Housley spearheads InFocus expansion plans

InFocus has appointed Mark Housley as CEO alongside wider expansions in its team and product range. InAVate catches up with Housley to find out what his growth plans are for EMEA and APAC as well as what he sees for the future presentation spaces and collaboration.

Housley, who has been member of InFocus’ board since 2009, will focus on new regions and development of products with strategic partners. The company cites recent success of a Foxconn collaboration that has spawned combined videoconferencing whiteboard products, large format touch displays and projection.

InFocus will also target specific emerging markets, such as India, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and parts of Europe.

“We will look for places where growth infrastructure exists,” explains Housley. “We’re strategically opportunistic and will look for partners and products where we can be successful not just selling millions, but hundreds of millions of products to bolster substantial growth. We’ll continue to look at urbanising areas where businesses need to connect the same way they do in other progressive markets and we’ll be there with the solutions that enable success.”

In terms of future product development Housley points out that InFocus grew up as a projector company.

However, he continues: “But the 21st century workplace lives in a connected world, and InFocus now has the channel, products and customers to make collaboration happen. Now, we develop end-to-end solutions specifically designed to improve communication, improve collaboration while eliminating the need to travel. We believe videoconferencing, digital whiteboards, projection and interactive touchscreens are the products that are going to help teams collaborate, save money and increase business.

“Currently, we have all types of products that will connect you. We still have projection for large rooms and schools but now we’ve added integration that enables collaboration with mobile devices.”

With presentation and collaboration options evolving and increasing, InAVate asked Housley if projection would remain relevant for meeting spaces and classrooms in the future.

“There are many applications for which projectors make perfect sense,” he answers. “Especially large areas and in education. Projectors are unbeaten for applications that need a larger and more affordable image than a panel can provide. We’ll continue to innovate and lead in projection.

“But we also know that technology in the meeting and classroom is changing and while projectors are a great start, and still have their place, there’s so much more that we can and do make to solve these demands for a connected world, especially in the area of video conferencing. We’re motivated by constantly improving how connections happen around the world and we have the opportunity and capability to fulfil on that commitment.”

Raymond Yu, who has been serving as interim CEO, will retain his role as InFocus president.

Previously, Housley served as CEO of several companies, including Vigilent, Radius and Glimmerglass and served on the board of directors at Portrait Displays and Apton Biosystems. He was also part of the leadership teams at IBM, Media 100 and Siemens as well as being on the founding team of Splash Technology and Silicon Wireless.

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