At ISE 2017, QSC will demonstrate its existing, fourth-generation Q-SYS software on a high-performance standard Dell EMC PowerEdge R730 server. This demonstration was conceived as a glimpse into the future of the market where larger installations use centralized data center processing. The demonstrations will take place on February 7-10 at stand 7-Q170.
The Q-SYS Platform is centered on audio, video and control (AVC) solutions that take advantage of existing IT hardware, protocols, and standards. The Q-SYS Platform uses standard Intel processing, Linux operating system services and IEEE networking protocols. The technology demonstrated at ISE is the next evolution of this design paradigm, decoupling existing Q-SYS software from proprietary hardware and creating an architecture where centralized AVC processing can live in the data center. Now processing intensive features such as AEC and feedback suppression can become a shared resource for any meeting room across the enterprise. This, combined with a portfolio of cost-effective meeting room I/O peripherals, allows users to reliably distribute content and control using existing IT network infrastructure.
Moving to standard mainstream server hardware reflects a typical enterprise IT environment and provides several benefits, particularly for corporate environments and global enterprises, including simplicity and familiarity, following established server deployment, maintenance, and management best practices; centralized resourcing, for easier room resource moves, adds, and changes, and automation of on-demand deployment of DSP-intensive features such as AEC; flexibility to more effectively support centralized, distributed, or hybrid system configurations, and enable current and future software and service deployment models; and reliability, through redundant power supplies, networking, storage, and processing as well as standard Dell BIOS level features including Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC).
“The shift from dedicated hardware to centrally deployed software solutions for video, audio, and control systems makes perfect sense,” said Saar Litman, senior analyst at Wainhouse Research. “Today’s AV managers work within the IT department, and they expect solutions that behave like IT solutions in terms of scalability, extensibility, manageability, and integration with existing IT tools. The technology demonstration by QSC at ISE is directly in line with this migration from hardware to software.”
“We expect these kinds of systems to become the norm for corporate and larger-scale enterprise installations in the future,” said TJ Adams, director of installed systems product marketing. “By running the existing, field-hardened Q-SYS software on a standard Dell EMC server, users have full backwards compatibility and can expand capabilities of their system by merely adding flexible and inexpensive I/O meeting room end points, such as the recently announced I/O-8 Flex Channel Expander. If localized processing is required in the meeting room, our range of medium-sized to smaller Unified and Integrated Cores, including the new Q-SYS Core 510i processor, fit seamlessly into the design.
“Furthermore, we work hard to leverage existing, widely accepted technologies when it makes the most sense, such as using Linux as the basis for our Q-SYS software stack, in effect creating an AVC Real-time Operating System (RTOS). Our partnership with Dell is the latest example of this philosophy. They are experts in designing, manufacturing, and supporting enterprise-grade servers globally, and QSC looks forward to benefiting from their expertise. Our partnership allows the Q-SYS software development team to do what it does best: push the boundaries of audio, video, and control innovation at the software level to meet the evolving needs of our partners and customers.”
Per recent product announcements, QSC will continue to develop the Q-SYS Platform to provide standards-based, in-room solutions that are flexible and simple to deploy and manage, including PTZ-IP conference cameras, lower channel-count Core processors, I/O peripherals, bridges, and streaming hardware.
“We are delighted to collaborate with QSC to enable the future of audio, video, and control platforms,” said Ron Pugh, vice president and general manager for Americas OEM Solutions, Dell EMC. “We have been delivering high-performance, highly reliable enterprise IT and server solutions for decades, and we recognize the value of organizations like QSC to innovate at the software layer, using our IT-proven enterprise server platforms to deliver the architecture and solution set the IT customer expects.”
“As AV and IT departments move toward a unified IT-centric organization, managers are being told that audio, video, and control are now under their care and expect standardized enterprise-class platforms that cost effectively scale,” said Joe Pham, president and CEO of QSC. “By integrating a malleable, software-based AVC platform with powerful Dell EMC standard servers, our technology demonstration at ISE highlights an inevitable shift in our industry to standards-based IT platforms. With the support of our valued server partner Dell EMC, this demonstration is yet another manifestation of ‘AV built for IT,’ and I am proud to see QSC be the first to get there.”
The Q-SYS technology demonstration will be shown at scheduled times at the QSC Systems stand 7-Q170. To sign up for a 15-minute presentation and for more information about QSC Systems at ISE, please visit: www.qsc.com/ise2017
