Imagine Communications has supplied Dega Broadcast Systems with its Platinum IP3 router. It will serve as the central point of control for the on-site facilities Dega is building for the BBC in Rio de Janeiro for the summer Olympic games. Dega, a UK-based systems integrator, is using additional infrastructure products from Imagine, including converters and distribution amplifiers, running to about 30 frames of video distribution equipment, plus test and measurement equipment.
The networking and infrastructure components from Imagine are intended to provide control and signal management capabilities for the production facility Dega is constructing in South America. Dega and Imagine collaborated on a similar project four years ago for the London Games.
''It is the scale of the project that makes it an interesting challenge,'' said John Cleaver, director of Dega. ''We are building facilities at the International Broadcasting Centre in Rio, and linking it to the studios at Copacabana. There are 45 feeds coming in from the host broadcaster and 30 unilateral feeds plus the studio; the output is to two broadcast networks and to 24 online and interactive streams, effectively a channel per sport. We built this for the London games four years ago, and the BBC has entrusted us to do the same for them in Brazil.''
Once the main event is finished in Rio, much of the equipment will be used for the companion international event for athletes with physical disabilities.
