Ross Snags Big ABC Deal

Will supply 3-gig “openGear” products for new HD facility

By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/12/2009 4:44:03 PM

Ross Video has won a major contract from ABC to supply it with a variety of 3-gigabit-per-second-capable infrastructure gear for the network’s new HD Central Switching Center (HDCSC) in New York, which is in the process of being created to serve as the primary central routing and signal processing installation for all of ABC’s inbound feeds, internal routing and distribution and quality control monitoring.

The Ross products ABC has selected include the Ross openGear 3Gbps capable fiber interconnect, frames, distribution amplifiers, audio/video multiplexers and demultiplexers (mux/demux) with “Dashboard” control and monitoring application. Ross says the ABC installation will include over 1,000 openGear cards, including a new 3 Gbps series of copper-to-fiber and fiber-to-copper receive and transmit modules.

“We are excited that ABC has chosen Ross openGear for this integral portion of the ABC Central Switching Center,” said Eric Goodmurphy, RossGear marketing product manager, in a statement. “The open frame standard of openGear, our powerful DashBoard control and monitoring system and a new series of 3G Fiber products were key to Ross winning this business.”  

The Ross gear will complement other infrastructure gear from Miranda, Evertz and Harris for the HDCSC facility, which will replace a variety of aging analog and standard-def digital routing gear in ABC’s New York headquarters and should be operational by the middle of 2010.

According to ABC VP of network engineering Ken Michel, ABC put out an RFP earlier this year for fiber interconnect equipment that could handle high-def video with embedded audio. Ross best met the network’s specifications, says Michel, which included the development of the new 3 Gbps devices.

Michel says the multi-year HDCSC project is progressing well and that ABC will be presenting a paper on its new infrastructure at the SMPTE conference in Hollywood, Calif. this October. Other key gear selected by ABC includes an Evertz EQX high-density core router and Miranda XVP-3901 video and audio processors and Kaleido-X multiviewers.

“We’re going to be powering the core router and monitoring stuff up in the next 40 to 60 days, and begin integration to the [rest of the] plant in the first and second quarter of next year,” says Michel. “We hope to be transitioned by mid-year next year.”