them from a variety of control rooms and external locations. This provided a new perspective on how many devices are needed. The idea is that while user A in location X does not need a given processor, user B in location Y – which may be anywhere in the world – is welcome to use it. Obviously, this demands an IP network spread over geographically distributed data centres and hubs, and hence wide-area-network (WAN) connectivity. It also means, however, that pooled devices need to be running 24/7 to be able to serve different time zones, irrespective of whether they are indeed solicited. Provided the workflow has been sufficiently refined, operators need not know where the devices sit and which unit in the rack does the computing. In any case, all pooled devices will consume their cruise-speed amount of energy because they have to be online. TIME FOR A CHANGE Resource pooling worked while product life cycles amounted to more than five years. As long as no disruptive technology was on the horizon, it was – and perhaps still is – possible to ‘sweat down’ infrastructure over long periods of time. This is changing. New bells and whistles are constantly added to the production toolbox in a struggle for precious eyeballs. And well-established formats and protocols find themselves competing with approaches nobody had heard of only a few months ago. The more bespoke the hardware we purchase, the likelier it becomes that it will be unable to keep
up with radical technological advances, and hence become obsolete in no time. SETTING THE STAGE These considerations inspired Lawo to embark on a journey towards maximum production agility and future-proof flexibility. With its HOME management platform for IP infrastructures, it set the stage for a world where infrastructure connected to an IP network is instantly discovered. To avoid unexpected hiccups, admitting newly discovered devices need to be approved by pressing a button, at which time they are automatically registered and reachable on the network. Thanks to its NMOS compatibility, HOME connectivity is not limited to its own ‘jurisdiction,’ which covers all Lawo products as well as devices manufactured by third-party vendors. HOME-native devices offer the added convenience that they can be configured and tweaked from the HOME UI. HOME was always the first building block of a grander scheme. New Lawo releases, such as the .edge hyper-density gateway, are controlled directly from HOME for maximum flexibility (or via RESTful APIs and the Ember+ protocol when HOME’s full potential is not supported). Such ‘software- licensable infrastructure’ initially comes with the features users request. Through HOME, a host of add-on licences can be unlocked as needs evolve. THE POWER OF AGNOSTICISM HOME Apps are the abstraction of broadcast and media functionality from the hardware that does the compute heavy lifting when – and where –
SCORING A TRY The HOME Multiviewer app is ready for a drop kick at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France
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