17 March 2003, Cleveland, Ohio

Zephyr Xport, the award-winning portable POTS + ISDN codec, is now shipping to clients worldwide. Xport, companion to the industry-standard Zephyr Xstream ISDN Transceiver, uses new aacPlus MPEG coding to transmit FM-quality audio using analog telephone lines.

In addition, Zephyr Xport gives broadcasters added flexibility with its plug-in ISDN option. Adding ISDN compatibility to Xport makes it the perfect tool for remote broadcasts from nearly any location,since users can plug in to any analog or digital phone line available.

Sales of Zephyr Xport have run above original expectations since last year’s introduction, with initial production runs selling out almost immediately. “Broadcasters have been universally impressed with the quality of audio Xport sends over plain analog phone lines,” says Telos Systems Managing Director Denny Sanders, “but they also told us Xport would be twice as useful if it could work with ISDN, too. Xport now has that capability – it’s the universal portable codec!”

Zephyr Xport utilizes a unique DSP-based modem architecture that enables use of an ordinary analog (POTS) telephone line for transmission of high-quality mono audio to an ISDN-connected Zephyr Xstream. Stunning audio quality is achieved by using the highest fidelity low-bitrate coding method on Earth: Coding Technologies’ revolutionary aacPlus, the combination of MPEG AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) and SBR(Spectral Band Replication). This method improves the efficiency of the codec by 30% over “plain” AAC, which itself is 30% more efficient than MPEG Layer 3.

Xport users can choose the ISDN option at time of purchase, or add it laterif desired. Zephyr Xport connects over ISDN using Fraunhofer Labs’ state-of-the-art Low Delay MPEG AAC (AAC-LD), which offers quality equivalent to MPEG Layer 3 with about 75% less delay – perfect for high-quality two-way remote broadcasts.

The ability to use either analog or digital phone lines for remote broadcasts conveys significant benefits. Not only do Xport owners enjoy the freedom to employ any telephone connection available in the field, they can connect with the Zephyr Xstream in their studio for both analog and digital remotes. This significantly cuts the total cost of remote systems, as well as conserving router and console resources and greatly simplifying remote operations.

Zephyr Xport contains a built-in mixer with mic and line inputs and selectable dynamics processing by Omnia, direct receive output, and a local mix of send and receive audio available on both headphone and line level outputs. Ethernet provides remote control via LAN or WAN and enables one-button software updates; Xport also accepts direct PCM audio input from a personal computer via its 10/100Base-T port.

Zephyr Xport is now shipping. For more information, browse www.zephyr.com. To see and hear a demonstration, visit Telos Systems / Omnia at the upcoming AES Convention in Amsterdam, March 22 - 25, or at the Spring NAB in Las Vegas, April 5 – 10, 2003.

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Zephyr Xport — from Telos Systems
(You can download a print-quality version of this image at ftp://ftp.telos.cc/telos/pix/Xport_r-angle_black.tif)

Telos Systems, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with offices in Europe and Canada, is a leading manufacturer of ISDN, coded audio and telephone interface products for talk-shows, teleconferencing, audio production, remote broadcasts, and intercom applications.