Harris Broadcast has announced that Johannesburg-based SuperSport, the leading
provider of pay television sports coverage across the African continent, has selected a second Platinum® IP3 Router from Harris Broadcast.
Earlier this year, SuperSport became the first broadcaster worldwide to integrate the
Platinum IP3 router within its operations. On both projects Harris Broadcast worked
closely with its regional value-added reseller and systems integration partner,
Concilium Technologies.
“Although we are just a few months into our usage of the Platinum IP3 router, we
already can see that speed of operation, ease of operation, ease of resource
assignment and operational reliability are all evident in this new design router,’ said
Eddie McAlone, technical director at SuperSport.
“The Platinum IP3’s frame
synchroniser capabilities have had a significant impact on our operations. What this
means is that we have been able to hook together the new and old buildings and
come straight on to the new router from the old building without any need for
external hardware and glue products. The frame synchroniser reduces the hardware
count, simplifies the system architecture and thereby increases system reliability in
the long term.’
An integral part of SuperSport’s Project Argus, the broadcaster is transitioning
programme playout into an entirely new state-of-the-art facility that started with 32
new HD channels. All of its SD and HD channels will eventually be played out from
this new building. Earlier this year, SuperSport integrated a single frame Harris
Broadcast Platinum IP3 Router, and within a few months placed an order for a second
frame, which will tie together to create a 1152 x 1024 matrix.
“Concilium Technologies has a strong and long-standing relationship with SuperSport
and together we three companies are demonstrating the powerful and elegant
capabilities of this new and radically different router design,’ said Mathias Eckert,
vice president sales and services, Europe and Africa at Harris Broadcast. “For Africa’s
leading sports broadcaster to have ordered a second router so swiftly is the
strongest illustration possible that we have a game-changer in the Platinum
IP3.’
The integrated Platinum IP3 router includes Harris Broadcast multiviewers used
extensively across displays SuperSport’s playout facility. The complete installation
also features Harris Broadcast router control panels and its network design, control
and monitoring system, as well as its signal processing and interfacing equipment,
including the Selenio™ media convergence platform, modular core processing
devices, fiber interfaces and signal processing units.
