Tomas Ourednicek from Music Data (Innovason's exclusive distributor in the Czech Republic) was responsible for designing the successful system configuration. "The White House team made it very clear to us that failure of any kind - even the slightest hiccup - was not an option," recalled Ourednicek. "We opted for an Innovason Sy48 console running the Nexo Geo system because the combination enabled us to run everything on EtherSound. The console is already one of the best-sounding on the market, but the ability to use EtherSound meant that there was no deterioration of sound quality at all. We monitored the network at all times from a laptop computer running Auvitran's ESMonitor software."
Ourednicek also specified two Innovason DioCores (ES-enabled stageboxes); one for the band which preceded the president's speech, and the second as a feed for the press-box and OB van which was responsible for broadcasting the event to millions of TV viewers around the world. "The press-box alone required more than 160 outputs," confirmed Ourednick. The entire system was fully redundant, including a spare Sy48 console which was linked via analogue cables to the NX242 processors backing up the EtherSound network running from the main console. "I'm happy to say that we didn't need any of it, but we all breathed a lot easier for knowing it was there," said Ourednicek.
(Jim Evans)