Calient Technologies, Inc. says that MLB Network, the home for major league baseball on TV, will deploy Calient’s S320 optical circuit switches (OCSs) to upgrade and augment its video and data switching infrastructure.
MLB Network is in the process of deploying a new video production infrastructure platform that will enable operators to remain in their current production facility while staging the equipment and systems at a remote multi-tenant datacenter. The two facilities are tied together by dual diverse dark fiber links.
“MLB Network’s deployment of Calient OCS technology provides us with the ability to design and deploy a fault tolerant failover solution for routing light between our two facilities,” said Tab Butler, director of media management and post production at MLB Network. “We’re very excited by this technology, because we can build in system redundancy and signal routing over the dark fibers which would have been quite challenging and expensive to deploy with conventional solutions.”
Calient’s S320 optical switch also provides MLB Network with protocol-independent switching of any video format at any data rate including new 4K Ultra HD video and beyond.
“Given the high per-port cost of SDI routers/switchers, Calient’s solution is extremely compelling from both a technology and a business standpoint,” said Mark Haden, vice president of engineering and IT, at MLB Network. “The Calient S320 switches any video protocol, along with 10/40/100G Ethernet and CWDM/DWDM. This allows us to employ new video standards without the need to upgrade or replace these switches.”
MLB Network also selected Calient’s S320 because it has the highest port density of any optical circuit switch on the market, together with a power consumption of 45 W, Calient asserts. These features make the S230 ideal for energy-conscious data centers as well as field production vans where fiber-fed cameras are rapidly overtaking triax-cable based cameras, the company adds.
“We’re very enthusiastic to add MLB Network as our newest customer in the media and entertainment segment,” said Daniel Tardent, vice president of marketing for Calient. “The S320 gives MLB Network a great deal of flexibility in designing its new infrastructure, as well as future-proofing its video routing solution.”
Tardent will be a speaker at the Lightwave Optical Innovation Summit, July 14-16, 2014 in Austin, TX.
For more information on optical switches and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.