General Digital

Published April 23, 2013

Right on the heels of their return from their two-week tour of duty in California, Tenell and Brian hit the road again. This time they met up with Tyler Avery, General Digital’s Sales and Applications Engineer, and headed down to National Harbor, Maryland, for the 2013 Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exposition.

Tyler serves a key role as the bridge between the sales department and the engineering department. To better satisfy the requirements of his position, it was thought best that Tyler accompany Tenell and Brian in order to man the booth, as well as walk the trade show floor. We felt this would give him a better sense of how our products are often used, since many of our customers also display at Navy League. And so it did! With exhibits of land, sea, and aircraft all around, it was easy for him to see the need for our monitors and display enhancements, and how they are commonly used. “This…has been monumental to my experience and future here at General Digital,” Tyler stated. “It is definitely a great asset to have connections at other companies, and the sooner I can meet people, the more help I can be to General Digital. Simply being at the trade show has helped to transform how I view the position I hold and begin to mold it into its full potential.”

With a better booth location, our 3-man dream team was quite successful in engaging the crowds. Of course, location only played a part in their success. They brought along the trade show veterans: the 37-inch Titan; the 19-inch TwoView; the 15.4-inch Saber PanelMount Combat; and the 8.4-inch Barracuda. This time, though, new to Navy League, we displayed the 52-inch Titan Lite (the commercial-grade iteration of our standard ruggedized Titan large format LCD monitor) and the 21.5-inch SlimLine Micro with QuadView capability. Just imagine playing Sports Champions 2 for the PlayStation 3 with Move System on 52 inches of high definition LCD clarity. Exhibitors and attendees alike became large-screen legends in bowling, archery, boxing, and skiing, among other sports that General Digital’s booth hosted and boasted.

On the last day of the trade show, Tenell, Tyler, and Brian manned the booth in red, white, and blue martial arts uniforms, touting the phrase, “Design this innovative requires discipline this intense.” As expected, they turned quite a few heads and made memorable impressions. Tyler summed it up best: “There were multiple occasions where people came up to our booth for the sole fact that we were wearing [martial arts uniforms]…flipping Brian over my shoulder, like the ragdoll he is, was one of the highlights of the trip. It was a great way to start the last day, and the people watching were all very amused.”

And there you have it! Don’t miss our performance at Navy League Sea-Air-Space Expo 2014!

Photos of the 2013 Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exposition on Flickr
Photos of the 2013 Navy League Sea-Air-Space Exposition on Facebook

Published March 14, 2013

There are road trips and then there are epic road trips. General Digital sent Tenell Rhodes and Brian Martin on what amounts to one epic road trip.

Armed with the task of examining and expanding our European market share, these resolute road runners drove nearly 4,700 miles, starting in Madrid, Spain, on February 12th and ending in Rome, Italy on March 3rd. As an engineering company, General Digital knows that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line; but as an innovating company, we know that sometimes you have to go outside the lines. That would certainly summarize the 2013 European Road Trip.

The inspiration for this trip was birthed back in October of last year, when General Digital exhibited at ATCA’s 57th Annual Conference and Exposition (October 1st-3rd, 2012) and was informed of an upcoming trade show in Madrid. Though we were reluctant to exhibit at the trade show, we were quite interested in attending the show and visiting as many of our European customers as we could.

But we weren’t going to cross the pond just to say “Hello;” we were also going to conduct some market research. We wanted to know what, if any, hindrances we face in the European marketplace. Would European businesses feel more comfortable buying from a sales representative based in Europe? Would they prefer it if General Digital had a European office? Stay tuned for the answers to these questions and more!

We landed in Madrid, Spain, and immediately got down to business. After a visit with Airbus Military, Tenell and Brian headed over to the World ATM Congress to walk the floor and get a feel for the trade show. Then, we met with DIP (Desarollo, Ingenieria, y Produccion) outside of Madrid before heading to the hotel to catch up on some much needed sleep. Our next stop was outside of Paris, an eleven-and-a-half-hour drive.

