Royal Philips Electronics will present its latest innovations in entertainment lighting technology at PLASA08, being held in Earl's Court London from 7-10 September 2008.

At PLASA08, the Philips MSR Gold 1500 FastFit will be on display for the first time, designed in a fixture from Italian manufacturer SGM; the Giotto 1500 family. This new high wattage FastFit lamp concept has an arc gap of 5.5mm and an efficiency of 82 lumens per Watt (which is unparalleled within the industry for this level of lamp wattage), combined with a high colour temperature of 6000° Kelvin and an excellent CRI of 80. Furthermore, the lamp has a flexible power range, dimmable up to 800W.

Since the initial launch of the Philips FastFit system just two-and-a-half years ago, 16 manufacturers have applied the FastFit lamp concept, releasing to date a total of more than 20 fixtures across 10 lamp types. This intensity and level of adoption over such a short period of time is unprecedented, say Philips, underlining that Philips' FastFit concept has heralded a new breed of compact, easy to re-lamp moving head fixtures. During the coming months these numbers are set to rise significantly, the company adds.

PLASA announces launch of BS 8901 programme - currently the only programme of its kind in the world

Recent months have seen a landmark development for the events industry with the arrival of BS 8901, a major new standard set to radically transform the events landscape.

Launched at the end of last year and currently going through a series of pilot trials, BS 8901 specifies the requirements for a sustainable event management system. It encompasses all events, from large-scale tours and unique events such as the 2012 Olympics, to music festivals and amateur sporting events. It will take no prisoners, applying throughout the industry supply chain to venues, organising companies and industry suppliers and contractors.

Not only is 2008 the year of Giacomo Puccini's 150th anniversary celebrations, it is also the 54th year of the Puccini Festival. And the festival now boasts a brand new open-air stage lit with help from ETC on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli in the composer's birthplace of Torre Del Lago, northern Italy.

As well as lighting the opening concert by La Scala Philhamonic Orchestra and Chorus and a tribute to Puccini by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, an ETC Congo jr control desk - with a second as backup - was used for Turandot, Tosca, Madam Butterfly and one the composer's lesser known operas, Edgar, which featured a set design by UK artist Roger Dean (famous for his album cover designs for top bands such as Yes) and costumes designed by his daughter Freyja.

XL Video UK has just supplied an 85 square metre Lighthouse R7 LED screen and dual video/TV playback system for three weeks in London's Trafalgar Square.

It was utilised for daily live coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games and for two different Trafalgar Square Festival performance shows which ran the Thursday to Saturday evenings of each of the 3 weeks.

XL Video was asked onboard by Greenwich & Docklands Festival's technical manager Richard Williamson, following their recent supply of video equipment for two shows at the 2008 Greenwich & Docklands International Festival.

The Greenwich & Docklands Festival team organised and ran the Trafalgar Square Festival elements of the event. The client for the Olympic coverage was the Greater London Authority and LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games).

Bandit Lites recently wrapped another successful tour with country music superstar, Carrie Underwood. Underwood rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol. Since then, she has become a multi-platinum selling recording artist and is a multiple Grammy Award winner among numerous other accolades.

Carrie Underwood recently co-headlined with fellow Bandit client and country music star, Keith Urban. Award-winning lighting designer, Seth Jackson designed Underwood's rig so that it could coexist with Urban's set. Unlike most co-headline tours, Underwood was joining a production that was already on the road. Designed by Marc Brickman, the Urban show had a specific layout and lighting choices that Jackson said he needed to integrate with.

"After many phone calls, Marc and I got together with Chris Nyfield from Hindsight Studios and put both shows together in several 3D models so we could combine all of the elements together into a realistic production. The goal was to give each artist a unique experience and still fit into the trucks and get in and out of the buildings everyday," Jackson explained. "Fortunately, most of the fixture choices matched my own choices, so the integration was fairly simple."