cloud-based computing.

Downey is founder and CEO of NextGen Storage, a company dedicated to accelerating the breadth and market adoption of next-generation, cloud-integrated storage technologies and services. In his role, Downey delivers thought leadership around data storage and data management technologies and their intersection with cloud computing. Prior to launching NextGen Storage, he managed enterprise storage strategies for Amazon Web Services.

Bringing DAS to Portland in conjunction with the annual conference and a half day edition of The Reel Thing Technical Symposium creates a comprehensive, cross-discipline look at media preservation and access. Since 2007, DAS has been a unique forum for a broad range of experts from content creators, technologists, storage specialists, systems designers, and archivists who tackle similar media management challenges.

“Whether you work in archives, entertainment, gaming, law enforcement, education, or beyond, the challenges of handling digital content can be monumental,” said Tom Regal, VP of Pro-Tek Vaults, who serves as DAS program chair. “The race to keep up with evolving technologies – and their impact on workflows, access, security, and content management – is universal. DAS is built around the idea that while our specific focus may be different, all of us working with digital media share core challenges and we can learn from each other.”

Additional speakers and session topics will be announced soon. Past participants have included authorities in the field from the WWE Network, Bandito Bros, Belgium Ministry of Culture, HyperTED, MoMA, John Hopkins University, Los Angeles Police Department, and The Living Archive.

Dell is buying data storage company EMC for $67 billion in a huge bet on a segment of technology that has proven to be more profitable than the slumping personal computer market.

The acquisition announced Monday marks Dell's latest attempt to lessen its dependence on the PC industry that it helped pioneer as demand for desktop and laptop machines weakens amid the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets.

The price makes this the largest deal ever between two technology companies, eclipsing Avago Technologies' proposed $37 billion acquisition of rival chipmaker Broadcom announced five months ago.

The Dell-EMC union is an illustration of how older technology companies are scrambling to adapt to the upheaval unleashed by Apple's introduction of the trendsetting iPhone eight years ago and the advent of digital services that are hosted in remote data centers so they can be reached by any Internet-connected device.

Since going private in a $25 billion deal completed in 2013, Dell Inc. has been investing in research and development and expanding its software and services business as those in the technology industry continue to struggle with soft PC sales.

EMC meanwhile has been shifting from a provider of data storage hardware such as on-premise data centers to offering a more comprehensive suite of products to businesses, from cloud storage to security offerings.

"Our new company will be exceptionally well-positioned for growth in the most strategic areas of next generation IT including digital transformation, software-defined data center, converged infrastructure, hybrid cloud, mobile and security," Michael Dell said in a written statement.

Dell will serve as chairman and CEO of the combined company. Joe Tucci, chairman and CEO of EMC, will remain in those roles until the deal is complete.

FBR analyst Daniel Ives said the deal means Dell is "no longer your grandma's PC company."

"It's a landmark, historic deal that really brings them into the enterprise market and makes them a behemoth," Ives wrote in a Monday note.

The deal had been rumored for weeks. EMC, based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, makes data storage equipment and provides other IT services to companies. It also has an 80 percent stake in cloud-computing company VMware Inc., which will stay an independent, publicly traded company.

EMC has been facing tough competition in the storage sector as companies including Amazon, Microsoft and IBM have stepped up cloud storage offerings.

Forrester analyst Glenn O'Donnell said the deal is good news for EMC and its customers.

"Speculation has been somewhat scary for them, but Dell is a trusted player and a low-risk 'soft landing' for these customers," he said. It's a good move for Dell too, he added.

"Dell is fairly weak on storage, and EMC will help give it a full portfolio that it needs to compete with HP, Cisco, IBM, and the growing threat from Huawei," he said.

Shareholders of EMC Corp. will receive about $33.15 per share, which includes cash plus tracking stock linked to part of EMC's economic interest in the VMware business. That's a 19 percent premium to EMC's Friday closing price of $27.86.

Dell Inc.'s headquarters will stay in Round Rock, Texas. The combined enterprise systems business headquarters will be in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where EMC is based.

The deal, which was approved by EMC's board, is targeted to close in the second or third quarter of Dell's fiscal year ending Feb. 3, 2017. It still needs approval from EMC shareholders.

Dell, started by Michael Dell in 1984 when he was just a teenager, went on to change the PC business with low costs, customized orders and direct sales first over the phone and later the Internet.

EMC shares rose 50 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $28.36 in afternoon trading Monday.

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and AP Business Writers Michelle Chapman and Damian Troise in New York City contributed to this story.

Nube Studio, which provides grading services for the Indian market, has opened with a Baselight TWO grading workstation as its centerpiece. The color-driven facility is providing services for commercials, music videos, television and film throughout the region.

An important requirement for Nube as a facility aimed at the top end of production is the potential to work natively with raw files from any camera on the same timeline. The Baselight system is renowned for its ability to accommodate all professional formats, and also fully supports grading metadata of any complexity, including primaries, secondaries, keys, shapes, tracks, LUTs and Truelight Color Spaces. This allows the colorist to explore all the details from the camera, and achieve the look the cinematographer intended.

“Baselight delivers on every feature without restricting the creative process,” said senior colorist Navin Shetty, co-founder of Nube Studio. “I am able to concentrate on grading and never compromise on quality or inspiration. Even at HDR 4K, Baselight delivers real-time playback as soon as the content is in the system,” added Shetty. “Clients are not kept waiting, and with the help of the superior grading tools they can see the final result immediately. For clients, the faster system equals staying within budget.”

For FilmLight, CEO Wolfgang Lempp said, “We are proud to be associated with India’s leading colorist, Navin Shetty. He is very particular about the quality and output of his films. What he and his business head, Ranjan Karkera, have recognized is that directors and producers want to come to a post house and see great pictures just the way they imagined them.”

Lempp added, “At FilmLight we developed our core systems to provide real-time performance even when there is a multi-level grade on top of the raw image. Baselight takes away the technical constraints of transcoding, proxies and unpredictable performance and leaves the colorist to achieve the best look in the shortest time.”

Open only since June of 2015, Nube already boasts 100-plus TV commercial, with a client register including: BMW, Philips, Godrej Air, Cadbury, Flip Kart, Maruti, Amazon, Dabur, Yardley, Myntra, Pepperfry, OLX, Sunsilk, Intex, KIT KAT, Kohler, Honda, Nescafe, Britannia, Nerolac, TATA, Airtel, Grofers, STAR TV, EPSON, Mahindra, Olay, Jaguar, Lava, Lifebuoy, Renault, Mentos and Solly Sport.

FilmLight will be demonstrating the capabilities of its real-time, render-free grading approach using FilmLight’s BLG interchange format at Broadcast India on the stand of their partners, RED and Avid (Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, 15-17 October).