Discreet to be rebranded into Autodesk Media and Entertainment

Autodesk announced a new division called Entertainment and Media a few days ago. This new division was previously known as Discreet, and will keep on doing what it does best: providing innovative products and services for the media and entertainment markets such as 3dsmax, Combustion, Inferno, Flame and Cleaner.

The transition of Discreet into Autodesk Media and Entertainment demonstrates Autodesk’s continued commitment to customers it has served for more than a decade. While the dedicated sales, support and product development teams remain unchanged, the brand change signifies the incremental resources Autodesk Media and Entertainment will be utilizing to better serve customers. This ensures that the creative toolset from Autodesk Media and Entertainment will stay on the leading edge of product innovation and continue to empower artists to solve their most complex production challenges. Additionally, Autodesk Consulting is extending its organization by adding a dedicated Media and Entertainment practice.

“When we launched our new corporate branding effort in March, we made it clear that Autodesk is in the business of helping customers realize their ideas,” said Carl Bass, chief operating officer of Autodesk. “Creating Autodesk Media and Entertainment is more proof that we have a single mission as a company, whether we are serving customers who design our buildings, infrastructure and manufactured products or create the amazing content we see on movie, TV and video game screens. Autodesk is a trusted advisor, and we have the technology to make these customers more creative and competitive as they turn their ideas into reality.”

“The media and entertainment industries are at an inflection point, where creativity and productivity must meet. From the 4K digital intermediate process for film making to uncompressed HD programming and next generation game consoles, our customers are expecting us to innovate and solve the most complex of production requirements,” said Martin Vann, vice president of Autodesk Media and Entertainment. “By integrating and unifying our brand with Autodesk, we position ourselves to become a more closely aligned division of a billion dollar plus company. Autodesk Media and Entertainment will not only provide a broader and more strategic presence for Autodesk, but a better platform for us to compete within our core markets of film, television, gaming and design visualization”.

Autodesk Entertainment and Media will demonstrate the benefits mentioned above at the upcoming NAB convention in Las Vegas which will be held there from 18 to 21 April 2005. They will also unveil some new state-of-the-art products and significant enhancements to their existing product line.

Autodesk will be maintaining it's strong presence in Montreal by headquartering the new division in Montreal, Canada. The same place where Discreet has been based since they got acquired by Autodesk in 1999.