IBC 2017: MultiDyne integrates Dante Audio over IP networking into fibre transport solutions
MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions has amplified its audio strategy with the integration of Dante Audio over IP networking from Audinate into its range of openGear solutions for modular, high-density fibre transport and signal conversion.
Audinate’s Dante is the de facto leader in Audio over IP networking for the commercial AV and broadcast markets with more than 1100 Dante-enable products available today, and is used in facilities worldwide for reliable, low-latency, multichannel digital audio transport.
MultiDyne’s innovation gives users a broader palette to leverage Dante across fibre networks, allowing users to convert XLR audio, line-level audio, intercom and more to Dante—and vice versa—at the inputs and outputs of MultiDyne hardware. This includes the Bulldog field fibre transport system, and the FiberNet optical network control system among other platforms.
The interoperability between Dante networking software and MultiDyne hardware is in part made possible through a special openGear 8×8 module from MultiDyne’s OG Series that the company will unveil at IBC2017 (stand 11.D40). Though the initial release will support an 8×8 architecture, the scalability and high density associated with Dante and MultiDyne products will allow users to create a “matrix” within MultiDyne hardware to support multichannel capacities up to 64×64.
MultiDyne President Frank Jachetta noted that while the new openGear module integrates a standard Dante “gateway” to move Dante audio in and out of MultiDyne hardware, what happens once inside that hardware is what sets MultiDyne’s innovation apart. The result elevates its stature beyond a simple “line-in, line-out” product to a true long-distance transport platform for broadcast and live events.
“We have designed this Dante-enabled openGear module to operate within a flexible framework of connections inside our fibre transport solutions that can move between XLR, mic and line switches, phantom power, on and off control, and even two-wire intercom,” said Jachetta. “And with the benefits of this additional flexibility, our customers working with an ever-increasing number of audio channels get the additional capacity that Dante provides—as much as eight times the amount—along with that industry-standard, Ethernet-based Dante audio transport that broadcasters and content producers crave.”
In relation to specific MultiDyne hardware products, adding the Dante-enabled openGear module to the BullDog essentially brings more channel capacity and functionality for field-based fibre transport to a studio or mobile production truck. The integration of Dante-enabled audio within FiberNet is perhaps more interesting, as it eliminates interface equipment that was traditionally required to bring audio onto the fibre network.
“Optical network systems are faced with significant bottlenecks when it comes to moving audio in and out, and must rely on separate fibre-optic transmitters and receivers to put analogue audio onto a digital fibre network,” said Jachetta. “With the interoperability of Dante, we have created a solution with the ease of use of a legacy I/O panel that integrates switches from mic lines, intercom and so forth, encodes the signals, and adds them to a modern digital network. It simplifies everything from live musical performance and event staging to live sports production on the sidelines.”