LYNDONVILLE, N.Y. — April 12, 2010 — Digital Alert Systems (DAS), a division of Monroe Electronics and provider of enhanced emergency alert systems (EAS), today introduced DASDEC™-IR, an intelligent remote unit that integrates with the company's flagship DASDEC™-II to enable IP-based management of emergency alerts at multiple stations — even those located thousands of miles apart. With DASDEC-IR, broadcasters who are centralcasting several stations from a host location can remotely link up to five stations for single-point monitoring and management of EAS content.
"Stations that are centralcasting are able to combine most broadcasting functions into a single site, but FCC regulations still require that each station have a dedicated EAS assigned to its local primaries. DASDEC-IR makes it easy for broadcasters to meet this requirement with an on-site EAS unit that is remotely monitored. DASDEC-IR lowers cost and complexity by eliminating the need for independent encoder/decoder sets at each station," said James F. Heminway, vice president and general manager of Monroe Electronics. "In addition, DASDEC-IR is the only remote EAS available that features intelligent alert management, giving it the unique capability to make automated, user-specified decisions on the types of alerts it will distribute and the actions it will take for each specific type of alert."
DASDEC-IR combines the feature-packed DASDEC-II system with the company's EAS-Net™ software to support forwarding of emergency alerts over an IP network to a central facility. MultiStation™ software adds capacity to select sequential forwarding, giving broadcasters the ability to schedule the alert to air on each channel at an appropriate time, without interrupting critical programs. And because DASDEC-IR is a fully functional EAS encoder/decoder, each location's unit can process alerts independently if the connection to the central host system is lost or broken.
As an IP-centric technology, DASDEC-II is engineered to handle future emergency alert requirements with easy-to-upgrade software. DASDEC-II includes support for an optional integrated MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 transport stream, a browser-based interface for complete remote monitoring and control, up to four Ethernet ports providing multiple subnets within a station, and automatic FCC-compliance event and audio logging using the system's dedicated non-volatile memory or network storage. DASDEC-II supports a broad range of physical connection and interface protocols, making it simple for broadcasters to integrate a wide variety of third-party equipment typically used in broadcast stations, including character generator and crawl displays, master control systems, and station automation.
To learn more about Digital Alert Systems' EAS products, call +1 (585) 765-1155 or visit www.digitalalertsystems.com.
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About Digital Alert Systems
Digital Alert Systems, LLC (DAS) was formed in October 2003 when the founders, involved in EAS/EBS since 1990, determined that IP-based technologies could lower the cost of EAS encoders/decoders, improve operations, and offer more avenues to increase the effectiveness of emergency communications in the future. The DASDEC™ emergency messaging platform was the result of this critical thinking and development.
In October 2009, six years from its inception and with more than 1,000 systems in broadcast, cable, IPTV, and emergency operation centers around the U.S., Digital Alert Systems merged with Monroe Electronics to further extend its product offerings and better serve their collective customers well into the future.
Based in Lyndonville, N.Y., Monroe Electronics provides R&D, manufacturing, sales, and customer service for the Digital Alert Systems brand. The company extends its hard-earned reputation for quality, reliability, innovation, and service to valued customers around the world. More information is available at www.digitalalertsystems.com.
