Grass Valley Group Unveils Routing Strategy for an Evolutionary, Affordable Path to Full Facility Control—Company also announces low-cost SDI modules for 7500 WB Series matrix frames; 15% overall routing price reduction for international customers—In related news, the Grass Valley Group today said that it is making its powerful line of routers more accessible to markets outside the United States with a 15 percent reduction in price. Additionally, the company announced the availability of low-cost, standard definition modules for the company's 7500 WB wideband router — giving customers the ability to future-proof their router by enabling them to make only an incremental investment should they decide to migrate to high definition or higher data rate progressive scan formats. "What's the point of buying a routing system today just to have to completely replace it once new or disruptive compressed video, high definition video and networking technologies hit the market in the next six to 12 months? With Grass Valley's routing strategy and systems, broadcasters and other content creators can buy what's needed today and easily scale their routing infrastructure to take advantage of the capacity offered by next-generation technology," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of the Grass Valley Group. The cornerstone of Grass Valley Group's routing control strategy, which spans a low-cost, PC-based, scaleable system to a high-speed, networked, full-function facility control system, are the company's 7500 WB wideband matrices and the 7500 NB narrowband matrices. With more than 1,000 Series 7000 systems units shipped in crosspoint configurations ranging from 32x32 to 1024 x 1024, Grass Valley routing systems are gaining rapid worldwide acceptance — from high-end digital satellite distributors and facilities streaming video over hundreds of channels to applications in smaller stations. The systems are becoming a critical link in broadcast and other content provider facilities' increasingly sophisticated LAN/WAN and video networks. Customers include EchoStar, China Central TV, the New York Stock Exchange, France Telecom, and the ORF. "Between Grass Valley's routing systems, its innovative facility control technologies, and our SNMP-based NetCentral software for remote monitoring and diagnostics, customers can make a practical, affordable investment in a routing system — and end up with full facility control," said Thorsteinson. "Our systems are built to be faster, more responsive, more reliable, and lower cost than any other system." Standards-based routing systems scale with facilities' networking capabilities. Grass Valley routing systems are architected to take advantage both of advances in networking technology within broadcast and other content providers' facilities. For example, the new, feature-enhanced control panels connect with powerful MCPU (master central processing unit) control systems to provide users distributed control throughout their facilities. The Grass Valley routing control system is based on the Microsoft® Windows® computer platform and real time VX Works hardware platform, enabling the support of multiple networking formats. Going far beyond the traditional role of moving signals from point to point within facilities, the next-generation Grass Valley routing system will be capable of providing remote machine control over a variety of devices, remote monitoring and diagnostics, and of being highly scalable as customers' requirements shift. In a series of announcements over the next 12 months, the Grass Valley
Group will demonstrate how their routing systems will evolve from meeting
the requirements of an individual who wants a low-end PC-based system in a
post production environment to multiple distributed controllers throughout
a geographically dispersed organisation. Combined with integrated machine
control over devices from video servers to editors and systems re-purposing
content for the Web "At the high end, this system will offer complete frame-accurate deterministic switching, sophisticated redundancy, integrated machine control, SNMP status monitoring, extensive third party control, LAN and WAN control, and virtual control panels," said Thorsteinson. Also included in this new router strategy is the inclusion of advanced application programming interfaces (APIs), making tighter integration with the automation systems controlling the router possible and sophisticated control of third party routing systems enabling the use of the existing routing infrastructure. All systems will be controlled through the next generation Grass Valley control to promote seamless facility equipment integration. Media Without Bounds Today's announcement is part of the Grass Valley Group's Media Without Bounds™ technology and solutions initiative to optimise video and other content creators' digital distribution strategies. The company's signal-management systems support that initiative through next-generation routing architectures that offer virtually infinite scalability, modular products that enable a smooth transition to digital signal processing, and tight integration between these signal-management products and the company's server and switcher lines. Editors Note The Grass Valley Group knows more about high-quality video than anybody else—especially as video goes digital. Interactive television. Digital cinema. Data-enhanced broadcasting. Internet. It's a world of Digicasting™—of Media Without Bounds™. Whether online or on the air, the Emmy® award-winning Grass Valley Group, a privately held digital media leader, has the hardware, software, and new media technologies necessary to get content wherever it needs to go. For the latest Grass Valley Group product information, including Vibrint solutions, visit www.grassvalleygroup.com. # |
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