Lawo has announced VSM 2020-2 for its Virtual Studio Manager (VSM). Among ‘many enhancements and improvements for a variety of applications’, the update includes crosspoint-centric operation, which increases operational confidence when controlling IP infrastructures and NMOS IS-05 support.
With Release 2020-2, vsmStudio adopts a fundamental change in the internal processing and visualisation of source-to-destination connections: Cross Point Centric (CPC) Processing.
CPC is an adapted method of processing and visualisation of crosspoints within vsmStudio, reflecting the drastically changing technical prerequisites in IP infrastructure set-ups. It aims to provide immediate confirmation of crosspoint triggering actions to VSM users operating IP environments where controlled devices may not respond in time.
Switching an essence flow in an IP environment involves multiple systems, managed by a central controller, to establish a proper routing path. When media data travels from a sender to a receiver across the network, the controller triggers at least the receiver and the network (directly or via SDN) to ensure a route. More systems may be involved, depending on signal workflows. These systems exchange their status separately and with different timings with the controller, which in turn coordinates all statuses and responses to visualise the crosspoint status. Instead of waiting for the last device to provide its response to the initial routing trigger, VSM’s implementation of CPC factors in the reaction times of controlled systems and provides operators with immediate feedback to their actions – for the operator, every crosspoint switch feels like before, while VSM manage the systems underneath.
With the increasing availability NMOS compatible devices on the market, vsmGadgetServer now includes a driver which provides generic NMOS IS-05 support (connection management) for VSM. With this new functionality, VSM can control NMOS compatible devices for the purpose of connection management using a unified, industry-wide specification – without the need to build and maintain custom device drivers. VSM controls these devices right alongside other IP edge nodes and legacy gear which are managed through proprietary APIs, further adding to VSM’s outstanding compatibility with third-party devices. This new functionality is already at work in several recent VSM project installations.
More: www.lawo.com
