Riedel Communications Announces Forward Thinking Designs

Riedel Communications has announced that Forward Thinking Designs is using Riedel's MediorNet FusioN IP edge devices and MediorNet MuoN SFPs in a VirtU IP platform to bring SMPTE ST 2110 and its many benefits into corporate and hospitality spaces.

In delivering development services including show control programming and custom Q-SYS plugins, the company is leveraging Riedel's IP solutions to handle uncompressed video over a wide area network (WAN) and deliver high-quality, broadcast-grade video into corporate boardrooms, network boardrooms or suites, hospitality areas, event centers, and even houses of worship.

"For AV spaces that traditionally use compressed video, the upgrade to uncompressed HD or UHD broadcast-quality video offers stunning quality improvements," said Evan Hall, Chief of Big Ideas at Forward Thinking Designs. "However, broadcast control systems are quite expensive, so the real trick was to find a broadcast-quality solution at an AV price. That's where Riedel's Open API and the Q-SYS control system come in – providing SMPTE ST 2110 routing and supporting easy embedding and de-embedding of audio into the AES67 ecosystem. We selected Riedel's SMPTE ST 2110 MediorNet solution for its full-featured, RESTful control API and the company's history of making robust, mission-critical products."

Forward Thinking Designs deployed Riedel MuoNs, which offer processing such as up/down/cross conversion and embedding/deembedding capabilities, within a VirtU IP core infrastructure platform. This was combined with Riedel MediorNet FusioNs for signal conversion of SDI or HDMI to IP and IP to HDMI or SDI, at the edge, using the Riedel API to interface to Q-SYS control. The solution can control seamless embedding and de-embedding of AES67 signals and handle all required signal conversion. Pairing Riedel's SMPTE ST 2110 products with the Q-SYS control system, the company is able to build a cost-effective and highly customized control system for audio, video, intercom, and even GPI that enables its customers to control details down to the area, the user, and even the time of day, while also supplying spectacular images.

"Being able to control the FusioN routes, while also controlling the whole AVI system within one platform, is a tremendous advantage," stated Hall. "By controlling the routes down to a granular level, we are able to build highly customized control systems for the customer. Riedel has been a great partner, always ready to help us with our bespoke projects."

"By lowering the price point and reducing the complexity of bringing broadcast-quality video into corporate and hospitality applications, the solution developed by Forward Thinking Designs is a game changer for the AV space," said Rich Zabel, Vice President of Sales, North America, at Riedel Communications "We love partnering with innovative companies that find ways to leverage Riedel technologies more broadly and to realize even greater benefits, and Forward Thinking Designs has done it again with this Q-SYS integration."

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