
Op-Ed: Going Remote to Stay Close By SVG Staff
Thursday, July 2, 2020 - 11:16 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
It's been a busy year so far at Lawo, albeit for different reasons than originally anticipated. While all hands were on deck to ready the equipment for major sporting events in the US, Japan, Europe and other parts of the world, covid-19 brought the world to a grinding halt. Or so it seemed.
Quite a few deadlines had to be met despite the pandemic to allow broadcasters to stay on air or to go full steam as soon as sporting events resume. This has allowed the team to confirm that the solutions designed for remote production are also perfect for deployment and remote commissioning.
Lawo's belief in manufacturer-agnostic industry standards and its active contribution to leading organizations helped pave the way for AES67, Ember+, and ST2110, without which remote (remi, at home) production would be unthinkable. First applied on a massive scale in 2016, in France, this production approach is now in the process of going mainstream. And there is more to remote than meets the eye.
Factory acceptance tests, network and system configurations, improvised, yet professional remote workstations, product demonstrations and training, gear updates The Lawo team has been able to work through the lockdown and social distancing scenario, delivering an awe-inspiring series of real-life solutions in the face of adversity-thanks to the visionary adoption of IP technology over a decade ago.
Putting two and two together to come up with an effective strategy for each individual case was no doubt the main ingredient. Rather than having to find out to what extent the equipment installed on the client's premises would tolerate remote access, Lawo engineers merely had to devise ways of interacting with clients and allowing them to both control devices from afar and monitor how they responded, obviously in real-time.
VPN connections played a part, but so did remote desktop and video conferencing software. Control software for the Power Core units (VisTool), mc consoles series (mxGUI) and other devices (HTML) that provide virtual hands-on access to whatever clients are interested in have been around for a while.
An important consideration was how to allow operators in different parts of the world to see what was going on-simultaneously and interactively. This was solved for the world's first factory acceptance test for the Norwegian broadcaster NRK, which went so well that it was repeated only days later for other gear.
Although the communication software varied, each remote project brought more refined solutions to the table. For WDR in Germany, for instance, which was to be in charge of broadcasting the (now rescheduled) European soccer championship, Lawo's V__remote4 was used as eyes and ears for the specialists in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Desktop-sharing software was all it took to allow operators in Rio de Janeiro to control and configure V__matrix C100 blades in Rastatt (Germany) during a virtual training session, which started out with four Globo engineers but quickly attracted ten more.
In the light of the above, remotely configuring NEP USA's new SS4 OB truck, and configuring and factory-accepting two full-IP OB trucks in Germany from Belgium and the Netherlands, almost pale in comparison, even though they were successful remote deliveries in their own right.
Other examples include virtualizing MCRs and on-air studios in the US, Colombia, Europe, Ghana and many other countries-all from the homes of Lawo team members who managed to put the distanced engineers of the various broadcasters in firm-and safe-control of their operations.
Channel 9's new green-field project in Australia, for its part, was configured from six different countries and vastly different time zones: Norway (north of the Arctic Circle), Jordan, Germany, Switzerland, the USA and Canada. That particular Lawo team not only prides itself on using its SMART telemetry solution for real-time status updates along the way, but also on the fact that over 50 tons of CO2 were saved in the process, because nobody was allowed to go on-site.
Audio engineers will probably argue that the absolute highlight is Lawo's Mix Kitchen solution for its mc ecosystem, which can be controlled from any place in the world with a decent internet connection-even using a smartphone as a 4G personal hotspot.
The ingredients for the above have been in place all along. Someone just had to put two and two together. The idea came to fruition during a remote product demonstration involving one console in Antwerp (Belgium) for real-time control of its sibling in Groningen (The Netherlands), two webcams and a Google Hangouts session. Layer and page switching, fader movements and setting tweaks in Antwerp were immediately replicated by the console in Groningen. How much more remote can you get to stay close to your customer base?
Oh and, 2020 is a very special year for Lawo. But the team decided that the 50th-anniversary celebrations in different parts of the world can wait until social mingling is deemed safe again. They will likely be even more exuberant when the Lawo team has had time to reflect on what it managed to accomplish in-as the saying goes-interesting times. For now, most of them are busy assisting Lawo users with viable solutions based on existing Lawo technology.
CLICK HERE for detailed descriptions of a series of successful remote configurations, acceptance tests, demonstrations and training sessions.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
11/06/2026
The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...
11/06/2026
Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...
11/06/2026
Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...
11/06/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...
11/06/2026
Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...
11/06/2026
FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...
11/06/2026
ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...
11/06/2026
The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering
In...
11/06/2026
DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...
11/06/2026
Laura Dern at the 1986 Sundance Institute Directors Lab (Photo by Eric Edwards)
By Lucy Spicer
It takes a village to bring together the Sundance Institute lab...
11/06/2026
As podcast formats evolve in the streaming era, podcasting needs updated, transp...
11/06/2026
As Spotify's global RADAR program enters its sixth year in Italy, a new class of artists is stepping into the spotlight. Today, we're announcing the six...
11/06/2026
Pride Month is a time for celebration, reflection, and amplifying the diverse stories and perspectives from the LGBTQIA+ community that enrich our world. To hel...
11/06/2026
First in new line of muted string libraries
VSL have just announced the launch of two new string libraries that represent the first two instalments in a new...
11/06/2026
New colour option for 61-key Launchkey MK4
At Superbooth 2025, Novation introduced the Launchkey Mini 37 White and Launchkey 49 White, bringing an additiona...
11/06/2026
Larger, but still compact!
Arturia's popular compact MIDI controller keyboard is now available in a, well, slightly less compact version! The new MiniLa...
11/06/2026
Eurosatory 2026: Rohde & Schwarz shapes the new-generation battlefield Rohde & Schwarz unveils next generation SIGINT/EW and CUAS solutions on uncrewed system...
11/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz unveils NEMACS - Directional, ultra secure connectivity for the ...
11/06/2026
MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit Posted by MTI Film on June 10, 2026
LOS ANGELES, CA - June 2026 - MTI FILM, the multiple Emmy Award winning Hollywood post-p...
11/06/2026
Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift fo...
11/06/2026
ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 11, 2026
0 Comments
DP Judd Overton and team bring Wes A...
11/06/2026
PTZOptics, and LayerJot today announced live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how prompt-based AI, robotic camera control, and high-performance computing...
11/06/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, announces the release of GPIO-Button-10S, a dedicated control interface enabling straightforward press-to-a...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Kiloview, a leading innovator in AV-over-IP video solutions, will return to InfoComm 2026 (Booth# N8327) with broadcast-grade AV-over-IP solutions designed for ...
11/06/2026
Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms 10 June 2026
From DAU and EULA to COT and QADE, here's a list of game industry terms, industry jargon and their...
11/06/2026
Berklee's Tonya Butler Named Music Business Educator of the Year The Music Business Association honored Butler at its annual Bizzy Awards.
June 10, 2026
...
11/06/2026
Ann Mincieli to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement The five-time Grammy-winning engineer and producer, known for her longstanding...
11/06/2026
Thursday 11 June 2026
Daisy May Cooper rallies the nation ahead of ICC Women's T20 World CupTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy options and...
11/06/2026
Back to All News
Hadewych Minis and Geert van Rampelberg to Star in New Netflix...
11/06/2026
Back to All News
Official Trailer for Anime Adaptation of Thunder 3' Unvei...
11/06/2026
Summer solstice shows from C il House and Late Date from 9pm on Saturday 20 Jun...
11/06/2026
The GeForce NOW summer sale kicked off today with limited-time savings of up to ...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...