Belfast-based company sign £10 million deal

Belfast-based audio technology firm, APT, has clinched a £10 million deal that will see the company supplying essential software to Korea for the development of wireless headsets for electrical manufacturer Samsung.

APT is to supply Intellectual Property (IP) software to Open Solution Ltd of South Korea a move that has been described as strengthening the local company's position as “a global leader in digital sound compression technology”.

Economy Minister, Sir Reg Empey, announced the news of the APT contract with Noel McKenna, the company's managing director, at the start of a visit to Northern Ireland by Baroness Symons, the UK Minister for International Trade and Investment and the board members of British Trade International (BTI).

APT was formed over a decade ago by audio researchers at Queen's University under the QUBIS umbrella. Subsequently acquired by Solid State Logic of Oxford, APT's products are used by broadcasters such as the BBC, Classic FM, Japan's NHK, China Radio and South African Broadcasting, and by recording studios and by movie studios. APT digital sound has been used in movies such as Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List.

Sir Reg said: "The contract, the biggest ever won by the company, is a signal to the global marketplace that a Northern Ireland company, APT, is at the very forefront of the latest digital technology.

"It is another impressive achievement in the global marketplace by APT, the type of company which the Programme for Government pinpoints as holding the key to the reshaping of Northern Ireland into a knowledge-led and export-driven economy in which there are exceptionally strong links between industry and the universities.”

Mr McKenna added: "The contract, the company's first in the consumer electronics marketplace, will encourage us to actively seek similar deals with other large corporations working in this market". (CL)