Further Alignment with ELAN Delivers on Sunfire’s Promise to Provide Best-of-Breed Customer Services and Communications for Dealers
Lexington, Ky, May 21, 2008 — Sunfire Corp., a leading specialist in the design, manufacture and marketing of luxury home theater goods for the custom installation and specialty retail markets, announced another significant milestone in its joint business relationship with sister company, ELAN Home Systems. Effective May 27, 2008 Sunfire order entry, sales support, and select repairs will transition from Snohomish, Washington to Lexington KY, ELAN’s headquarters, providing additional staff and support for Sunfire Dealers.
With this move, there will be a single point of contact for those Dealers who sell both Sunfire and ELAN, as well as additional inside staff to handle the remarkable Sunfire sales growth. At the same time, the company will begin to ship inventory from ELAN’s Lexington KY warehouse, reducing days of shipping while helping to control shipping costs to 60% of Sunfire’s Dealer base located east of the Mississippi River. These steps will result in new benefits and streamlined interaction for the Sunfire Dealer.
Sunfire Research and Development, Western Technical Support and electronics service will continue to be located in Washington State, with Bob Carver as Chief Technology Officer and innovator for the Company. Select product service will now be conducted out of Lexington. Technical Support for the Eastern U.S. timezone will continue out of Lexington, as has been the practice for the past fourteen months, providing Dealers with timely solutions to all of their technical support requests.
“Nearly three years after ELAN Home Systems acquired Sunfire, the next phase of our business plan is about to begin”, explained Sunfire General Manager, Mark Weisenberg. “We expect these operational changes to benefit our customers world wide. So far, we have enjoyed great success with ELAN Dealers adding Sunfire Home Theater systems to their mix and this is another step to provide the world-class customer care they deserve.”
Bob Farinelli, President of both ELAN and Sunfire commented, “It is our ongoing commitment to continuously provide superior sales, support, training and technologies to the Sunfire Dealers, and these latest additions provide our Dealers with more tools and resources than ever before. Our first promise to the market was to offer economies in business with our Dealers who sell both ELAN and Sunfire. We did that under our partnership program, ELAN U, and combined training efforts.”
Mr. Farinelli went on to add, “The second promise was to combine award-winning ELAN control technology into step-up Sunfire Home Theater products wherever it made sense. Sunfire’s new 401 Series, shipping this summer, incorporates the ELAN OleXL Keypad for multi-zone control and VIA!migo iPod interface. In addition, we have several hundred ELAN Dealers who have told us that they want to order both brands with a single phone call. Responding to our Dealer’s requests is at the heart of these positive new steps.”
Over the past two plus years, since ELAN and Sunfire joined forces, Sunfire has added hundreds of qualified new accounts that share the ELAN brand, resulting in double the sales volume. Much of this success is attributed to Sunfire’s unique model of providing relevant yet unconventional designs with complete, and highly profitable Home Theater systems. Another winning Sunfire strategy has been to create Flagship showrooms where our premium Dealers can share the full Sunfire experience with their clients. Sunfire sales growth has been clear confirmation that luxury goods continue to sell in tougher economic times.
Further communications with ELAN and Sunfire Dealers explaining all aspects of the transition will be taking place in the coming days and weeks.
About ELAN Home Systems:
ELAN Home Systems is the leading manufacturer of innovative, award-winning Multi-Room audio/video and home control systems. Based in Lexington, KY, the company’s whole-home systems were the first to integrate audio, video, phones and third-party products to create a seamless, easy-to-use “whole house” experience. The company’s unique products provide complete lifestyle, feature-rich solutions, yet can be configured to fit the specific needs of every homeowner. ELAN products are distributed through a comprehensive channel of select Dealers and Distributors throughout the United States, Canada and 58 countries worldwide. To learn more, visit www.elanhomesystems.com.
About Sunfire:
Based in Snohomish, Washington and founded by renowned audio innovator Bob Carver, Sunfire Corp. designs, develops, manufactures and markets luxury home theater and audio products that deliver exceptional performance, features and value, creating powerful, emotional experiences wherever they are heard.
Dedicated to improving the state of the art in audio processing for home theater, Sunfire’s numerous patented technologies represent over 35 years of scientific research culminating in several industry firsts. Innovative patents include the Tracking Downconverter power supply used in the company’s acclaimed, award-winning subwoofers and amplifiers, as well as the High Pressure, High Back-emf technology also used in its subwoofers.
For further information, please contact Peter Hoagland at (540) 349-9648 or by email at peter@hoagland.us or by visiting www.sunfire.com.
