Luidia announced a go-to-market agreement with Sony Electronics to bundle an eBeam Edge with the new generation of Sony VPL short throw projectors:

“Luidia Inc., a global provider of interactive solutions designed to capture and share digital content, and Sony Electronics Inc. today announced an agreement that will offer Sony projectors with a Luidia eBeam Edge as a bundled solution to customers. Sony will debut this interactive bundle featuring its new line of VPL short throw projectors at InfoComm 2011.

Reinforcing Sony’s goals to transform traditional classrooms and meeting rooms into high-tech spaces, this solution offers enterprise, education and government customers the opportunity to leverage Luidia’s interactive eBeam technology to create, capture and share information, such as meeting notes or lesson plans. The eBeam Edge, the smallest, lightest interactive product on the market, transforms virtually any existing flat surface into an interactive workspace.“

For my recent take on the eBeam technology, see improved visual collaboration with eBeam – both face-to-face and remote.

My Comments
1. For any firm breaking into new markets, collaborating with other providers who are already there offers a faster on-ramp. This is a good alliance for Luidia.

2. From Sony’s perspective, differentiation from other providers of projectors is important. It’s a crowded market, and Sony is a premium product.

3. The offer will need to be “staffed right” on the front lines, so that when a prospect asks “What’s this eBeam thing?,” the salesperson will be able to speak intelligently about what it is and what it does. I hope both Luidia and Sony are including training and upskilling programs in their channel efforts. The key is to show that it’s more than a projector and some extra hardware, but rather a very different (and better) way of collaborating during in-person and remote meetings.