Norway's New National Opera House, Oslo, Chooses Clear-Com's Eclipse Omega and FreeSpeak® 50 Intercoms

Clear-Com®, a Vitec Group brand and global leader of innovative intercom systems, has been chosen to supply a fully digital Eclipse® Omega matrix intercom system with FreeSpeak® 50 for use throughout Norway’s newest and most prestigious National Opera House, Nytt Operahus, in Oslo. Eclipse Omega and FreeSpeak50 digital wireless beltpacks will provide the communication backbone for the 38,500sqm facility and its large production and sound crew.

The Opera House is the largest cultural building to be constructed in Norway and an important symbol to the nation. The building houses 1100 rooms as well as a 1,350-seat performance auditorium and a small 400-seat auditorium. The Opera House will employ over 600 people, including production and sound crew who will be utilising Clear-Com’s feature-rich FreeSpeak wireless beltpack for point-to-point communication.

The Clear-Com system chosen by the Nytt Operahus includes a 64-port Eclipse Omega Digital Matrix controlling a FreeSpeak 50 digital wireless intercom system using 2 x E-Que cards, 40 x FreeSpeak belt packs, 20 antennas and over 30 x 4000 series panels.

The Omega digital matrix intercom platform is the most powerful unit in the Clear-Com Eclipse range. It offers the highest port density of any available system so is ideal for a large multiple auditorium venue, like the Nytt Operahus.

FreeSpeak is the world’s first digital wireless system integrated with a digital intercom matrix and is able to serve very large systems through a cellular network of active antennae. Flexible and scalable, it can work in complex locations, like the Nytt Operahus where line-of-sight communications are not practical. The FreeSpeak beltpack is intelligent and programmable with a high level of functionality yet still lightweight to wear and with a 12hour battery life.

The Operahus is scheduled for completion in September 2008. Installation of the Clear-Com intercom solution began in Spring 2007.