KVM over IP system media house BCE

Moving your enterprise is rarely an easy task but imagine being responsible for moving one of the largest broadcasting centres in Europe to new premises. You have new studios for television broadcast, production, post-production, radio, transmission, multimedia and IT, as well as resident partner broadcasters. All studios had to be integrated on one platform.

The biggest challenge was to move all these functions, improve workflow and continue 24/7 broadcasting operations. 

In 2014 BCE was introduced by Adder Infinity on the Intronics and Adder KVM over IP roadshow. After reviewing, BCE opted to work with Intronics. Having met with Yves Van Hullebusch and Thomas Rouw, project management Intronics, several times, they were impressed with their proof of concept work, experience and expertise in dealing with KVM, IP and broadcast infrastructure. Together, BCE and Intronics chose, from different options, the AdderLink Infinity, an IP-based high performance KVM solution from Adder Technology. This IP-based KVM solution directly benefits and connects every broadcasting function in the building. And of course was the most obvious choice considering BCE’s intention to go all IP.

Franz Voss, Project Engineer of Broadcasting Centre Europe added: "We were looking for a high quality, easy to use and highly resilient solution that we could implement in small steps from the beginning of our project and that would be able to grow dynamically with equally small steps in the future. The choice for an IP-based solution was obvious due to the requested flexibility, as well as following our decision to go for IP on all other levels, including our SDI infrastructure. During the RFP process, Intronics teaming with Adder, proved to be the best choice for this huge endeavour and both showed a very high level of expertise and professionalism throughout the project."

The solution kit included two AdderLink Infinity Managers (A.I.M.), approximately 500 AdderLink Infinity end points as well as multiple Adder CCS-PRO4 switches, AV4PRO-DVI and Adder RED-PSUs.

The KVM network consists of 2 CORE switches ICX7750-48 in separate racks, and 40 SATELLITE switches. All endpoints are connected to both stacks for bandwidth and resiliency. Specific requests like packet loss monitoring and a level 3 network layer, were engineered by Adder in consultation with BCE and Intronics.

Using the common copper and fibre IP network with the IPbased AdderLink Infinity KVM, each broadcast function and every operator were connected.

• Scalable: the AdderLink Infinity solution can scale from 2 to an infinite number of end points, easily adjusting to business needs without a cliff edge in hardware.
• Improved flexibility: multiple people and working groups can connect to any of the systems they need with the possibility to configure with a single link, double link or multi-head, and management is easier to manage via GUI.
• ROI: the existing fibre and copper network infrastructure is used and scaled to the needs of the business.
• More efficient workflows: operators and user stations can access multiple systems from one location.
• Improved ergonomics: computers are removed from the user environment with only a single keyboard or mouse required to access any number of systems.
• Multiple systems, one network: standard IP networking infrastructure allows multiple systems on the same network.
• Composite signals: Infinity makes it possible to send each signal (video, USB, audio, RS232) separately via multicast. It is easy to create different channels with a unique individual channels such as audio from channel x and video from channel Y, etc.
• Multiple levels of redundancy: Adder solutions offer network, management and power redundancy options. No distance limitations: other KVM solutions are limited in their distance abilities. This is not the case with the IP-based, AdderLink Infinity.
• In-built security measures: compliant with universal enterprise grade security standards (AES 256 bit encryption and RSA 2048 bit public key authentication)

Thomas Rouw of Intronics commented, ‘We are proud to have been chosen by BCE as their partner and were excited to work on this important project. BCE and specifically our main contact, Franz Voss, are very skilled in preparations. Throughout the project, the expertise and knowledge BCE showed, was firstrate. In close collaboration, we offered the most flexible KVM system in a very demanding setup.’

Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) is a leader in media services, system integration and software development in the areas of television, radio, production and postproduction, telecommunication and IT. With its extensive experience in the media market, BCE provides high-quality services and will always find the solution that matches your project and budget. With more than 200 highly qualified and motivated people, BCE serves about 400 clients in various sectors, such as TV channels, radio stations, film distributors, producers, advertising companies, telecommunications operators and public services. If you’ve consumed media (even fleetingly) in Europe, it’s likely that it’s been through part of the BCE infrastructure. From ingest to storage and all the way through to transmission this infrastructure is now entirely IP based. That is why BCE are called ‘Pioneers of the IP Media World’.

Our KVM team is focused on the professional audio/video and command and control (KVM) market. Through years of experience in the professional AV and KVM world, Intronics thinks in solutions, not in products. We know the market, give independent advice, deliver different KVM solutions. These solutions are tested in our own fully equipped test lab.

The KVM Lab is used for pre- and after-sales support such as:

• Testing of products
• Building Proof of Concept
• Research & Development
• Beta testing of your solution
• Developing central knowledge