LYNDONVILLE, N.Y.—NVerzion is the latest company to become a Digital Alert Systems (DAS) EAS-NET partner by integrating the DAS EAS-Net communications software with its CloudNine video server platform.
NVerzion joins many other broadcast technology vendors, including Evertz Microsystems, Utah Scientific and Florical, as EAS-Net partners, said Bill Robertson, VP, business development at DAS, Nov. 7 during a telephone interview.
The NVerzion implementation of EAS-Net software gives users of the NVerzion CloudNine video server a direct IP link with the DAS DASDEC emergency messaging platform. No separate audio wiring is necessary, assuring high-quality audio alerting is delivered to the server along with Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) data, he said.
The integration makes it possible for broadcasters and cablecasters using the CloudNine server to meet their mandated EAS/CAP responsibilities from a traditional master control room or other playout environment, the company said.
NVerzion has integrated the DAS EAS/CAP messaging capabilities directly with NVerzion’s graphics overlay and audio playback systems. “It’s not an upstream keyer or a downstream keyer [in the CloudNine server],” said NVerzion President Scott Murphy in a phone interview. “We call it an inter-stream keyer.”
Stations are required to broadcast emergency alerts in text form and as audio, said DAS’s Robertson. “The way NVerzion did it is to provide a background color to represent the severity of the alert.”
NVerzion’s implementation inspects the essence of an incoming alert message and without creating a delay triggers a background color that’s appropriate to the emergency warning to be broadcast—for instance, green for a test, yellow for a watch and red for a warning, said Robertson.
“They [NVerzion] have gone beyond the basic ‘throw a crawl up there’ by understanding the essence of the alert and representing it on screen for viewers in a colorful way,” he added.
The CloudNine server with the EAS/CAP messaging integration is especially well-suited for broadcast operations on tight budgets, such as digital subchannels, Murphy added.
More information is available on the NVerzion website and the DAS website.
