Digital Alert System and Harmonic partners for ease emergency messaging
Digital Alert Systems and Harmonic has teamed up aiming to ease emergency messaging in ATSC1.0 and ATSC 3.0 environments.
The Digital Alert Systems DASDEC Flexible Emergency Messaging Platform and its EAS-Net communications interface integrate with Harmonic’s XOS Advanced Media Processor. This integration makes it possible for video distributors that use both companies’ systems to include emergency information in their programming.
Combining the Harmonic XOS Advanced Media Processor with Digital Alert Systems’ DASDEC with EAS-Net, customers can provide emergency alerting information using a single IP communications connection. The net result is a very clean installation for less cost and clutter. And because the DASDEC is IP-based, it can be placed in a remote market and network connected directly to the Harmonic XOS processor something that wouldn’t be possible without EAS-Net.
The EAS-Net communication protocol enables emergency alert text and audio message transfers to remote devices, flexible event scheduling, simultaneous multistation alerts, and multilingual support. EAS-Net also features expansion options, like EAS-Net AEA, which supports the Advanced Emergency Information (AEI) elements in the ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) standard. This means the same equipment supports both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 standards and future developments.
“Linking Harmonic’s XOS Advanced Media Processor and Digital Alert Systems’ DASDEC with EAS-Net provides a direct IP connection for emergency alerting, including text crawls and audio, across multiple streams in both ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 environments at minimum cost and fewer points of failure,” said Mark Aitken, SVP, Advanced Technology Sinclair Broadcast Group and President, ONE Media 3.0 LLC. “Further, EAS-Net enables Advanced Emergency Information routing, an essential broadcast core network function. This aligns perfectly with Sinclair’s mission to create and deploy a resilient and connected NextGen broadcast network for our NextGenTV experience.”
“This partnership marks two best-in-class companies coming together to streamline the emergency message requirements for broadcasters and Multiple Video Programming Distributors,” said Bill Robertson, vice president of business development, Digital Alert Systems. “Both the DASDEC system and the Harmonic XOS media processor offer the dual-platform benefit of supporting ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0. Also, EAS-NET saves customers money by reducing equipment footprint, and it packs many revolutionary features that further distinguish ATSC 3.0 from ATSC 1.0.”
