Paris, France – (1st July 2010) – digital projection systems manufacturer Christie®, a worldwide leader in its field, has been awarded the Janus de l’Industrie 2010 by L’Institut Français du Design for its modular digital display solution, Christie MicroTiles. The Janus de l’Industrie awards were instituted in 1953 to distinguish “products designed from the outset for practical value and true user benefit”.

The Institut Français du Design (IFD) picks products and services that put concern for the user and his environment first. The designer’s intention, the thing’s ethical validity and looks, the materials used and the real benefit to the user are all criteria – or, rather, values – which inform the IFD’s choice. With the help of a jury of 50 experts from a wide range of fields with backgrounds in business, the creative professions and the human sciences, the IFD awards the Janus to products which meet these requirements.

“When we showcased MicroTiles at the American Institute of Architects Convention in Miami on 10 June, the system greatly impressed the audience of architecture and design professionals. We’re really proud of the success it’s been enjoying since its launch in February 2010; and now this Janus de l’Industrie confirms our belief that in MicroTiles we have the solution of the future, innovative both in its dynamic display and its design”, said Pascal Gervais, Christie’s regional manager for France.
“The jury loved this design, where each cube can be stacked, dismantled and locked in place with a time saving that conventional image walls can’t rival. Another advantage we particularly liked is how easy the image is to read and how faithfully the logos, diagrams and graphs are reproduced”, added the chairman of the jury for the Janus de l’Industrie, Claude de Méneval.

Christie MicroTiles are modular digital display tiles that can be stacked and grouped to make display walls of any shape or size. Each MicroTile has a screen format 40.8cm wide by 30.6cm high; they are only 26cm thick, needing only a very small clearance for rear ventilation; and they can readily be repaired or replaced from the front.

This advanced optical technology offers unrivalled brightness, contrast and colour reproduction. This is a real breakthrough in big-format display: the quality of Christie Microtiles’ image and colour rendering is outstanding, viewing angles are extremely wide, and the connections are barely noticeable as the spacing between tiles is only 1mm. This innovative system made up of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and DLP® chips does away with lamps and other consumables that need replacing. The LED system on which the MicroTile is based has a nominal life span (to 50% brightness) of 65,000 hours, giving nearly 7.5 years’ continuous operation.