Optelec And VisionCue Announce Strategic Alliance

Today, Optelec US Inc., a member of the Optelec Group, and VisionCue, an Oregon based provider of access technology for the blind and visually impaired jointly announced a strategic alliance whereby VisionCue would assume all primary distribution responsibilities for Optelec’s ALVA product line throughout North America. In September, 2005, Optelec acquired the assets of ALVA BV., the industry’s leading manufacturer of refreshable Braille technology.

“Such an alliance allows for Optelec to capitalize upon the rich history, exemplary reputation, and product quality synonymous with the ALVA name,” stated Larry Lewis, President, Blindness Products Sales, Optelec US  “We’re delighted to be working with a fantastic ALVA champion, Larry Lake and the VisionCue team to enable us to grow the ALVA business in the U.S. as we work towards incorporating the current ALVA know-how into our evolving blindness products line.”

VisionCue will be the primary reseller of the ALVA product line throughout North America and will play a leading role in managing and optimizing the current ALVA distribution model.  VisionCue will also be distributing the entire Optelec Blindness products line throughout Oregon and Washington to compliment its National ALVA efforts.  The Optelec US Blindness Products sales team will assist the VisionCue team in shoring up ALVA sales in a variety of capacities, thus creating a joint selling effort which will propel this product line to even greater heights.

VisionCue agrees that the new partnership with Optelec is a positive step for both companies.  “We feel strongly that the best way to serve our resellers and end-users is to partner with the top manufacturers in the industry,” said Larry Lake, president of VisionCue. “Optelec has proven its leadership with consistently innovative, high quality accessibility technology.  Our agreement gives VisionCue the opportunity to expand our catalog to include Optelec’s popular Braille and speech products and to tap the expertise of our colleagues at Optelec.”