The next morning, the daring duo set out for Clermont-Ferrand, a small town two hours away from Paris, leaving a relatively short distance to drive the morning of our appointment with Zodiac Aircraft Systems. The meeting with Zodiac, though longer than expected, went well and afforded us the opportunity to have lunch in Paris. From there, we caught a train to cross the Chunnel (English Channel Tunnel) into England to meet with Rolls Royce, Ultra Electronics, L-3 Communications TRL, and Saab Seaeye over the next few days.

Crossing the English Channel back onto the mainland, we made our way to Antwerp, Belgium, to meet with Nijkerk. We discovered during many of these meetings that road trips allow us to dispel myths that often surround us. For instance, customers who buy only one type of product from us often think that what they buy is the only thing we produce.

These road trips give us the opportunity to show our customers and prospects our vast array of products and services. In addition, we know that many international companies are reluctant to order from American companies due to various trade regulations, which can complicate the purchasing process (such as ITAR; to be covered in an upcoming blog). Again, during these types of trips, because we are quite familiar with working with international companies, we’re able to correct common misconceptions about international trade.

Our meeting with Nijkerk having gone well, we made our way over to Germany for our next visit. Cassidian, an EADS company, has a location in Immenstaad, a city in southern Germany. If you follow us on Facebook, you will have noticed references to our visits to Aachen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Weisbaden, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt on our way south. Covering western Germany in two days was quite the experience. Our final country to visit was Italy: where we traversed as far south as Rome and the surrounding area, reaching out to customers and prospects alike.

After a trip of this magnitude, you would think that Tenell and Brian would take a break and settle back into the swing of the things. But when has that ever been the case? It won’t be long before we head to the west coast, visiting our southern California customers, whom we haven’t seen since 2011, among other prospects in the Golden State. Well, they’d better rest up while they can…the road beckons!

View all of the photos from General Digital’s 2013 European Road Trip on Facebook or Flickr.

Published February 20, 2013

Congratulations to Pratt & Whitney and Bombardier!

At 11:59 AM this morning, Transport Canada issued the Type Certificate for the PW1500G engine models (including the PW1519G, PW1521G and PW1524G).

Our Software Services Group is proud to have been a part of the software testing phase of this project, and the team that certified the first GTF in the NGPF family.

This is aviation history in the making, as these engines run cleaner, quieter, and more efficiently than ever before.

Read the press release for the full details.

Published January 22, 2013

“We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better…stronger…faster.”

Okay, so those are the words from the popular 70’s television series, The Six Million Dollar Man. But they almost perfectly describe our Repair Department here at General Digital Corporation.

Sure, we make world-class, first-rate flat panel LCD monitors used in some of the harshest environments known to man. But those environments can be quite unforgiving. Though our monitors could arguably last forever in a boardroom, conditions are a lot different in the bowels of an aircraft carrier, or the dusty, arid expanse of the desert. That translates into the occasional return of monitors to our Repair Department.

Then there are the General Digital monitors that have been out in the field so long, they come back just because they’re homesick—needing various components replaced well in advance of failure to ensure proper and unfaltering performance. Even retrofits are welcome for servicing, where the units metamorphose from trailing edge equipment to leading edge technology.

Watch our video and you might agree…perhaps we should rename it the Resurrection Department.

Published November 28, 2012

You probably knew that General Digital builds some of the toughest flat panel LCD monitors available. It’s possible you even knew that our Optical Bonding Laboratories is “Clearly the Better Choice”. Maybe, just maybe, you knew that we’ve been providing superior software testing for over twenty years.

But did you know that a member of our “family” is an actual movie producer? You’ll want to tuck this in your folder marked “Things I’ve Learned Today”: Rafael Blanco, manager of General Digital Software Services, has produced not one, but two independent films. Along with his brother, Giovanny, and his brother’s wife, Sarah Thorp, “Raf” has produced Cornelius and The Last Intervention.

