Clear-Com® Broadens IP Communication Capabilities with New Concert Version 2.0 at NAB 2009

Las Vegas, Nevada, March 16, 2009 – Clear-Com® Communication Systems, a Vitec Group brand, will showcase the latest version of its software-based intercom solution, Clear-Com Concert™ Version 2.0, at NAB 2009 (Booth C6521). Via its “soft-panel” mode, Concert V2.0 provides access to an innovative and customizable user interface that emulates a traditional intercom station. When combined with Clear-Com’s Eclipse digital matrix system, Concert V2.0 forms the industry’s first hybrid Time-Divisional Multiplexed (TDM)/IP server network, blending the reliability of traditional TDM-based architecture with the inherent flexibility of IP.

Building on the recently debuted standalone version, Concert V2.0 directly connects over Ethernet to the Eclipse matrix system (upgraded Version 5.1) with Clear-Com’s IVC-32 high-density IP card. Each IVC-32 card provides 32 IP connections, and up to four IVC-32 cards can be slotted into a single Eclipse frame, allowing up to 128 new Concert soft-panel users to be added onto the intercom network without the need for additional infrastructure and hardware investments. Thanks to the affordability and flexibility of this hybrid approach, budget-conscious broadcasters are able to extend their communication system across a broader set of users.

“Broadcasters in today’s environment are being asked to produce more highly-coordinated programs in less time and with fewer resources,” says Jake Dodson, Vice President of Product Management at Clear-Com. “These resources could be based in remote locations or in other parts of the organization that traditionally would not have access to hardware intercom panels. The new Concert V2.0 can quickly and cost-effectively connect new users with traditional users, and thereby facilitate new workflows and ad hoc communications that were never before possible.”

The new “soft-panel” for Concert 2.0 users is a highly customizable panel that resembles a traditional intercom station, offering similar benefits and look-and-feel to those of a hardware counterpart. When used as a stand-alone intercom system, the new soft-panel offers standard intercom functionalities such as push-to-talk, monitor and latch-to-talk keys for communication with other Concert users, as well as connection to predefined conferences.

At the heart of Concert is the revolutionary I.V.Core technology, the most advanced Intercom over IP (IoIP) solution on the market. I.V.Core comprises an intelligent decision-making engine that optimizes routing over standard networks, provides support for wideband codecs delivering high-quality audio, and features proprietary noise reduction and error recovery algorithms.