As an industry leader in data connectivity, Avocent, a division of Emerson Network Power (News - Alert), has made such a dent in the broadcast and post production environment that its products are now found in 90 percent of major broadcasting companies, including ABC, CBS and Turner Broadcasting (News - Alert) System, since the division’s inception in 2000.
“Avocent solutions for media and entertainment enable effective shared computing in your specialized work environments,” company officials explain on the Avocent site. “Whether you need a secure digital extension and switching on a single wire or analog extension for master control, graphics and edit, our award-winning, next-generation KVM technology is at the ready. All so your people can keep doing their jobs, whether they’re in the broadcast studio, animation suite, traffic center or master control room.”
Avocent, a leading provider of open, secure, modular solutions that enable customers to simply manage IT complexity, rely on KVM video extensions so that customers can use their editing and graphical systems in an en easier setting.
“We have products that allow you to have users sit at their user stations while having the equipment that they are working on back-racked into a data center,” Paul Nashawaty, director of product marketing for Avocent (News 
- Alert) Products and Services, told TMCnet. “We allow that extension of distance between the user equipment and the physical assets that they are trying to access.”
Broadcast companies would turn to Avocent products for a number of reasons, according to Nashawaty. Specifically, the high definition digital company’s products remove the physical and environmental components of the equipment, like the heating and cooling systems, away from the user station so that the equipment can be better monitored and not interfere with the employee’s work.
Moreover, multiple people are able to connect to the one computer that hosts all the editing services, a machine that can cost upwards of $50,000; the machine is securely locked up; the team can take advantage of resource sharing; and the employee can still enjoy real-time benefits.
“Those people are not remotely connected, but they are actually physically connected to an asset so they have real-time user experience” Nashawaty said.
While Avocent’s core products are data center driven, these products are also a logical fit for the broadcast industry and have been met with great success. Its product sets – the AMX analog KVM switching solution and the HMX digital solution have exceeded customer expectations in the broadcast and post production environments.
After seeing the success its products had in this sector, Avocent listened to its customers and made changes to its products to better meet the broadcast need.
“Listening to customer input and feedback, we adapted the product to make it more of a broadcast-ready solution,” Nashawaty said.
Companies seeking to maintain the physical security and environmental controls of their assets and protect their resources and data can benefit from Avocent products, according to officials.
In addition, Avocent promises that its customers won’t experience a latency issue.
“High quality latency free video transport is a absolute must in the broadcast environment. High latency and pixilation can artificially create issues and slow switching response time and that can make all the difference in a successful broadcast,” Nashawaty said. “Our solution eliminates latency and pixilation between the connectivity of these devices.”
Carrie Schmelkin is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Previously, she worked as Assistant Editor at the New Canaan Advertiser, a 102-year-old weekly newspaper, covering news and enhancing the publication's social media initiatives. Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in English from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by
Rich Steeves
SUBSCRIPTIONS
TMCnet LOGIN
WEBINARS
