Concilium Technologies came aboard the SkyRink project at quite an early stage, called upon by the three SkyRink partners to build and equip the six television studios and their respective control rooms, complete with video editing, final mix, voice over and playout/transmission facilities. An overall turnkey solution was called for, entailing a full system design from the ground up. Concilium would handle project management, equipment supply, system installation, training and complete aftermarket support.
An extensive consultation process took place to ensure that the needs of the project were well understood and to ensure that the most flexibility could be achieved to cater for the widest variety of uses and customer needs as possible.
As Ross Video has a very strong portfolio of solutions for this type of facility, Concilium opted for their Carbonite 2ME 24-input switchers and Expression Graphics. For routing and to cater for the changing networking landscape they used Imagine Communications’ IP-capable routing systems and provided Apple FCPX stations for editing. Both SkyRink and Concilium are committed using local skills and expertise as much as possible in their projects, and so contracted BSI for the furniture and infrastructure cabling, and Movievision (Southern Lighting) for their innovative lighting solutions. They also worked with other local suppliers to provide best-in-breed solutions for cameras, audio comms, mics and so on, always focusing on finding the best fit components to meet the brief but to stay within a challenging budget.
The design of the system was driven by the need to ensure flexibility and expandability to cater for the changing needs of the client as they grow. Solutions were chosen that allowed interchangeability between control rooms and studio floors, provision for easy integration of additional types of lighting – should this be a customer requirement – and using as much digital networking providing the option to move through hybrid to IP networks. For example, extensive use of DANTE networking was used in the comms and audio routing. The design also easily accommodates small and large complex multi camera productions. SkyRink is the first studio facility in Africa where the lighting grids are fully LED, while also being flexible to allow integration of other lighting systems as and when required.
Concilium’s work continues on the SkyRink project, working alongside other contractors and suppliers to prepare the facilities for full operational status in the coming months.
