Nautel and Axia to Conduct Industry-First Demo at NAB

Complete digital path from studio to transmitter will be demonstrated at the Nautel booth, showcasing Axia’s Livewire™ studio-to-transmitter Audio over IP workflow.

25 March 2010, Cleveland Ohio and Hackett’s Cove, Nova Scotia

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Nautel Limited (NAB Booth C2615), in conjunction with Axia Audio, will demonstrate a complete Audio over IP path from the studio directly into the transmitter at the upcoming NAB convention. This industry-first demonstration, which leverages the Axia Livewire interface, will show an all-digital transmission path which allows fast, efficient connection of multiple devices via Ethernet. Any Livewire-equipped product may connect to new Nautel VS FM series transmitters, enabling users to send and receive audio, control logic and program-associated data simultaneously using a single CAT-5 connection. As Nautel will demonstrate at NAB, users can not only feed digital audio directly into their transmitter, they can also manage and control the transmitter via the same IP link.

“Just a few short years ago, the thought of an end-to-end networked radio facility was a dream out of the future,” said Marty Sacks, Vice President, Axia Audio. “Now, thanks to visionaries at Nautel and other Livewire partner companies, it's possible to connect everything from audio processors to phone systems, from satellite receivers to playout computers, from consoles to the transmitter itself, with just one click. You can quit waiting for the future — it's arrived!”

Nautel and Axia have co-authored a paper that will be presented by Kirk Harnack of Telos-Omnia-Axia during the Broadcast Engineering Conference on Monday, April 11. “With the workflow being extended all the way to the transmitter, virtually all of a radio station facility’s infrastructure can be interconnected using IP,” said Harnack. “Audio transport, Voice over IP, IP-video security systems, transmitter control and other traffic can all share a common, ubiquitous support infrastructure.”

“This flexibility in transporting and managing both audio and data between the studio and transmitter opens a wealth of possibilities for broadcasters,” said Peter Conlon, Nautel President and CEO. “We’ve seen communications of all types migrate to IP, and developing this functionality right inside the VS Series FM transmitter seems to be a natural progression of the technology. We’re excited to be part of it.”

The live demonstration at NAB will feature Nautel’s new VS Series low power FM transmitters. In addition to being the first transmitters to support Axia Livewire, the VS Series products offer many innovations for transmitters of any size including Orban Inside™ option, an integrated digital exciter, and USB playout engine for local playlists. VS Series transmitters offer power levels ranging from 300 watts to 2.5 kW and support Nautel’s exclusive, Advanced User Interface (AUI). To help customers learn more about the VS Series, Nautel has scheduled Webinars on March 31st and April 7th (Spanish). To register, visit www.nautel.com/webinars.

For more information, please contact Clark Novak at Axia Audio at cnovak@AxiaAudio.com, or by phone at +1 216-241-7225, or John Whyte at Nautel Ltd., John.Whyte@nautel.com, +1 902-823-5174.