Giovanny serves as director and producer, while Sarah both writes and produces, and Raf functions in the roles of producer, production manager, and line producer. Wearing multiple hats, he concerns himself with expenses, scheduling of shoots, and the overall timing of when the film is shot.

Their first film, Cornelius, centers around the title character having spent seven years in an institution after the loss of his wife in a tragic accident. After his release, he seeks to reconnect with his son. Shot in July 2008, outside of Los Angeles, Cornelius took 18 days to shoot and cost about $35,000. Raf reveals that the idea for Cornelius echoes a traumatic experience in the life of his children’s mother.

By contrast, The Last Intervention, which premiered on August 30th, 2012, was shot in 11 days. At the cost of a meager $15,000, The Last Intervention was born from the need for an “idea that fits the budget.” The entire film was produced in 90 days; the plan all along was to complete the film before Giovanny’s 40th birthday.

Inspired by the reality TV shows that dominate the airwaves, The Last Intervention focuses on the disconnect between parents and their teenage children. Raf explains that often in immigrant families (in this case, the Dominican Republic), any aberrant behavior parents observe in teens is ascribed to drug use; so in The Last Intervention, the father contracts a film crew to follow his daughter and hires a therapist to conduct an intervention…and much hilarity ensues.

Having premiered in Hartford, Connecticut, the film has since bounded beyond borders:
- featured at the Crown Heights Film Festival in Brooklyn, NY (November 8th)
- featured at the Oaxaca FilmFest in Mexico (November 14)
- featured at the 6th Dominican Global Film Festival in the Dominican Republic (November 15th, 16th, and 18th)
- will be featured at the Hartford Flick Fest (December 7th and 8th)

Congratulations to Sarah, Giovanny and Raf on creating their second first-rate film!

P.S. Visit Facebook and like The Last Intervention page.

December 12, 2012

After the showing of The Last Intervention at The Wadsworth Atheneum and the newly opened Spotlight Theatre (both in Hartford, CT), the Hartford Flick Fest had this to post on its Facebook page: “Congratulations Blanco Brothers for winning Best CT Flick at the Hartford Flick Fest!!! Your movie was an absolute delight to everyone that watched it. Rafael was such a gracious film maker and conducted very insightful Q & A after both screenings. Thank you so much for entering and attending the Festival.” Way to go, Raf!

Published November 2, 2012

Having returned from the ATCA 57th Annual Conference & Exposition at National Harbor on October 3rd, it wasn’t long before we were hopping another flight to exhibit in Washington, D.C. from October 22–24 at AUSA’s Annual Meeting & Expo. Once again, we played games. Once again, we wore our track suits and gym suits (making us the envy of our neighboring exhibitors). And once again, we made some great contacts.

Our booth boasted an impressive array of monitors (if we do say so ourselves). The 37″ Titan—the most portable of our large format monitors (as much as “portable” can be attributed to a 50-pound mass of metal and glass)—turned heads as it displayed both blockbuster movies as well as Playstation 3 games in HD. We found many willing attendees of the trade show who couldn’t resist the lure of gaming on the large screen.

The 19″ TwoView (dual flip-up LCDs rack mount unit)—a road trip and trade show regular—was also a source of great interest for those stopping at our booth.

Our 15.4″ Saber PanelMount Combat Display Kit proves most engaging to the “techies” out there. As a ‘technology demonstrator,’ it effectively conveys our proficiency with display enhancement features: sunlight readable, night vision-goggle compatible, LCD heater, touch screen, EMI filter, and backlit buttons.

Of course, we can’t forget the Barracuda, the acclaimed show stopper. Submerged in a fully decorated fish tank and playing movies such as The Little Mermaid, Finding Nemo, Shark Tale, and the Spongebob Squarepants Movie, the environmentally sealed 8.4″ Barracuda continues to turn heads at every show.

