All About That NMS for Biamp at ISE 2015

Maker of Tesira and Vocia platforms talks network media systems (NMS) and VoIP during Integrated Systems Europe 2015.

CI Staff

While Biamp probably won’t turn integrators away if they want to discuss products on its Tesira and Vocia platforms during Integrated Systems Europe 2015, the audio manufacturer wants to take the discussion beyond products.

“We’re not talking so much about products,” says Justin O’Connor, Biamp’s audio products manager.

Instead, Biamp wants educate integrators about “networked media systems,” he says. “What does that mean? We want to put some meat into that stew, and that’s what we’re doing at the show through presentations and talking about our lines.”

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More on Networked Media Systems from Biamp’s press release:

Networked Media Systems are audio and/or video solutions that use an Ethernet network to share processing power and resources, in addition to transporting media. Designed to maximize system capabilities while simplifying overall administration, NMS support simultaneous applications throughout facilities — ranging from paging and conferencing to sound reinforcement requirements. As a result, customers are able to utilize existing network infrastructure as a means of delivering superior audio quality in a more economical distribution model.

“Our goal is to increase the awareness of Networked Media Systems as not just the method for connecting the parts of an AV system, but also just as much a tool to be leveraged,” shared Justin O’Connor, audio products manager for Biamp Systems. “AV solutions have evolved to more IT-centric infrastructures, and there’s an increased need to provide education resources that illustrate how to leverage the full benefits of an NMS.”

Facilitated by Biamp’s award-winning Tesira and Vocia platforms, Networked Media Systems are considered the evolution from more isolated, analog systems.

Designed as centralized, distributed, hybrid, or decentralized systems, employing an NMS approach is changing the way audio is installed by increasing interoperability, improving flexibility, and reducing the need for dedicated specialized cabling and components. As a result, audio is now able to move seamlessly between systems, endpoints can be relocated to accommodate growth, and system capabilities can be easily expanded across new areas of the enterprise.

To leverage the benefits of a Networked Media System, Biamp’s Tesira SERVER supports up to eight DSP cards per chassis and can be doubled to run as a redundant pair — carrying identical processor and card configurations. Tesira also runs both CobraNet and Dante alongside AVB within a single Tesira SERVER-IO chassis, at the same time. Using Biamp’s Vocia, integrators can easily specify different zones for applications such as background music, paging, and sound reinforcement. The platform can also create a web of self-monitoring smart devices and allows for endpoints to be installed anywhere within an NMS.

Biamp is also launching a new training offering on the topic of voice over IP, “not necessarily specific to one of our product lines,” O’Connor says.

“We saw the need to create education specifically on the topic. Integrators selling VoIP into their solutions is becoming more common and it can be a pretty complicated set of technology that they have to wave through. The idea is to gear this toward our existing integrators and make it more digestible for them.”

More on the VoIP Certification Training Program from Biamp’s press release:

Targeted specifically to AV industry professionals, the new training program is designed to help participants build a foundation in VoIP technology and the SIP protocol that will help them better design and troubleshoot VoIP installations. Biamp integrators will gain the necessary tools and knowledge to design, integrate, and troubleshoot Biamp products with VoIP telephony systems.

“Modern businesses are increasingly incorporating VoIP technology into their day-to-day operations. However, the technology remains complicated, and until now there has been a lack of training programs focused on VoIP’s applications and functionality within the AV industry,” said Kiley Henner, director of customer experience for Biamp Systems. “Our applications engineers have spent years fine-tuning their expertise as Biamp has developed VoIP functionality in our products. We’re now passing that knowledge on through this new training series. It really is the best way for Biamp to share our knowledge and expertise with the professional audio industry.”

The Biamp VoIP certification training series is delivered via self-paced online videos, allowing students to learn at their own pace. The training videos can be accessed any time, and all sessions are available free of charge. As with other certification training offerings from Biamp, VoIP certification training will count toward InfoComm CTS requirements for annual renewal units (RUs).

Biamp is in booth 1-M100 for ISE 2015.

More on Biamp’s Tesira Platform

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