Portuguese broadcaster SIC completes Europe’s largest ST2110 facility with Lawo IP technology

Lawo supplied and installed 15 V__matrix software-defined IP core routing, processing & multiviewing devices, a total of 39 C100 core processing blades as well as vm_dmv multiviewer, vm_udx up/down/cross conversion as well as several other software modules for the V__matrix platform. The Lawo VSM Broadcast Control System (Virtual Studio Manager) was chosen to control both baseband and IP devices for lightning-fast patch and configuration changes via VSM user panels.

“We studied what the industry was offering and what would be right for us in terms of technological platforms. We were especially interested in what Lawo, Sony and Cisco proposed,” explains José Lopes, SIC’s Director for Operations & Technologies.

“In SIC’s setup, Lawo provides the processing power, Sony supplied its Live System Manager vision mixers and cameras, and Cisco took care of the spine/leaf network infrastructure,” states Carlos Ladeira, TV Systems & Equipment Integrator with SIC. He adds: “The reason to choose V__matrix was mostly related to the flexibility, which no other contender was able to match.”

VSM, Lawo’s overarching, brand-agnostic control system provides extensive control over both IP-native and SDI devices. In addition, “ST2022-7 network redundancy, together with the control systems we have here, like VSM, definitely make our life a lot easier,” added Miguel Inácio, SIC’s Coordinator of Infrastructure Management.

“We can use a production setup in one of our production control rooms and completely reconfigure it for the next program within seconds. In May, we covered Portugal’s EU election. For the first time in our history, change-overs no longer required physically repatching a bunch of cables—with VSM, all went a lot faster.”

Ladeira continues: “We have a 24-hours news channel with a dedicated studio and production control room running almost around the clock. We have not had the slightest issue, so I guess this is a good proof of stability.”

Besides the fact that SIC’s operation has been running smoothly since 27 January 2019, the various SIC teams involved in this momentous IP project are understandably proud of delivering the project two months earlier than originally scheduled: SIC’s new installation went on air on 27 January 2019, a day that was announced as the “Day when information will change forever.” (Dia 27 de janeiro a informação vai mudar.) And that is precisely what happened.

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.