Rounding out the bunch were two units that we also displayed at the ATCA trade show earlier in October. Our 12″ Saber Standalone was on hand, illustrating our ability to accommodate a wide variety of video inputs and sporting a slim enclosure with infrared touch screen capability. The 21.5″ SlimLine Micro boasted Quadview capability, allowing four separate video inputs to be displayed simultaneously. Designed to be installed in the ceilings of tactical military ground vehicles, the SlimLine Micro proves that customizing flat panel LCD monitors is our specialty.

Maximizing our time away from the office, we headed south the day after the show and met with key personnel at Global Technical Systems and stopped in at WR Systems. Friday brought us to Newport News Shipbuilding where we presented our wares and discussed current programs on which we are working, as well as future programs that may require our assistance.

Though this marks the end of our traveling season for the year, we’re already looking forward to visiting some of the contacts that we made while enjoying the beach at our booth. If you’d like to be one of the special few on our ”Who Will We Visit Next?” list, just contact us and we’ll let you know when we’ll be in the area!

Published October 11, 2012

The Air Traffic Control Association held its Annual Conference & Exposition in National Harbor, Maryland, from October 1st-3rd. General Digital was right there showing what makes us a highly valued supplier to the air traffic control industry. With our vast array of sunlight readable monitors, replete with optical bonding, antireflective films and antiglare etches, we demonstrated that we can accommodate almost any configuration. Ken, Brian and Tenell were manning the booth this time ’round.

Our GenStar II Lite was one of the central showpieces in booth 100. Designed for the FAA’s STARS Program, and in use by the air traffic control industry for 14 years, it’s no surprise that most of our delivered GenStar variants are still in service. Featuring General Digital’s revolutionary SmartBright™ backlight system, CoolBright™ cooling system, Intelligent Backlight Controller, and SmartLam™ optical management, the GenStar II Lite can be described as the consummate air traffic control display.

If you know one thing about General Digital, it’s that we always try to defy convention. In keeping with that focus and to illustrate the wide variety of sizes that we support, we brought along our 12″ Saber Standalone, which stood out among our other monitors in the 20″ neighborhood. Compact and lightweight, it can serve a variety of purposes where smaller is a better fit.

We also brought the 21.5″ SlimLine Micro with QuadView capability. Accepting four separate video inputs, this unit can display four different images or video, which is ideal for security and defense applications. Configured for installation on the ceilings of tactical military ground vehicles, the SlimLine Micro provides our warfighters with easy access to information.

Additionally, we displayed our 24″ widescreen Saber Standalone (which Tenell and Brian often take on road trips), as well as Saber Standalone monitors in 19″, 20″, and 21.5″ sizes. With seven monitors in all, the booth boasted no shortage of star power.

We were able to meet with some of our customers in attendance at the show and also acquaint ourselves with promising contacts. We also made quite an impression on the school-age youth who walked the floor on the last day of the show. They had a lot of questions about how we make some of the most rugged monitors in the world.

We’re already looking forward to ATCA’s Annual Conference & Exposition next year, but we can’t spend too much time thinking about that right now: we’re about to hit the road again. Stay tuned to find out where we’re headed next!

Published August 30, 2012

On August 20th, we began our week-long journey, the 2012 International Road Trip. With an emphasis on business development, Tenell Rhodes and Brian Martin called on countless companies that have visited our web site and expressed interest in our products and services. After all, nothing beats seeing a product “in the flesh” and operating it yourself to get a sense of how robust and finely manufactured it is.

Our first stop was Syracuse, New York, to visit Lockheed Martin. There we discussed current programs where we have been of assistance and forecasts that may require our expertise. From there, we crossed into Canada near Niagara Falls and made our way up to Toronto, Ontario. We pulled up stakes after an overnight stay and continued on to the nation’s capital, Ottawa. Our next stop was Montreal, Quebec. Having brought along the “usual suspects”–the 37″ Titan; the 24″ Saber Standalone; the 20″ SlimLine Lite II with integrated CAC reader; the 19″ TwoView; and the 15.4″ Saber PanelMount Combat Display Kit–we dazzled Lockheed Martin Canada with our diversity of display features, capabilities and options.

