BCE chooses Dante Domain Manager to serve its clients

Dante Domain Manager, development Audinate, will help the provider of television, radio, production, post-production and telecommunications services Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) to take your Dante system to the next level.

BCE serves more than 400 customers from various sectors, such as television networks, radio stations, film distributors, production companies, advertising companies, telecommunications operators and public services. To cope with this workload, BCE has one of the largest telecommunications networks intended for the media market in Europe.

This network is supported by the system Dante of Audinate; in fact, BCE was one of the first broadcast centers in Europe to migrate its entire infrastructure to Dante in 2017. Now, with the construction of a new WAN audio distribution infrastructure, they needed a network management tool that will provide ease of use, expandability and security to your networks.

The BCE technical team opted for Dante Domain Manager (DDM), network management software that allows user authentication, the role-based security and the audit capabilities for Dante networks. Pierre Fuchs, BCE technician, explains the reason for the decision: "In 2017, Dante allowed us to create a very reliable, flexible and easy-to-use production network. Now, with Dante Domain Manager, we can manage the system securely and reliably. I am looking forward to seeing how else we will apply Dante in the future."

Key areas of Dante Domain Manager at BCE

Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) has decided to trust Dante Domain Manager to face some of its main challenges. The first and most important was the network security, necessary to meet uninterrupted emission requirements. With Dante Domain Manager, all control traffic is encrypted and devices are linked to a specific server instance, preventing hijacking or unauthorized use of the system. The main security vector is user authentication, which links all Dante control actions to specific users.

For BCE, it was also important that there was no central point of failure of the clock. To ensure this, Dante uses PTP (Precision Time Protocol, IEEE1588) to provide a synchronized clock across the network. Any Dante hardware device can act as a PTP Leader Clock through the high-quality VCXO clock built into each, and Dante incorporates an auto-choice scheme that ensures stable PTP functionality even if a Leader Clock device fails.

Similarly, BCE uses Dante Domain Manager as a network management console, securely connecting audio between each radio station. Instead of setting up single-use connections for each location, you now have a “robust and efficient” infrastructure that is both scalable and flexible enough to support any production.  By configuring multiple Dante Domains, or groups, BCE can independently control each network from one location. Network administrators and AV managers can view all system components and manage the entire AV network from one control panel.

A final key feature for Fchs and his team is the audit log by Dante Domain Manager. This development allows the team to track all activities over any period of time to quickly identify poor workflows, malfunctioning devices, and unwanted user actions. This instant information allows them to be aware of problems and fix them quickly.