In Broadcast - August 2018 - 49
49 www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 8 - Issue 7 | August 2018 InStudio Clear-Com Focuses on IP Solutions A t IBC2018, the focus for ClearCom will be on its wide range of IP intercom solutions. As IP workflows take an increasingly firm hold, it is critical that broadcasters can depend on suppliers to deliver communications over standard IT networks and across the entire workflow. Over the past decade, Clear-Com has continuously demonstrated its intercom over IP leadership with the breadth and depth of IP capabilities for meeting simple to complex communications requirements for the widest set of intercom users. Clear-Com's latest IP innovations include the Audio over IP card (E-IPA), a high-density audio-and-intercomover-IP connection card for the Eclipse HX digital matrix intercom family. Natively using AES67 between ClearCom products and SMPTE2110-30 ready, the E-IPA card provides 64 streams of low-latency, high audio bandwidth connections for linking existing and new IP-based ClearCom products, as well as for the interoperation with AES67 compatible products. With this card, Clear-Com can deliver up to 256 IP ports in the Eclipse HX-Median and HX-Omega systems, claimed as the highestdensity matrix intercom system available on the market. The E-IPA card comes in 16, 32, 48, and 64-port options, and is compatible with Eclipse HX-Delta, Median and Omega systems. Eclipse HX-Delta can support up to three E-IPA cards, while the Median and Omega can carry up to four, allowing users to build a dense network with a mix of connectivity options. Compared to other Audio/ Intercom-over-IP connectivity options on the market, intercom users can optimise their intercom investment on Eclipse HX and conserve system card slots for other connectivity needs. Another key new product is the IP Wireless Transceiver (IPT) for Clear-Com's flagship FreeSpeak II wireless intercom system. The IP Transceiver features AES67 connectivity, low-latency signal distribution, and high-performance audio routing with high audio bandwidth. As a result, FreeSpeak II wireless beltpacks can now be addressed across a user's LANs. Clear-Com E-IPA card transceiver All Transceivers are connected to an AES67 compatible switch and to the Eclipse HX system fitted with an E-IPA card, providing connectivity of up to 64 IPTs per card. Distributed 1.9GHz FreeSpeak II IP Transceivers form an entire wireless communication network that is only limited by the user's LAN. Within the LAN, one or more zones of wireless connections can be created with strategically-placed IPTs. FreeSpeak II wireless beltpacks are seamlessly handed off from IPT to IPT, never losing connection on the intercom as long as the user stays within the radio zone. Each Transceiver supports up to 10 FreeSpeak II wireless beltpacks, and existing FreeSpeak II beltpacks can easily be made compatible with the IPT through a simple firmware upgrade. In its 50th anniversary year, Clear-Com continues to look to the future to solve tomorrow's broadcast challenges today.