Crossing the border back into the U.S., we stopped in at General Dynamics in Pittsfield, Massachussetts, and planted more seeds in the Berkshires of the Bay State.

We logged a lot of miles on this trip (over 1,800!), but it’s well worth the effort to see people’s faces light up as they conclude, “I didn’t know you did all of this!” With the success of our road trips, we’re already beginning to consider more places to visit next year (perhaps across the “pond”?). So call or click to get added to the list!

Published August 10, 2012

From New London to New Hampshire, our New England Road Trip in July and August saw Tenell and Brian making many valuable new contacts. Jenn Annett, another of our sales staff, joined us on both Mondays (July 30th and August 6th) as we made stops in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The power of TB&J (as we are affectionately called) takes our road trips to another level. For instance, doors are a lot easier to manage when you have someone holding them for you.

Along for the ride this time was the 37″ Titan; the 24″ Saber Standalone; our 19″ TwoView; the 17″ SlimLine 1U with integrated DVD-RW drive; and our 15.4″ Saber PanelMount Combat Display Kit.

Keeping it close to home, the entire road trip spanned Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. In that time, we visited Hamilton Sundstrand, L-3 KEO, General Dynamics Electric Boat, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Naval Undersesa Warfare Center, and many others. Our New England incursion gave us the opportunity to highlight the diversity of our display designs, the variety of video inputs that we can accommodate, as well as our optical bonding and software services capabilities.

Of particular interest on this trip was our newly configured fiber optic video input capability. We have been able to integrate fiber optic to DVI converters into our monitors since 2005. However, as of June 2012, we are now able to accept the fiber optic signal directly without a converter. Our ability to support leading edge and trailing edge technologies translates into the fact that not only can we supply what you need, we can supply what you’re going to need. Contact us for more information about our products and services or to schedule a visit!

Published June 29, 2012

Remember that epic trip you took with your friends right after graduating? The one where you drove all night, slept a couple of hours, and hit the road again? Well, General Digital now has their own version of the epic trip.

Our southeast road trip, which extended from June 18th through the 26th, took Tenell and Brian from North Carolina through South Carolina and Georgia into Alabama. With us for the ride were the usual suspects: our 24″ Saber Standalone; 19″ TwoView; 15.4″ Saber PanelMount Combat Display Kit; and our 8.4″ Barracuda Standalone.

Instead of bringing along the 37″ Titan as we did on last year’s southeast road trip, we brought the 17″ widescreen SlimLine 1U instead. One rack unit high and 22″ deep, the SlimLine 1U is a fixture of the General Digital family of rack mount products.What made this unit even more impressive is its integrated DVD-RW drive and power supply.

Our first stop on our journey was Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock, NC. Any time we’re afforded to see our ruggedized flat screen LCD monitors in their actual working environment, it’s a treat; no less so when we climb to the top of an air traffic control tower to see them installed and fully functioning.

Our next stop was Charleston, South Carolina, where we spent two days meeting with engineers and personnel at several companies, such as ARINC, SAIC, ManTech, Stanley, and SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic.

From there, we stopped by L-3 Communications in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Huntsville, Alabama, was the final stop on our southeast road trip. We first met with several managers and engineers at Sanmina-SCI. It was a marathon day of packing the rolling the carts with our monitors and unpacking after each presentation. Meetings with Intuitive Research & Technology Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Intergraph Government Solutions, and Harris went well. It’s always a rewarding experience when engineers and program managers get that look in their eyes that says, “You’ve got just what I need!”

Stay tuned, we’ve got a New England road trip planned for next month and a Canadian road trip planned for August. Contact us if you’d like a visit!