GDC Technology has long been the Asian leader for digital cinema servers, and was the first to install digital cinema servers in China. Its president, Dr. Man-Nang Chong, learned early in the game the value of having a presence in Los Angeles near the Hollywood studios, even if not focused on the US market. GDC has played its cards well in this regard, and is a respected player in the market.
In 2008, GDC brought on-board business development exec Nick Conti. US born but educated in China, Nick negotiated on behalf of GDC Asia’s first VPF agreements with three major film studios (Fox, Universal, and Paramount), announced in December. This is an impressive step forward and will cement GDC’s digital cinema strength in the Asian market.
It won’t hurt GDC in the US market, either. In a market where Doremi and Dolby are the top two players, there is room to battle it out for the number 3 slot. In this, GDC’s primary competition is Kodak. But GDC lost its Israeli, charismatic, and very sharp marketing and sales chief, Ami Dror, early this year, who was on course to establish GDC in the US. In his place, the company hired Kurt Schwenk as a consultant to run its US sales office. Kurt’s past employers include NEC, THX, and Dolby. Kurt, however, took a parallel consulting sales exec position with 3-D company XpanD. At this time, it’s unclear which company Kurt will work for, as its unlikely that he’ll stay with both.
