MCI’s XMedia.Lab Test Intercom Integration in SMPTE ST-2110-30 Environment

Clear-Com’s Eclipse HX, FreeSpeaK II and V-Series Panels establish seamless AoIP solution across multiple locations.

In spring 2020, Clear-Com^® participated in MCI's XMedia.Lab, providing various products and IP solutions for extensive SMPTE ST-2110 testing. With the support of leading broadcast and IT manufacturers, MCI GmbH is working alongside the technical developments of the SMPTE/EBU IP roadmap. The IP test lab was established in 2018, with the goal of creating a platform to validate possible solutions for new IP-based and cross-media approaches that broadcast and ProAV companies are currently faced with.

New questions arise all the time and warrant in-depth consideration of the new possibilities. To meet this challenge, MCI founded the XMedia.Lab in 2020 as a further development of the original IP test lab. The XMedia.Lab employs use cases to examine possible application-oriented IP solutions for everyday activities in the broadcast and ProAV sectors.

This year, the XMedia.Lab took place throughout February and June and was based on the principle "everything over one network.” An IP-based production infrastructure allows simultaneous transmission of audio, video and metadata over the same line of the same network, which significantly reduces the complexity of signal distribution over physically separate lines. In addition, the use of an IP network can result in an efficient distribution structure.

Remote production was selected as a use case in which intercom systems facilitate indispensable communication capabilities in everyday production. When selecting the intercom system, the requirement was to integrate them into the principle of "everything over one network". Working closely with Clear-Com, an intercom system that meets these requirements was configured in the XMedia.Lab. The system was comprised of Eclipse^® HX Digital Matrix, FreeSpeak II^® and V-Series Iris™ Panels.

Alexander Hemme, Clear-Com Regional Sales Manager for Germany said, "We are connected to MCI by a longstanding partnership, and a common interest in actively shaping future cross-media developments for an IP-based broadcast industry. Clear-Com has put a lot of energy into the development of IP-enabled solutions in recent years. The XMedia.Lab offers the opportunity to test our products for interoperability in an SMPTE ST-2110 environment and to provide insight that helps us further develop future product generations.”

The challenge in this year's XMedia.Lab was to integrate the matrix system at different locations with communications enabled via AES67, which is inherently compatible with SMPTE ST-2110, the standard XMedia.Lab was designed around.

"An IP-based production infrastructure based on the SMPTE ST-2110 standard still presents us with the challenge of interoperability when we’re networking different product solutions. Clear-Com was actively involved in the integration of its solutions into the IP system throughout the entire XMedia.Lab and was always readily available to help and respond to any questions,” said Markus Need, Project Engineer for MCI.

The Clear-Com Eclipse-HX Matrix was located at the main site on the Studio Hamburg premises in Hamburg-Tonndorf. The various IP-Panels and IP-Antennas were distributed throughout the network at different locations, including a remote site, which was about 30 km away. The entire system was connected to the network and interconnected via a specially provided VLAN.

Low latency real-time communication via AES67 was successfully implemented and thus the Clear-Com intercom system, including the DECT wireless system, was able to meet the principle of "everything over one network".