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It's moving day at AJA Video, the Grass Valley designer and manufacturer of high-end digital video equipment for the broadcast industry.
Workers are shuffling between the old offices on Crown Point Circle to gleaming new digs on Litton Drive in Grass Valley, near Sierra College and the BriarPatch Co-Op Market.
Co-owner John Abt and his 120 employees are settling into two buildings totaling 66,000 squre feet this week, just as the marketing and demand for one of the company's newest products catches fire.
This spring during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, the company launched a digital video recorder compatible with Apple products that allows recording and playback without cumbersome videotape. The product was announced at NAB in April and shipped to customers, including major broadcast networks in the United States, Europe and Asia, beginning in September. About 40 percent of the firm's business comes from overseas.
“Basically, we were out of space where we are now, and this will allow us to keep growing (steadily),” Abt said.
As the company moves, its innovation and product lines continue to sell well despite the overall sagging economy.
“We feel good,” Abt said. “Everyone was concerned about 2009, and we've weathered it quite well.”
Abt, who co-owns the privately held company with his wife Darlene, declined to reveal the firm's latest revenue figures. “It's more than you think,” he said.
AJA Video owns the smaller 22,000-square-foot building that's used for engineering and product development; it leases a larger 44,000-square-foot building from a group of partners that includes the Litton family, who have longtime ties to Grass Valley.
“They've all been designed for our operations so it will be more efficient for us,” Abt said. “They're not your traditional ‘low-bidder' buildings.”
The buildings were constructed by Tru-Line Builders of Grass Valley and Gray Construction of Auburn. Jeff Gold of Nevada City served as the architect.
Abt opened AJA Video in 1993 after working for eight years as an engineer at the Grass Valley Group.
Leaving Grass Valley really wasn't an option, Abt said, because of the value of intellectual capital already in the area.
“Everybody lives here, but even just going to Auburn would have been problematic,” Abt said. “We don't want all of our employees driving up and down Highway 49, that's for sure.”
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
Workers are shuffling between the old offices on Crown Point Circle to gleaming new digs on Litton Drive in Grass Valley, near Sierra College and the BriarPatch Co-Op Market.
Co-owner John Abt and his 120 employees are settling into two buildings totaling 66,000 squre feet this week, just as the marketing and demand for one of the company's newest products catches fire.
This spring during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, the company launched a digital video recorder compatible with Apple products that allows recording and playback without cumbersome videotape. The product was announced at NAB in April and shipped to customers, including major broadcast networks in the United States, Europe and Asia, beginning in September. About 40 percent of the firm's business comes from overseas.
“Basically, we were out of space where we are now, and this will allow us to keep growing (steadily),” Abt said.
As the company moves, its innovation and product lines continue to sell well despite the overall sagging economy.
“We feel good,” Abt said. “Everyone was concerned about 2009, and we've weathered it quite well.”
Abt, who co-owns the privately held company with his wife Darlene, declined to reveal the firm's latest revenue figures. “It's more than you think,” he said.
AJA Video owns the smaller 22,000-square-foot building that's used for engineering and product development; it leases a larger 44,000-square-foot building from a group of partners that includes the Litton family, who have longtime ties to Grass Valley.
“They've all been designed for our operations so it will be more efficient for us,” Abt said. “They're not your traditional ‘low-bidder' buildings.”
The buildings were constructed by Tru-Line Builders of Grass Valley and Gray Construction of Auburn. Jeff Gold of Nevada City served as the architect.
Abt opened AJA Video in 1993 after working for eight years as an engineer at the Grass Valley Group.
Leaving Grass Valley really wasn't an option, Abt said, because of the value of intellectual capital already in the area.
“Everybody lives here, but even just going to Auburn would have been problematic,” Abt said. “We don't want all of our employees driving up and down Highway 49, that's for sure.”
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
