InfoSmart Group, a manufacturer of DVDR and media storage products in Hong Kong and Brazil, said it has secured an initial test order for the Blu-ray production line from Media Asia Distribution in Hong Kong. 

 

Media Asia Distribution is a recorded-media supplier of live concerts and films in Asia. Media Asia Distribution has placed a 2,000-unit test order with InfoSmart for a film featuring two popular Cantonese actors, Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng. Media Asia Distribution is likely to place 40,000 units of Blu-ray disk production orders by September, according to InfoSmart.

 

InfoSmart acquired a $5 million loan in April to help expand Blu-ray Disk (BD) production to developed markets such as Asia and also to South America, where they are one of the largest DVDR manufacturers.

 

Media Asia Distribution’s order is the first order procured by InfoSmart on its newly-installed Anwell Blu-ray equipment line. InfoSmart purchased the Blu-ray Disk replication system – Smart BD – from Anwell Technologies in March, to install it in InfoSmart’s Hong Kong plant.

 

InfoSmart is the first to launch commercial Blu-ray in China and Hong Kong. The company aims to become the sole supplier of Blu-ray in the estimated annual 6 million-unit BD disk market in Hong Kong and China. The first order it received from Media Asia Distribution is the stepping-stone to this market opportunity, the company said.

 

InfoSmart estimates monthly demand of BD disks at 350,000 units for Hong Kong and 150,000 units for China. According to InfoSmart officials, Media Asia Distribution is one of many Hong Kong-based media reproduction companies whose future reproductions are 100 percent dedicated to the BD format.

 

"This first order is one of many we anticipate will follow," said Parker Seto, CEO of InfoSmart in a statement. "As the only Blu-ray producer in Hong Kong and the first in China, we expect to see several future orders as Blu-ray begins to dominate the visual media market.”

 

According to Seto, the addition of BD production lines and the acquisition of Anwell unit not only expand Blu-Ray production capacity, but also add balance to InfoSmart’s product portfolio which consists of DVDR, Flash Memory and now BD. InfoSmart and Anwell have also agreed to collaborate and leverage each other’s Blu-ray disk manufacturing process know-how.