With great fanfare, the 10,000th Pathport® shipped out of Pathway Connectivity’s factory in Calgary in October. 

That Pathport node joined thousands of Pathports worldwide providing mission-critical DMX distribution and management in schools, theatres, cruise ships, theme parks and casinos. Pathports are not just in Pathway products either. Pathport’s popularity has also lead to its integration into branded products from ETC, Strand and ET. First introduced at LDI 2000, Pathport was instrumental in bringing Ethernet to mainstream theatrical lighting. Prior to its introduction, the only DMX-Ethernet solutions were price-prohibitive for anything but the largest installations. Pathway changed that, offering the first ‘low cost Ethernet node’ for our industry.

But Pathport almost didn’t make it to its own launch! Three months before LDI 2000, the Pathway R&D team discovered an undocumented flaw in the processor chosen for the prototypes that effectively made DMX unusable. The Pathport development team, consisting of Gary Douglas, Shaun Jackman, Kevin Loewen, Sandy Twose and Shawn Vike rose to the challenge and had a whole new design and prototype functioning by LDI. It met with instant acclaim from the industry and was awarded a prestigious LDI Product of the Year Award.

In the years since, the Pathport product line has expanded. Pathport Uno, a low cost single-port node that was launched at LDI ‘06, carries on that tradition of innovation.  Pathway President Dave Higgins remarks, “Recognizing that data distribution has become a critical component of entertainment lighting systems, Pathway remains committed to providing the products and tools that technicians and consultants require. We expect to see more milestones like this in the near future.”