Planar Systems, Inc. is a provider of specialty display solutions for customers in a variety of markets. Products include display components, completed displays, and display solutions and systems based on a variety of flat panel and front and rear-projection technologies. The Company has a global reach with sales offices in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The electronic specialty display industry is driven by the proliferation of display products, from both the increase in "smart" devices and the availability and versatility of LCD flat panel displays at increasingly lower costs; the ongoing need for system providers and integrators to rely on display experts to provide customized solutions; and from the growth in the market for targeted marketing and messaging to consumers using digital signage in a variety of form factors in both indoor and outdoor applications.

The Company's Strategy:
For over a quarter century, Planar has been designing and bringing to market innovative display solutions. The Company focuses on customized or specialty display products and systems, generally in niche display markets where requirements are more stringent, innovation is valued, and the customer is not served or is underserved by the mass-market, commodity display providers.

The Company's Markets:
Planar delivers products for a variety of uses and categorizes the markets it serves as follows: Custom and Embedded, Video Wall, Information Technology (IT), and High-end Home.

Custom and Embedded:
The Company leverages its historical core competency in Electroluminescent ("EL") technologies and employs these technologies to focus on providing customized, embedded and ruggedized displays to Original Equipment Manufacturers ("OEMs") and other system suppliers. Key technologies used in products sold to this market also include customized Active-Matrix Liquid Crystal Display ("AMLCD") panels. These technologies are used in a variety of applications and industries including instrumentation, medical equipment, vehicle dashboards, indoor and outdoor digital signage, and military applications, all of which require functionality in demanding usage conditions such as rugged outdoor conditions, extreme temperatures, instances where shaking or shock is expected, or conditions that necessitate 3-D imaging.

Video Wall:
The Company serves the video wall display market by offering both high-resolution LCD video walls and rear-projection cube video walls for use in large venue digital signage as well as various control room installations. Digital signage video wall installations are used in a growing list of retail, airport, sports arena, and other locations while control room installations are typically found in the security, governmental, telecom, energy, industrial, broadcast, and transportation sectors. The market for control room video wall solutions is driven by the development, expansion, and upgrade of industrial infrastructure such as power plants, transportation systems, communication systems, and security monitoring. LCD based video walls used in the retail and large venue end markets are increasing as LCD costs have declined and LCD technology has made advancements to allow panel tiling with smaller bezels, enabling a growing number of installations in new markets.

Information Technology (IT):
Planar capitalizes on its strong supply chain, logistics, and distribution partnerships to sell a variety of primarily LCD based displays to the IT market. These strong partnerships give the Company the ability to drive revenues in a number of product categories, including desktop monitors, touch displays, widescreen monitors, and front projection equipment through its network of IT resellers.

High-end Home:
The Company serves the high-end home market with its high-performance home theater front projection systems, video processing equipment, large-format thin displays, and accessories. The Company has sold these products under the Runco brand since May 2007 when it acquired Runco International, an industry leader in high-end, luxury video products. Planar's Runco products are primarily sold to its established network of custom home installation dealers in the United States.

Planar is focused on positioning the Company for future growth, strengthening its balance sheet and executing on the specialty display market strategy to deliver long-term shareholder value. For more information, please refer to the information included in this site or contact the Company's Investor Relations office listed below.