ShowSys Press Releases

FUNA International Group (FUNA), a global design and systems integration company specializing in innovative entertainment and technical solutions for a variety of markets, has acquired Florida-based ShowSys, a technical management and design company. The acquisition bolsters FUNA's North American portfolio and enhances its in-house expertise to address major land-based entertainment projects such as theme parks, themed attractions and casinos.

FUNA now has more than 200 employees in 10 locations in Europe and the US, including two offices in Florida.

"There is great synergy here," says FUNA president Rex Stull. "With this expansion, our company can now serve the major global visitor attractions markets on both land and sea. We enthusiastically welcome ShowSys into the FUNA group. In less than 10 years and with a small staff, ShowSys has generated a high-profile project list, a loyal clientele and an impressive amount of goodwill within the themed entertainment markets, especially in North America. FUNA will uphold that goodwill and build upon it."

"It's a good professional and cultural fit and we're very pleased to join FUNA," says Scott Arnold, who in 2002 founded ShowSys with Jason Pontius. "This alliance enables us to continue the work we've been doing in the markets we've been serving, but on a larger scale - and to reach new international markets. We will be able to expand our scope of services while upholding our high standards of quality, innovation and commitment to the client."

The acquisition of ShowSys is part of FUNA's ongoing drive to bring its suite of technical design and consulting services to a wider range of themed entertainment markets, especially land-based projects in North America, Europe and Asia. At the same time, FUNA will maintain its ties and leading position in the maritime industry, and to that end recently acquired ANT, a leading UK-based superyacht design and engineering company.

 

The rumble of an F-1 rocket returns to Huntsville once more in a new exhibit at the US Space & Rocket Center. Chronicling the contributions of the scientists, engineers, and the other staff at the Marshall Space Flight Center during the race to the moon in the '60s, "The Force" is the first major exhibit constructed within the Davidson Center for Space Exploration since it opened in late 2008.

"The Force" features an interactive display of authentic Apollo-era engines including an F-1 engine, a J-2 engine and an RL-10 engine. The big feature, towering over 35 feet tall and weighing in at over 5000 pounds, is an experience which allows guests a taste of what it was like on that historic day when five F-1 rocket engines were fired together for the first time. Video, lights, sound, and vibration come together to illustrate the awesome power generated on that day. The display is modeled after one of the Marshall Space Flight Center rocket engine test stands and includes a replica of the F-1 engine that powered the first stage booster of the Saturn V.

Sponsored by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, "The Force" is the Space Center's kickoff to a multi-phase exhibition that will evolve the Davidson Center into an interactive tour of how NASA built the Saturn V and put astronauts on the moon.

The exhibit was designed by Tom Fricker of Fricker & Radetsky, Project Managed by Nancy Seruto of Seruto & Company, and constructed by Inergi Design Services. ShowSys proudly provided the design for the audio, video and control system, as well as installation and programming services.

 

The 4D theater at Sea World San Diego reopened today after a refurbishment that saw the replacement of film with digital projection, and a new movie. Currently replacing The Haunted Lighthouse is Sesame Street Presents Lights, Camera, Imagination! in 4D. Besides the change to digital projection, new lighting, effects and a new show control system compliment the mix. ShowSys was honored to continue their relationship with Sea World San Diego to provided the new control system, ShowVue the monitoring and logging system that will eventually link back to their park-wide monitoring and logging system, and limited technical consulting services.

 

 

ShowSys, a leading designer of advanced control and media networks, announced the appointment of Robert Koval to its board of directors.

Commenting on the appointment, CEO and founder Scott Arnold says: "Our long standing relationship with Robert has made us familiar with his business prowess and we are delighted that now we can put his years of experience managing the business aspects of design and integration companies to work for ShowSys. Robert's presence on the board and his involvement with our business operations is already reaping rewards."

Robert is currently a partner in Seruto & Company, a consultancy company based in Pasadena, California. Seruto & Company specializes in the production and design management of high end museum and traveling exhibits, themed entertainment venues and business consultancy for themed entertainment firms. Prior to joining Seruto & Company Robert has served in the capacity of CEO, COO and National Operations Manager for private technology companies, including Electrosonic Inc., Associates in Media Engineering and Thomas Gregor Associates. "I am excited to join the ShowSys board and lend my operational experience with growing technology companies to this dedicated and talented organization," said Robert.

 

ShowSys, a leading design consultancy for advanced control and media systems for the entertainment and themed industries, is pleased to announce the appointment of Rory Sanchez to their Board of Directors.

Commenting on the appointment, CEO and Founder, Scott Arnold says: "ShowSys has had a long standing relationship with both Rory and his company SLPowers and we are excited to have him on our Board. His extensive IT and business management experience will be invaluable in our current period of growth. Because of his pas successes, Rory provides an insight into managed services that will help us to continue to improve our current remote support offerings"

Rory is currently CEO & President of SLPowers, a Microsoft Gold Partner and leading provider of managed IT & business continuity solutions, network security and IT professional services based in West Palm Beach. SLPowers has been internationally recognized as a pioneer in managed services and has received a number of awards for its management platform, Guaranteed Networks©, designed to deliver enterprise class IT services to small businesses.

 

ShowSys is pleased to announce the launch of Remote Support Solutions, an enhanced maintenance and support service that vastly reduces downtime while lowering costs.

Scott Arnold, founder and CEO of ShowSys, comments, "In order to maintain public appeal, today's high-tech entertainment industry continues to evolve in sophistication, yet the propensity for a system malfunctioning or failure still remains. The public is less tolerant to problems and critical success will be determined by the systems' continual smooth operation".

Arnold, adds, "Calling skilled technicians on site, who then need time to diagnose and understand the problem can be time consuming and costly. Within a completely protected SSL-encrypted environment, Remote Support Solutions is uniquely positioned to monitor the ongoing performance of a system, detect, and alert prior to a system malfunction and has the ability to resolve problems that inevitably occur without the need for numerous site visits. It's not just problems we fix-we also deliver an expanded range of services, including media management that has the capability to update numerous displays simultaneously through a global network; remote software updates that help keep systems up-to-date; and system back up/restore which provides secure data storage either locally or off site. We have previously deployed these capabilities into several leading entertainment and themed industry sites and the benefits are already apparent."

With ShowSys' Remote Support Solutions, technical services departments now have a much easier option in maintaining their performance with this outsourced resource.