LONDON—The 2021 Wimbledon Championships marked the biggest deployment to date on tournament grounds of Riedel signal transport, processing and intercom technology, the company announced today.
The All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) installed a fixed signal routing and communications network based on Riedel’s MediorNet real-time signal transport and processing technology and Artist digital matrix intercom mainframe.
AELTC has relied on Riedel for more than 10 years and expanded its Riedel infrastructure for this year’s tournament, Riedel said.
For Wimbledon 2021, held June 28-July 11 at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the MediorNet/Artist solution facilitated remote audio mixing to support communications between review officials and umpires, statisticians, safety, security, audio and production teams as well as video feeds to aid the audio team with press feed distribution and remote operation of all courts, it said.
While the basic network remains in place year-round at AELTC, Riedel Managed Technology was brought in to supply the additional panels, nodes and other gear necessary to support tournament play at 18 different courts over the 14 days of Wimbledon.
"Wimbledon is steeped in tradition, but we're certainly not standing still. We're always looking to stay on the edge of technology and apply the latest innovations to make the Championships the best they can possibly be," said AELTC audio and communications specialist James Henry “Brew” Breward.
"We know we can count on Riedel equipment to provide seamless, reliable communications with fantastic sound quality when it really matters, such as when resolving debatable review calls," he added. "And with all of the additional equipment that comes in quickly for the Championships, we absolutely depend on Riedel's Managed Technology division to help us meet our tight timeframes.”
The permanent Riedel installation at AELTC consists of an Artist-64 intercom node and a handful of 2300 SmartPanels. Prior to the tournament, the Riedel Managed Technology division expanded the fixed infrastructure with an array of additional Artist and MediorNet equipment, including MediorNet MicroN high-density media distribution network devices, around 120 intercom panels, and Bolero, offering coverage over much of the grounds, the company said.
With their ability to be deployed in unlimited configurations, the modular MicroNs came in handy particularly in the AELTC master control room where the signals from the 18 courts, big screen production and countless local mixes come together, it said.
Additional MicroNs configured with the Riedel MultiViewer App were located in the Center Court PA rack room. This enabled the production crew in master control to mix audio signals from up to 36 SDI broadcast and MADI feeds from Artist, house audio, OB comms 4-wires, and program feeds.
