Shanghai NYU adopts Dante audio network
- Details
One of three universities in the NYU Global Network, NYU Shanghai chose Audinate’s Dante audio network platform managed by Dante Domain Manager software to deliver upon its mission to offer its teaching, research and public service.
At the start of 2020, the pandemic forced educational leaders around the world to transition from in-person to remote learning, including the administration at NYU Shanghai. This presented many challenges for the University leaders and its almost 2000 students, including improving the audio setup in 57 lecture hall-style classrooms. Each of the classrooms had existing loudspeakers to reinforce the sound for in-person attendees, but it lacked the proper audio equipment to capture sound and broadcast to remote learners. The University tasked a project team consisting of members of the IT and instructed them to create an audio system capable of delivering high quality performance.
Sunny Qi, senior IT helpdesk manager, was one member of the University’s project team tasked with evaluating Dante. “Our team was not as familiar with Dante as we had experience mostly with analogue connections,” said Qi. “When we determined our solutions required for hybrid teaching, it became clear Dante was the best choice for our campus.”
The University chose Dante-enabled equipment to improve the sound quality within the lecture rooms. Qi and her project team selected Dante-enabled Digital Signal Processors (DSP) from Extron for audio processing. The Extron DSPs also provide the ability to add high-quality effects including voice recognition, noise cancellation and surround sound capabilities.
The team also selected Dante-enabled Shure ULXD4D Dual Channel Digital Wireless Receivers with lapel microphones, and later added Dante-enabled ceiling microphone arrays from Shure and Sennheiser to provide better audio coverage and consistent sound during lectures.
One other important factor for the team was selecting manufacturers with a solid track record of customer service. The presence of an Audinate customer service team based in China gave them added confidence in their choice. “The local Dante customer service team has been very responsive, and we are pleased with their support,” added Qi.
With numerous Dante products on the network, the University IT teams also use Dante Domain Manager, a server-based software solution that provides a centralized view of the entire deployment. The software allows the team to divide the system into groups to manage broadcast traffic more efficiently on the computer network and improve maintenance efficiency. Through a centralized view, the team receives alerts when issues arise in the system. Then, they can access the system from anywhere, determine the problem and solve it remotely.
“The Dante Domain Manager user interface is very straightforward, and has been simple for us to use,” said Qi. “With the ability to see all the devices at once on the network, it’s easier for us to monitor and manage our systems. Being able to access the network remotely also allows us to work more efficiently and keep our classrooms operating smoothly.”
