From AV.technology

Ten years of smarter solutions: how Corsair Solutions has become a serious player in the region’s AV distribution sector.

en years ago, directors Mark Lampard and Brad Morton, established Corsair Solutions. What started as a boutique distribution business has now become a formidable player in the region’s AV marketplace.

Like all good success stories, Corsair Solutions’ origins involved a combination of necessity, ingenuity and luck.

In late 2008 Mark was retrenched by multinational broadcast technology company, Grass Valley. He had years of experience in the broadcast and video production market and he could see how he might carve out a boutique distribution business picking up a handful of smaller brands. 

At the same time as he was establishing his embryonic distribution business, Mark was soon to be married. His timing could at best be described as idiosyncratic and at worst, suicidal for his new business. Fortunately, his friend Brad Morton had his back. The impact of the GFC was still in full swing and Brad was retrenched by Pioneer and, with some time on his hands, Brad was available to babysit his friend’s new business while Mark and his new wife went to Japan for their honeymoon.

After Mark’s return Brad joined the team at Lako, a local technology distributor with a professional audio visual division named Lako Pro. In late 2010 Lako was refocussing its business towards its consumer brands and was happy to divest itself of the Lako Pro brands that would likely be orphaned in the shakeup.

The brands were tvONE, Viewcast and Pioneer, and Brad knew what they were capable of. In a frantic few weeks in February 2011, Brad had done the deal with his boss to take on the three manufacturers and become their Australian representative.

SETTING SAIL

Brad, with the Lako deal under his belt, joined forces with Mark as the two directors of the distribution business. Corsair Solutions had now truly set sail.

In that early period, they had a ‘whatever it takes’ approach to doing business, so common to all good start-ups. Brad and Mark would go the extra mile for their clients to not only win and retain business, but to gain the trust of the client… even if it meant turning away business if a competing product was more suitable — an instinct that hasn’t faded in the ensuing years.

tvONE scalers were keeping sales ticking over and introducing Mark and Brad to all the audio visual events businesses. As Brad recollects: “I’d keep a tvONE scaler in the back of my car at all times. I’d pop by events businesses to show them the product or in the unlikely event of a failure I’d be on site swapping out a client’s unit for another, no questions asked.”

It was a ‘best of breed’ product that opened doors and increased the brand awareness of tvONE; an awareness that would soon blow up to a new level.

BREAK OUT PRODUCT

Corsair Solutions’ big break came in 2012 when tvONE released CORIOmaster, a game-changing video wall processor.

Brad and Mark knew they needed to get fully behind the release of CORIOmaster and organised an ambitious road show across five states — a big undertaking for the young outfit. It paid dividends.

A marquee new product needs a marquee project and CORIOmaster found one in The Cube at QUT — a project that gained international acclaim. CORIOmaster proved to be a missing link in ensuring the successful deployment of The Cube. Integrators, tech managers and AV consultants all took notice, and for a number of years Corsair Solutions had a hand in just about every new video wall installation of note in Australia.

Corsair Solutions’ star was rising.

GROWING UP

The company grew up further with the addition of key new brands, such as Lumens, Marshall and Livestream. Corsair Solutions was not just ‘the video wall guys’ anymore, the team gained a reputation as industry leaders in IP streaming video, for example.

With a rock solid broadcast foundation, digital video distribution was nothing new to Mark, Brad and the team, but it was to the AV market. NDI, SRT, RTMP…Corsair Solutions was there to help navigate its partners through the pitfalls of video streaming and distribution.

As Corsair’s reputation grew, so did its list of market-leading vendors. Wowza signed on with its mission-critical internet streaming products. Audinate and Magewell joined the stable as Dante and NDI technologies predominate in AV distribution. More recently, Optoma came on-board with its innovative large-format Quad LED displays. Corsair Solutions, with its reach and capability, is now known internationally as a safe ‘pair of hands’.

EXPANDING HORIZONS

Ten years on, Corsair Solutions is very much a mature distribution business with an enviable reputation in the ANZ commercial AV market as straight shooters, and innovative problem solvers.

After a universally tricky year, 2021 sees Corsair Solutions expanding its team, portfolio and horizons.

“Corsair Solutions is on a growth trajectory,” confirms Managing Director, Mark Lampard. “It’s great to welcome a number of new members to our team throughout the entire business, and to continue to be involved in some of the most interesting, most challenging projects going around.”