NBAE finds winning ways with Artist intercom

Riedel Communications’ Artist Intercom matrix played a powerful communications role at the February 18 NBA All-Star Game at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Providing multiple and flexible intercom channels, the Artist kept the behind-the-game players reliably coordinated and seamlessly on-cue: producers, stage manager, time-out coordinator, lighting, sound, front-of-house and a gaggle of broadcast trucks in the TV compound that sent the game to fans throughout the world.

This was the fifth consecutive year that NBA Entertainment named Wireless First, Inc. to supply the system and the fifth consecutive pick of Riedel by Wireless First. Connecting four locations 1,000-feet apart, the Artist Intercom matrix supported all of the pre-game, half time and post-game entertainment events, including appearances by Christina Aguilera, Wayne Newton and Penn & Teller. The Artist gear starring at the 55th annual All-Star Game provided a decentralized fiber-based network backbone for intercom and distribution of analog and digital audio and TCP/IP signals. With Artist as many as 128 matrix mainframes can be connected via a redundant optical fiber ring to form a single large, full summing, non-blocking distributed matrix with up to 1,024 ports, saving a considerable amount of cabling.

Kevin Sanford, Founder and President of Wireless First commented on the performance of the intercom system at the game, “The beauty of Riedel’s Artist intercom is that it’s customizable and easy to use even for non-techies. After a five-minute lesson, they can run the panel. The Director configuration software with its remote control function makes it very easy to trouble shoot and change things on the fly quickly. The option to put frames in different locations and easily connect them all through fiber while controlling the whole system from just one location: That’s huge! If you had to go back and forth and interconnect everything there would be miles and miles of cables, not to mention the time it would take for set-up.”

The four Artist mainframes at the NBA All Star Game were linked via a redundant fiber ring and were supported by approximately 30 Artist 1000 series control panels. These control panels feature special LED displays with 8 characters, which provide for optimal legability under all lighting conditions. And, finally, the 8 characters of the display erase the need for cryptic abbreviations on the displays of the intercom panels.