The Sphere continues to be the most viral entertainment venue in the world. People all across the globe are fascinated by the giant glowing orb of LED lights outside of the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas.
However, it would not exist without two Lebanese immigrants in Montreal. Fred and Bassam Jalbout started a small company called ‘Saco Technologies‘ back in 1987.
The brothers manufactured very specific special panels that were required by the nuclear power plant in Pickering, Ontario. Not long thereafter, energy utility companies across North America started to catch on to their product. They loved the easy-to-install features of the panels, but they were most excited about the LED displays that were indefinitely variable in regard to brightness and color.
Fred and Bassam’s company developed an even better panel by 1997 and received a call from a rock band in Ireland. U2 wanted to check out the new, full-programmable 2ft X 2ft panels.
One glance was all it took. Bono and his band bought all of the panels in existence.
At that point, the Jalbouts and Saco Technologies changed their focus and started to create larger panels for U2’s PopMart tour. From there, artists like The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Celine Deion and Madonna wanted one of the LED screens for their tours.
The Sphere did too!
When MSG first announced plans for the $2.3 billion venue, it reached out to Saco. Fred and Bassam were tasked with both the interior and the exterior of the Sphere.
It was their biggest, most challenging job to date.
The visual capabilities inside of the Sphere continue to blow minds with a resolution that is about 120 times that of a regular HD television. The exosphere, which is made up of 1.2 million LED “pucks” that are set 20 centimeters apart, was an equally, if not more difficult to figure out.
Saco got it done!
Fred and Bassam Jalbout immigrated to Canada and started a small technology company more than 30 years ago. Now, in 2024, they are largely responsible for one of the most talked about places in the world.