Clear-Com’s Agent-IC® mobile intercom app for iOS and Android devices was recently recognized as an AV Technology Magazine 2021 Best of Market Award recipient.
With over 10,000 downloads since March 2020, alone, people across broadcast, live sound, and many more markets have been turning to Agent-IC to facilitate work-from-home and remote production workflows during the pandemic.
The app was initially released in 2015 to provide an easy-to-implement communication solution between facility-based staff and production teams on location for field reporting, live event production, remote coordination and other critical tasks.
The onset of the COVID-19 and the associated restrictions necessitated more remote workflows than ever before, where geographically dispersed intercom users of varying skillsets needing to communicate as If they were in the same room.
“Agent-IC was designed specifically for situations like this,” explains Product Manager, Kari Ethyorrsson, “to serve as a comprehensive solution when key users are required to be away from their core intercom systems, without compromising on features, functionality, and interfacing capabilities no matter where the user is in the world,” he continues. “In connecting to existing intercom systems, Agent-IC is cost-effective, quick-to-deploy and easy to learn, preventing users from sacrificing their time and money to learn an entirely new platform.”
Agent-IC turns smartphones, tablets and wearable devices into fully-featured intercom panels with connectivity over WiFi, 3G, 4G, and LTE networks, that integrate with or complement existing intercom systems.
Broadcast production, TV & film production and live events companies transitioning into virtual event production during COVID have been some of its biggest adopters.
Broadcast stations around the world have looked to Agent-IC at an increased rate to continue their production operations while key team members are required to be away from the primary studio.
Agent-IC saw particular relevance in the 2020 NFL Draft, which was produced entirely remotely for the first time in history. In this instance, the app’s intuitive, user-friendly design was key as many coaches and players with absolutely no intercom experience were required to download the app to participate in a live broadcast from within their homes.
This Broadcast went on to win an IABM Award for Most Successful Virtual Event of 2020.
In film and TV production, Agent-IC has enabled Directors and Producers to access and monitor the main intercom from home, and the app’s ultra-low latency and superior audio quality allow them to communicate with the on-set crew as if they were present onset. While typically intercom was only used by the DPs and camera operators in the past, comms systems have become widely used on film and television sets during the pandemic, as teams have need to communicate while staying in their “zone” and socially distanced.
Mix Magazine’s June 2021 issue featured an article about zoned media production, entitled, Communication on the Set.
Live events partners have been able to enter the virtual events space with the help of Agent-IC augmenting their existing comms systems, bringing together technicians, clients, producers and talent onto a single, unified virtual “stage.”
Clear-Com’s Agent-IC Mobile App is an intuitive, cost-effective, and fast-to-deploy solution that is finding new applications daily. Its success has even led to the development of the new Station-IC™, a virtual desktop client facilitating a scalable intercom user station on the desktops of Windows and MacOS users that can connect to Eclipse® HX IP capable matrixes or LQ Series interfaces.