Christie Hires Blackberry’s Ex Head Of Innovation To Run Software Team

March 23, 2016 by Dave Haynes

GaryKlassenIt’s very logical to think of Christie as a display hardware company, but if you stop and think about it, you realize it takes solid software to make those projectors and display cubes and LCDs and LEDs all run properly.

The company has announced it has hired an ex-Blackberry guy to be its director of solutions software. Christie’s main office for R&D is in Kitchener-Waterloo, the same Canadian tech hub that’s home to the once powerful smartphone company.

Gary Klassen will focus, says a news release, on growing a development team to expand Christie’s software capabilities, which will enable the creation of impactful shared experiences, including large-scale projection mapping projects. He was most recently the director of architecture and innovation at BlackBerry and has his name as inventor on more than 100 granted US patents. 

“It’s a wonderful time in the vibrant Waterloo region for technology development,” says Klassen. “I’m excited to be a part of growing Christie’s software capabilities on all levels, and look forward to developing creative and innovative solutions for our customers that are easy to deploy.”

Christie already has some very cool software that takes the complication and time out of both the scanning of objects (like buildings) and calibration of projectors for projection mapping jobs. The company has also acquired software-led companies recently, like Allure and coolux.

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