IAAF World Relays in Japan Are Produced Out of NEP Andrews Hub in Sydney

The long-distance effort showcased deployment of IP technology

NEP continues to prove out new use cases for the Andrews Production Hub, which is located in Sydney. The latest accomplishment? This past weekend, facilities there were used to produce coverage of the IAAF World Relays, held in Yokohama, Japan, more than 4,840 miles away. On-location hardware and crews from NEP UK covered the event locally with hitless 10-Gbps circuits on the Telstra Distributed Production Network used to link the two locations. ITN, Telstra, and NEP’s UK, Japan, and Australia teams worked in concert, showcasing the use of IP technology and extreme low-latency compression.

For IAAF World Relay Championships, crews onsite in Yokohama were connected to NEP’s Andrews Hub 4,840 miles away.

Thirty HD camera signals, including 17 main cameras and two Sony HDC-4800 cameras in ultra-high frame rate, were sent from Japan to Sydney, along with graphics, which also were produced onsite (camera shading was done onsite as well). The remainder of the production team and hardware were based at the Andrews Hub in Sydney, with the finished program transmitted from the Hub to broadcast-rights holders around the world.

“The IAAF World Relays extend the ‘hub-and-spoke, anyone, anywhere’ concept that NEP’s Andrews Hub were built on, meaning people can work from any location so long as they’re connected to our network,” says NEP Australia President Soames Treffry. “This milestone project cements the reality of working across multiple geographies and reflects our strategy to deploy permanent facilities in key markets which all share the same resources — both human and technical — to meet critical industry needs.”

NEP UK & Ireland President Steve Jenkins notes that NEP has a long-standing relationship with ITN and the IAAF. “It has been great to work with them and our colleagues across the NEP Group to offer groundbreaking solutions. NEP’s full suite of solutions,” he adds, “means we can offer ITN and all our clients agile, fit-for-purpose technical services — whether configured from hub, spoke, flypack, or truck. We’re looking forward to further building on these new technologies and our relationship with ITN and IAAF at the World Championships in Doha.” 

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