On 16 February 2010 GenArts entered into a broad strategic alliance, aquiring Tinder and Tinderbox plug-ins from The Foundry. The FAQ below was issued in relation to this agreement:
GenArts and The Foundry today announced that they have entered into a broad strategic alliance. GenArts will acquire The Foundrys Tinder and Tinderbox plug-ins business and the two companies will enter into an arrangement to collaborate closely to expand the capabilities of the Nuke platform.
There are three components to the alliance:
16 February 2010
The alliance provides a means by which the development teams from GenArts and The Foundry can work closely together to fully maximize the functionality of their future products. This collaboration opens the door to more seamless technology delivery as the host platform and plug-in development can be more synchronized. In addition, we recognize that Tinder and Tinderbox are both well-established plug-in suites, with a loyal customer following, and have been stalwarts in the visual effects plug-ins market for many years. We are looking forward to revitalizing the Tinder brand and delivering new products that continue to provide great value to our customers.
Our customers have consistently told us that they are shifting their emphasis away from in-house visual effects tools development and towards a greater reliance on standardized tools from trusted vendors. In addition, customers have said that they view their plug-ins and their host platform as two intertwined components of a single solution. GenArts acquisition of The Foundrys Tinder and Tinderbox business allows both companies to focus on delivering best of breed product portfolios to customers. This is a significant step toward facilitating our customers ability to standardize on a more optimized portfolio of tools from their trusted vendors.
Meanwhile, the collaboration component of the alliance is designed to maximize the value of the Nuke platform by more closely aligning its development with that of GenArts plug-ins. Customers will benefit from a more tightly integrated solution that more effectively exploits the strengths of each component. This collaboration is a natural extension of the work the two companies have done together as founding members of the Open Effects Association and creators of the OFX programming interface.
Absolutely not. GenArts has a long history of supporting all the host platforms that our customers consider important and we remain fully committed to this philosophy. This strategic alliance with The Foundry and the recent announcement of Sapphire 5 for Autodesk are both excellent examples of that commitment.
The Foundry's plug-in strength has for many years been in complex research-based image-processing technology such as the award-winning Furnace and Ocula product lines. The Foundry intends to broaden its reach in this kind of plug-in technology.
Yes, moving on from Tinder isn't something we do lightly. But we honestly believe it's in the best interest of our customers and an important step for future development at The Foundry.
The Foundry's plug-in team has long been renowned for their innovation, winning an Academy Award for their Furnace product and multiple awards for their ground-breaking Ocula stereo-3D toolset. The team is hoping to continue their success in the hard science of images, expanding in size to support current products and develop entirely new ones. No staff will be moving from The Foundry to GenArts.
We are very excited about the potential for innovation as a result of this alliance and our acquisition of the Tinder business and are evaluating feature and pricing options to provide customers maximum value and flexibility. Starting today, customers can go to www.genarts.com to purchase Tinder or Tinderbox in their current form and at similar price points except for a few exceptions:
Right now, there are no plans to combine Tinder or Tinderbox with Sapphire or Monsters to create a single product. For now, Tinder and Tinderbox will continue to be sold in their current form and at similar price points. We are continually evaluating feature as well as packaging and pricing options to provide our customers maximum value and flexibility.
We are in the process of updating our reseller program to provide our resellers the most efficient way to offer the entire line of GenArts products and to maximize value and flexibility for their customers. Until then, authorized GenArts resellers may resell Tinder for the same host platforms and at the same margins for which they are eligible to sell Sapphire, Monsters and Raptors.
If you are not a current GenArts reseller and you are interested in selling any GenArts product (including Tinder), please e-mail us at sales@genarts.com for authorization information.
Starting immediately, customers should either visit www.genarts.com, or e-mail support@genarts.com for all support questions and issues.
Starting immediately, customers should either visit www.genarts.com or e-mail sales@genarts.com to purchase Tinder or Tinderbox products.
While we are not announcing any new products at this time, GenArts is extremely excited about the opportunity to revitalize the Tinder brand and the potential for innovation around our collaboration with The Foundry. GenArts will be making announcements over the coming months as appropriate.
Both GenArts and The Foundry are privately held companies. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Unfortunately, we cannot discuss any additional details surrounding discussions or negotiations.
Since Katherine Hays joined GenArts in 2008, the company has executed on an aggressive growth strategy based on both acquisition and internal development. We chose this path to align the Company more fully with customers needs as they shift their emphasis away from in-house visual effects tools development, and towards a greater reliance on standardized tools from trusted vendors. This strategic alliance with The Foundry and the acquisition of their Tinder and Tinderbox business builds on our recent announcement of GenArts Sapphire 5, our strategic alliance with Lucasfilm and acquisitions of SpeedSix Software, LLC and wondertouch, LLC in 2009, in the execution of that vision. We continue to review additional strategic acquisitions and will announce them as appropriate.
After a successful tie up with Sony, work is progressing well with the commercialization of Katana. The Foundry is actively developing Katana and other new products. You can expect a series of exciting announcements from The Foundry in the coming months.