Lawo is proud to announce a major VSM update: VSM 2020-2. This release, available for download now from www.lawo.com, contains many enhancements and improvements for a variety of VSM applications. Of particular interest is cross-point-centric operation, which increases operational confidence when controlling IP infrastructures. Furthermore, VSM 2020-2 now features NMOS IS-05 support.

vsmStudio – Cross Point Centric (CPC) Processing

With Release 2020-2, vsmStudio comes with a fundamental change in the internal processing and visualization of source-to-destination connections: Cross Point Centric (CPC) Processing.

CPC is an adapted method of processing and visualization of crosspoints within vsmStudio, reflecting the drastically changing technical prerequisites in IP infrastructure setups. It aims to provide immediate confirmation of crosspoint triggering actions to VSM users operating IP environments where controlled devices may not respond in time.

Why is this important? 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 get 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 visualize 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.

In summary: CPC applies the mechanisms which handle the asynchronous status of multiple controlled systems, and provides a summarized crosspoint status to the user as an immediate, transparent response to their actions on hardware and software panels. The CPC mechanisms include various methods to recover flows across a network, should they encounter issues during initialization or runtime.

vsmGadgetserver –NMOS IS-05 Compatibility

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 3^rd party devices. This new functionality is already at work in several recent VSM project installations.

About Lawo

Lawo designs and manufactures pioneering network, control, audio and video technology for broadcast and post production, as well as live performance and theatrical applications. Products include control and monitoring systems, digital audio mixing consoles, routers, video processing tools as well as solutions for IP-based A/V infrastructures and routing systems. All products are developed in Germany and manufactured according to highest quality standards at the company’s headquarters in the Rhine valley town of Rastatt, Germany. For additional information, please visit www.lawo.com.