Clear-Com Expands FreeSpeak Family with the FreeSpeak Edge Base Station

Next-generation IP base station supports the entire range of FreeSpeak products together with Dante third-party interfaces

Clear-Com® is proud to announce the FreeSpeak Edge^® Base Station, an IP base station that supports the full range of award-winning FreeSpeak™ digital wireless intercom solutions including 1.9 GHz (including both E1 and IP transceivers), 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, as well as third-party Dante devices. By offering another base station option to the large community of FreeSpeak users, Clear-Com provides an accessible IP solution to a broad range of its customers.

The FreeSpeak Edge Base Station provides a standalone solution for FreeSpeak Edge 5 GHz systems, as well as support for FreeSpeak 1.9 GHz IP Transceivers via AES67 connections, previously only available through Eclipse® Digital Matrix systems with an E-IPA card. The single 1RU device supports up to 16 total beltpacks and 6 IP transceivers, (10 E1 Transceivers), with the flexibility to mix and match bands, as well as up to eight ports of IP interoperability with third-party Dante connections. With a mixture of IP, 2-wire and 4-wire audio ports, the FreeSpeak Edge Base Station can integrate a variety of systems, including Clear-Com Encore® partyline and even two-way radio systems with an intelligent GPIO interface.FreeSpeak Edge Base Station is configured through Clear-Com's browser-based CCM software which has been redesigned from the ground up to improve the configuration experience through intuitive menus and functions. The new CCM software offers at-a-glance system monitoring reducing the potential for down time.

Designed to be quick to deploy, users can be up and running with a transceiver and two beltpacks in less than 5 minutes. Other features include a default system set-up right out of the box, the ability to add transceivers on the fly right from the front panel, and the ability to add beltpacks via USB. All of these result in a system that is ideally suited for live event settings, or any application where time is of the essence.

The 1RU station features two full-color high-resolution touch screen displays with four rotary encoders allowing four talk and listen channels, enabling the station operator to be able to communicate with the wireless beltpacks.

“While many of our customers choose an integrated solution with wired and wireless elements all within one system, a large group are still looking for a dedicated wireless operation, often to link to other pre-existing systems,” comments Stephen Sandford, Senior Product Manager for Clear-Com. “While we have offered this kind of customer the existing FreeSpeak II Base II up to now, the requirement for an IP-based solution of this type has become increasingly apparent and the FreeSpeak Edge Base meets that need with its IP-based transceiver architecture as well as links to external systems over the most popular IP protocols in the industry.”

FreeSpeak Edge Base Station is now shipping.