Magna Systems and NEP have announced the largest ever installation of RTS IP talkback equipment in Australia. The talkback system forms part of NEP’s new Andrews Hubs, located in Sydney and Melbourne, and connects the hubs with sporting venues and OB trucks across the country via a new high-bandwidth IP network.
NEP Australia’s Director of Technology, Marc Segar said, “Once NEP committed to an all-IP ecosystem at the Andrews Hubs and in our four new all-IP outside broadcast trucks we began the search for the very best IP-based technology. The RTS talkback system we selected fits perfectly into the ethos of the hubs as the new keypanels with control over IP enable us to configure local keypanel settings and allows us access to every panel in the system remotely. In other words anyone anywhere at anytime can communicate via the RTS IP comms. This makes it not only efficient and effective but also future-proof.”
NEP’s search for their new IP-based talkback began at the end of last year when Segar and his team including Head of Audio and Communications Salvador Santos, went to the market to see which systems could deliver on their exact IP requirements.
Santos explained, “We wanted a decentralised system that could be incredibly flexible and which would allow any studio to take on any of the broadcast comms responsibilities from around the country. This meant equipping the hubs, our new hybrid OB trucks and refurbishing our current OB trucks with the latest in IP technology. For the talkback side one of the people we asked for a proof of concept was Lucas Bohm the RTS product manager at Magna Systems and Engineering.”
Once the proof of concepts from all solution providers had been presented Segar, Santos and their colleague, Michael Saliba, began the rigorous testing and assessment process.
Santos continued, “We had experienced the new RTS ADAM-M matrix and new keypanels when they were installed in The Bunker at NEP’s Everleigh HQ last year, so we knew they were good. Once we tested them to their limits alongside competitive offerings it was clear that the RTS solution more closely met all of our requirements.”
The decision to choose an RTS IP-based talkback system meant that both NEP hubs, the four new hybrid OB trucks and the refurbished current RTS-based OB trucks would have 100 percent RTS comms which in turn meant the new system was not only the largest RTS installation in Australia but also the most advanced.
In total the system included multiple ADAM-M matrix frames – the highest density IP frames on the market – all with redundant power supplies and MCIIe control accounts, new OMNEO IP and Dante audio-enabled OMI32 32-channel and OMI48 48 –channel cards to connect all of the keypanels, multiple TM10K Trunk Masters all with redundancy between the trucks and hubs, RVON16 IP cards for the long haul trunk lines, over 300 of the latest fully software optioned KP-5032, KP-4016, EKP-4016 and DKP-4016 keypanels, over 300 PH-88R5 headsets, multiple Roameo AP-1800 DECT wireless access points and TR-1800 wireless four-button beltpacks.
Marc Segar concluded, “The ease of the RTS talkback system’s IP connectivity across one national network and being able to trunk all the ADAM-M matrices together on such a large scale was key in the purchase of this equipment and its fair to say we now have the very latest in IP talkback technology.”
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