Snell & Wilcox has integrated its Kahuna SD/HD multiformat production switcher with the NewsForce SD/HD newsroom system from Harris Corporation. As part of this collaboration, engineers from Harris and Snell & Wilcox worked together over a period of several months to integrate Kahuna with a broad range of Harris products including the Harris Platinum router, NEXIO AMP server, ADC automation system, Inscriber G7 3D graphics systems, and the CENTRIO multiviewer. 

The two companies will demonstrate a joint Kahuna/NewsForce solution in the Harris booth (N2502) at the upcoming NAB 2008 exhibition, which is being held from April 14-17 in Las Vegas. This presentation will highlight the power of Kahuna for automated newsroom applications by using an AP ENPS rundown to deliver instructions to the Harris ADC automation system, which will drive the Kahuna — queuing, playing, and switching media elements from that list and advancing them to air. 

"The integration of Kahuna and the Harris NewsForce system gives our joint customers a powerful solution for delivering high quality, automated news broadcasts," said Joe Zaller, VP of corporate development at Snell & Wilcox. "It also broadens our commitment of making Kahuna interoperable with as many third-party products as possible. Through our work with Harris we have added significantly to the list of components that can be managed seamlessly by Kahuna."

"ADC control of the Snell & Wilcox Kahuna production switcher adds yet another level of functionality to the NewsForce solution, which provides broadcast operations of all sizes with a comprehensive range of newsroom production and management capabilities," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications. "The Harris commitment to interoperability is providing concrete benefits to today's broadcasters. With the interoperable NewsForce solution, customers can gain unprecedented capability to speed their news products to air."