LONDON — LWKS Software Ltd. (www.lwks.com), a new company led by M&E industry veterans James Richings and Peter Lambert, has acquired two products from EditShare - the Lightworks NLE and QScan AQC system.
Richings was previously the joint managing director of EditShare EMEA, while Lambert was previously EditShare’s Asia VP of sales and a former country manager with Avid. Key members of the Lightworks and QScan software development teams are also joining LWKS, ensuring continuity of development efforts.
Lightworks is a nonlinear editing system with an installed user base of over one million. It has been used on a range of projects, including LA Confidential, Pulp Fiction and The King's Speech. The Departed and The Aviator were both cut on Lightworks systems and won Oscars for “Best Editing”. More recently, a Lightworks system was used to cut Netflix’s The Irishman. The NLE is known for its simple and intuitive user interface, easy timeline editing and trimming capabilities, and realtime audio and video effects. It is becoming an increasingly popular choice for those creating content for platforms such as YouTube and Twitch.
The QScan AQC software provides intelligent quality control for content creators. It can run on-premise or in the cloud and makes difficult processes human readable. Once a file is processed, it only needs to be checked where changes have been made. It also meets all of the current top-quality standards and delivery specs.
“This is excellent news for both Lightworks and QScan customers,” says Peter Lambert, who will serve as LWKS’s CEO. “It ensures both products will continue to be developed with the care and attention to detail that they deserve. Lightworks and QScan are multi award-winning products used by millions of content creators and hundreds of media services providers worldwide. We are looking forward to integrating exciting new features and toolsets for them in upcoming releases and developing workflows that fuel creativity.”
New releases for both products are currently slated for November, with further announcements to be made regarding the future roadmap as development ramps up. In order to reach a wider customer base, Lambert says the company will offer a range of more subscriptions, including montly, yearly and buy-out options.