MEDIACORP
Flexibility in Video and Radio Broadcast at the enormous new Media Campus
The Customer
Mediacorp, the Singapore-based media company pioneered the development of Singapore’s broadcasting industry, with the radio broadcast in 1936 and television broadcast in 1963. The curtain has just risen on the company’s next stage of development; a new creative epicentre on a 79,500 sq mtr campus within Mediapolis@one-north, Singapore’s first digital media hub.
Today, Mediacorp has the widest range of media platforms in Singapore spanning digital, television, radio, print and out-of-home media.
The Challenge
With wide-ranging facilities, including a 1,500-seat theatre, 7 networked TV studios, 13 radio studios and an expansive open workspace on the campus, Mediacorp required a way of connecting and managing an extensive portfolio of production equipment to staff spread widely throughout the facility.
The Solution
Three separate systems were required in the news, studio and media and radio operations areas to ensure instant and flexible access to equipment, whenever and wherever operators needed it. Qvest Media, responsible for the entire operational project planning and integration, teamed up with IHSE APAC’s local system integration partner Broadcast Engineering Services to design and deliver an efficient and robust KVM switching system for the media campus.
In the news area, a fully redundant KVM system comprising two Draco tera 160 port enterprise switches, and redundant variant CPU and CON units provides totally reliable and secure connectivity to a wide range of broadcast equipment using a mixture of DVI, DisplayPort, serial, analog audio and USB data transfer.
In the studio area, a similar, smaller, set up was created with Draco tera 48 port compact switches, whilst in the media operations centre and radio studios an 8 port compact switch is supplemented with several point-topoint KVM extenders. Connection to the switches from points around the facility was made using Cat X or fiber cabling, depending upon the distance involved.
The quality, performance and reliability of the IHSE Draco system is unsurpassed and enabled us to deliver a complete, fully integrated, solution that exceeded expectations.
– Steven Cheng, Director at Broadcast Engineering Services
The Benefit
The instant, delay-free operation of the Draco tera KVM switches and extenders allows vision mixers and editors, producers and playout controllers to manage their operations without any distractions or interruptions.
Through the Draco KVM switches and extenders, an impressive range of broadcast devices is made available to operators, including Vizrt tools, Avid, Adobe and EVS production and editing devices, NRS teleprompters, radio scheduling tools and various robotic and computerized control devices. Bidirectional USB data capability ensures instant and responsive control of equipment though keyboard, mice, trouch screen, pointing and other interface devices.
We needed a system that would act transparently, so that operators could focus on their creative jobs and not have to consider the interconnection technology. One that is flexible in operation, secure and reliable, with redundant capability to cover any problems.
– Wang Yin, Project Manager, Mediacorp Pte Ltd.
Gallery
Products employed
