Hb Enews

May/June 2006 Issue

Congratulations to John Derbacher for 50 Years of Service!

When John Derbacher started working for HB Communications, Inc. the world of audio and visual communications was quite a different place.

In an era when color television was just coming into its’ own and transistor radio kits could be purchased out of the back of magazines, John was attending Stone School of Business and working at HB Communications.

At the time, HB was merely a ten employee storefront on George Street, in New Haven, CT and John was at the beginning of what would become a milestone career.

From initially working the HB storefront, John quickly moved onto educational sales selling 16 mm projectors, film strip projectors and tape recorders into school systems. Later, HB Communications moved their facility to Audio Lane in New Haven, CT and John continued selling AV equipment for the company.

John got married in 1961 and started his family. Then in 1962 John was called for active duty in the Naval Reserve for the Berlin Crisis. John spent the next ten months in Cuba serving. Ironically, his Navy duty would turn out to be the only break during John’s fifty years with HB Communications.

In talking with John, you can’t help but be envious of all the advances he’s witnessed during his expansive career. After all, he’s seen A/V go from VTR to Dolby to Betamax to VHS to Laser Disc to DVD to HD TV and now the Internet.

When asked what has kept John’s sales career going strong all these years, John says, “It’s been great to see the technology advancements and how AV communications has evolved over the past several decades.” John also credits good health and working with good people at a great company for his longevity.

In 2006, coinciding with John’s 50^th year anniversary is HB Communications’ 60^th year of being in business and John has been an integral player, every step of the way. (photo shows John Derbacher, left, being congratulated by Bob Anderson, HB Executive Vice President.)

Today, John lives with his wife in Branford, CT. And although still working at HB, John enjoys his free time with family and his two granddaughters. When asked how much longer he plans on working with us, John just smiles. So I guess we’ll just have to sit back and see what the next chapter brings!

“John, from all your HB friends, associates, colleagues and family, we thank you for your hard work and dedication and wish you the very best, now and always!”

New Products from Christie Digital

The Christie Roadster S+20K continues to raise the bar for Rental/Staging. For unbelievably bright images with stunning detail and depth of color, the Christie Roadster S+20K puts pure power in your hands with purpose-built features meant for the world of Rental/Staging.

Designed with built-in handles, an improved airflow system and multiple rigging points, these powerhouse projectors stack up against the rigors and stress of rental/staging – fly, rig, ship them, use them again and again.

Small Enough to Move, Quiet Enough to Stay
Low-profile, lightweight and whisper quiet. Only 3.7" high, 6.3 lb and 24dB, the Christie DS+26 is ideal for unobtrusive installations in medium-sized conference rooms, small training rooms and meeting rooms.

High performance optics and a wide-range 1.75-2.2:1 zoom with 100% vertical lens offset gives you the ultimate flexibility to size and place a projected image anywhere.

Don't Miss Our June 28th Free Lunch & Learn!
Tandberg IP Infrastructure
North Haven, CT
Get more info here.

NEC Solutions America's products include projectors, servers, drives and plasma displays. Learn more here!

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HB Communications Wins Two Tandberg Awards

Accepting the award above, center is HB Communications VP Kevin Collins with
Tandberg Sr. Channel Manager, Shari Wildman and the Tandberg Executive Team.

HB Communications was recently honored at the TANDBERG Americas Partner Summit with two awards. For our ongoing commitment to service, teamwork and revenue growth, TANDBERG awarded HB Communications Northeast Regional Partner of the Year for 2005.

HB also earned the TANDBERG Solutions Award for Public Safety for our design and installation of the Strafford County Court System, which includes superior court as well as Dover, Rochester and Durham district courts.

The Tandberg Justice Solution was implemented by HB for Strafford County Superior Court. It includes a custom cart with a codec control module, monitor, codec, microphones, Judicator for judges bench, privacy handset and remote control. The three district courts received a TANDBERG Judicator on the Judges bench with a custom connection to a TANDBERG 770 on a cart.

A TANDBERG 150 MXP with a handset was also installed at each court to allow for a separate video call to be available for privacy between the individual being arraigned and his or her attorney. The jail received the SL case with a TANDBERG 550 Codec and handset.

HB Communications, Inc. partnered with Carousel Industries to provide Strafford County with a comprehensive solution for voice, video and data. Carousel provided the Avaya Voice Over IP telephone system as well as the data network backbone switches. HB provided the TANDBERG video arraignment system equipment, installation and core maintenance.

The video arraignment system was designed by David Marinelli of HB Communications with consultation from Michael Manginelli of TANDBERG. Other key HB employees on this project included Mike Ryan - Sales, Angelique Burke - Sales Administration, Priscilla Gallagher - Sales Support and Dave Landry - Installations.

Quoted from the Fosters Daily Democrat newspaper dated December 28, 2005, regarding the new Tandberg video arraignment system:

New Durham Chief Shawn Bernier stated, "The cost and time savings associated with the technology will be beneficial to the department. The time factor will help us a lot, being the most northern town in Strafford County. New Durham typically has one officer on duty and in the past has had to pay overtime for an officer to transport a prisoner to court and back for an arraignment."

HB Communications continues to view TANDBERG’s Visual Communications as the premier solution in the marketplace today.

To schedule an overview and demonstration, please call 1-800-243-4414.

Product Spotlight

Samsung SDP-950DXA/STA

1/3" High Resolution Digital Presenter

This compact and light presenter, will give your
audience a presentation they will remember for
a long time.

Versatile digital functions put handy features right
at your fingertips. And with a professional 12X Zoom
lens made by Samsung's 30 years of experience, you
couldn't ask for a more reliable presenter.

- 1/3" 850,000pixels PS CCD
- 36X powerful zoom (12X optical
& 3X digital zoom)
- 20 frame per second live image
- USB 2.0 for PC preview and capture
- Compact and portable design

Download Specifications Here