US visual solutions company Christie says it has become the first manufacturer to install more than 3,000 digital cinema systems around the world, giving it a nearly 80% share of the emerging digital system market.

The company says that by the end of the year it expects to have installed 4,000 of its DLP Cinema projectors.

More than 2,600 systems have been installed in the US as part of the AccessIT software and funding vehicle introduced in 2005. But the company's systems are also in use in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and South Korea.

To keep up with demand, the company has boosted capacity at its manufacturing facilities by over 400% in the past year, delivering more than 400 DLP Cinema units a month.

'Christie is fulfilling all of its current contracts and commitments and successfully ramping-up its deployment of digital systems by scaling manufacturing and services to meet the global needs of the market,' said Jack Kline, president and COO, Christie USA.