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SwitchBlade

EngineeringWheatstone
Intelligent Telecomms for
The Intelligent Network ©

We've got that winning feeling!

Again, a huge "Thank You" to all who visited the SwitchBlade exhibit at NAB 2019 on the booth of our Americas and Canada distributors, Wheatstone Corporation.
We have been driven all year to build on the interest and trust of our many customers. The original design goal of being an intelligent phone interface has been far exceeded to give us a high-density mono or stereo inter-facility transfer appliance which still does phones fantastically well!

We were delighted to have been awarded both the "Product of the Year Award 2019" by the National Association of Broadcasters in the Radio category and a "Best of Show" by Radio World.  Huge thanks are due to Wheatstone Corporation for promoting and guiding us so well. Pictures

Current Status

[We've been so busy building the capacity of SwitchBlade that updating the website fell behind. Sorry!]
There are now SwitchBlades installed from coast to coast across the USA and also in Europe.  We have installed customised projects where reliability and intelligent action were baked in.  SwitchBlade is providing broadcast-quality phones at the core of of high-demand news facilities and at the same time, SwitchBlades are carrying high-quality stereo programme feeds with time-locked RS232 network cues, SLIOs and ACIs embedded into the audio streams 24 hours a day.

And more big news from NAB 2019 : we have partnered with Wheatstone to bring you Phoneblade.  This phone-specific stand-alone unit is powered by Radiomation's SwitchBlade technology.  PhoneBlade's controller can also work with SwitchBlade and is now available for use installed into an LXE or as a desktop turret.  Launched by Wheatstone at NAB 2019, you can read all about PhoneBlade and the Controller here

Features

  • SwitchBlade is a 1 RU appliance which offers 2 network connections. One goes to your corporate LAN where it joins your existing SIP IP Phone system if you have one, or else links through the LAN out to your cloud-delivered service provider. The other connection goes direct to your facility's Wheatstone Wheatnet audio network.
  • The power of the 'Intelligent Network' then makes magic happen. Up to 24 incoming stereo lines show up in Navigator - and on every Wheatstone surface and monitor selector in the facility. The built-in bus minus of every Wheatstone console channel returns a clean feed to the caller - without any need for hybrids.
  • Phone lines can follow the shows they serve, simply and automatically using identifying tokens such as RFID cards or log-ins, or simple self-identification; whatever is usual at your installation.
  • Our call-screening software allows screeners to screen and forward calls to studios. Talent can transfer or forward callers to any destination for prize-winner processing.
  • Pre- and post-show caller comments can be greeted by the integrated auto-attendant and recorded in quality for use in making programs.
  • Calling number (CLID) recognition allows sorting of incoming VIPs from callers trolling shows and enables the appropriate processing of each type automatically.
  • Stringers can use the store-and-forward system to store files of their contributions into the inbox of the news teams or the shows they work with at any time from any location.
  • The system is scaleable: it can be 'right-sized' to suit the particular requirements of each station.
  • A major application for SwitchBlade has been providing high quality point-to-point contribution links. Using its stereo Opus codec, each of SwitchBlade's 24 modules can link to your existing remote SIP-compliant Opus codecs - or even other SwitchBlades.   That's 24 simultaneous bi-directional broadcast-quality program distribution channels carried nationally or internationally via Internet connections to and from any channel on your Wheatnet network.
  • To bind your installations together even tighter over wide areas, when two SwitchBlades are connected together, SLIOs, serial data and ACI commands can be carried between Wheatstone "islands" with absolutely precise timing.
  • To complete the integration, SLIO indication of each line is available throughout the WNIP system in the facility into which it is installed. Answer / hangup can be effected by direct SLIO control. There are also status reports and control commands in the same format as Wheatstone's own ACI so integrators and users of ScreenBuilder will feel right at home with   SwitchBlade.

    • Awesome as it may now be, we're still only getting started!

Note: SwitchBlade is a Radiomation product powered by Wheatstone. While it has the most valued support of Wheatstone Corp. and was introduced as an exhibit on the Wheatstone booth at NAB 2018, it remains entirely a project of Radiomation Ltd. Your regular Wheatstone dealer will know how to find us.

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