Grow as you go – with Barco CTRL

We have no idea what the future will bring. But that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare for it! When first deploying a control room platform, you don’t know if it will need to expand (on one site or over multiple locations), if new technology will become part of it, or if it will be integrated into another system. What can you do? Select a platform that is designed to be scalable. A platform like (you guessed it) Barco CTRL.

Some 15 years or so ago, all control room platforms were very rigid. A completely dedicated infrastructure needed to be foreseen, so expanding or upgrading meant a lot of extra cabling and architectural works. That changed with networked visualization solutions: systems that used the standard IP-network. Barco pioneered this technology with TransForm N, and helped to shape networked visualization in the control room. Using this expertise, we created Barco CTRL – a state-of-the-art control room platform that offers limitless scalability, great ease-of-use, and strictly follows the Security by Design principles.

For Barco CTRL, we used scalability as a primary design objective. We didn’t just want to make the system flexible; we wanted to do this in the easiest and most secure way possible! We’ll cover the security part in full next week, but let’s see how we make scalability easy.

Barco CTRL uses a limited number of components. One type of encoder, one decoder, and one server. That’s it. The encoder (NGS-D440) can handle any up to 4K60 signal. Configuration is a matter of following the wizard guiding you through the process. So, no manual fiddling with IP-addresses anymore!  

Just like the encoder is fit for any AV-Source, the decoder is suited for any destination. Showing content on a desk monitor or a large video wall can be done using the same hardware: the SAN-050. The advantage is that you can easily switch between use cases (1 operator desk or 4K60 resolution worth of display estate, meaning 4 HD video wall tiles) or one 4K60 monitor), with the same decoder.

The flexibility of the licensing model of Barco CTRL is also very interesting to add here, as it highly contributes to the scalability of the system. The licenses are defined by the size and performance of the system, not by hardware. In other words, you only pay for what you use, making the system interesting for both small and very large installations. Furthermore, the licenses are fluid, which means that you could easily reconfigure a decoder (SAN-050) from a wall to a desk and continue operations without the need for additional licenses.

Making sure a contemporary control room runs at its optimal potential, is the result of multiple tools. To do this, the control room platform needs to integrate seamlessly into 3rd party management systems using APIs. This enables users and integrators to leverage the complete power of all leading solutions in the market. What’s more, the system is fully prepared for the use of new technologies and integrates easily into different IT networks.  

Performing a system upgrade can be an IT-departments nightmare. Manually upgrading every piece of hardware in the company is not exactly their idea of a picnic. And even when this can be done remotely, they have the stress of making sure that every component is scheduled for an update. Barco CTRL makes upgrades a lot easier, using a one-click process. The system downtime this causes is restricted to an absolute minimum. The average time needed for a complete system upgrade is only a coffee-break!

Are you interested to know more about Barco CTRL or want to experience a personal demo? Then don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll do all what’s necessary!