Move from TV tape to digital is a boon

Movies, television shows, and the Top 40 may change from week to week, but Avid Technology Inc. of Tewksbury remains a constant.

In the 1980s, Avid helped revolutionize the entertainment business with one of the first systems to edit video on a computer screen -- a far more efficient alternative to splicing tape. Today, almost every movie, show, and song is whipped into shape on Avid gear.

The company finished last year with $589.6 million in revenue, a 25 percent increase over the year before. Net income soared to $71.7 million, an increase of 75 percent. The gains moved Avid into number four on the Globe 100 and number five on the Globe's Growth 50 list of the fastest-growing local companies.

Chief executive David Krall said the key has been keeping ahead of the next big trend, which involves no big secret skill. ''It's all about listening to your customers," he said. ''It's trying to figure out what you're good at and how to best service your customers."

Krall said three trends may benefit Avid in coming years. Replacement of videotape with all-digital TV recording and broadcasting systems represents a ''multibillion-dollar trend that's going to happen throughout the rest of the decade." Likewise, recorded music is increasingly mixed through digital systems, including Avid's. Finally, Krall said the TV industry's ongoing conversion to high-definition broadcast formats represents as big an investment as the switch from black-and-white to color TV in the 1960s. When NBC's ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien" switched to high definition this month, it used Avid gear.

Steve Audette, a senior video editor for the ''Frontline" series at Boston's WGBH-TV, said Avid already has the professional editing market locked up. Where it's vulnerable, Audette said, is among amateurs who may become the professionals of tomorrow -- but not Avid customers. ''The industry's changing, and they're trying to adjust to the new environment," Audette said.

This spring, Avid is closing a $460 million buy of Pinnacle Systems Inc. The Mountain View, Calif., firm is the leading maker of Windows software for editing video on home computers. Through it, Avid aims to extend its reach from Hollywood to the amateur.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.