SDVoE Technology Bolsters Mission-Critical Content for the European Parliament with Over 1,000 Endpoints

The European Parliament (EP) is the directly elected legislative body of the European Union, working together with the European Council to draft legislation for the political and economic union of 27 Member States. With 705 Members, the European Parliament represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and with 24 working languages the largest multilingual parliament.

The European Parliament’s official seat is in Strasbourg, France, where plenary sessions are held once a month. Committee meetings and the rest of parliamentary activities take place in Brussels, Belgium, including shorter plenary sessions. During plenary, the Members of the European Parliament (MEP’s) vote on legislation and hold debates on legislative proposals with the European Council and the European Commission. Heads of State, dignitaries and spokespersons from all over the world regularly speak in the Parliament’s chamber in Strasbourg or Brussels. To facilitate debate in the multilingual parliament, the European Parliament relies on certified conference interpreters interpreting parliamentary debates simultaneously from and into all of the 24 EU official languages.

Challenge

The European Parliament Strasbourg conference rooms are equipped with up to 30 interpretation booths to enable simultaneous interpretation, located around the chamber on two floors. This presents a visual challenge, since conference interpreters need to be able to see the speakers while interpreting.

In order to provide interpreters a view of a speaker, interpretation booths are equipped with screens. Integrated cameras provide EP interpreters with a close-up image of the podium and speakers from the floor, but they also need to be able to switch sources for simple camera view or for the presentation content displayed inside the meeting room. EP interpreters need a system with minimal delay, which allows them to switch instantly from one mode to the other and ensures they do not miss a single detail.

The Parliament needed a solution providing instant switching between sources to eliminate interruptions in interpretation. Additionally, Parliament required a cost-effective and intuitive control interface for simplified and seamless switching.

Solution

The European Parliament integrated IDK Corporations’ IP-NINJAR P-Series to provide simplified single switching and flexibility in all meeting rooms where interpretation is provided. Each EP interpreter has access to a display, which allows them to switch between four sources, including chamber view, presentation view, media view and speaker view.

Most importantly, the speaker’s view enables the interpreters to support their interpretation by closely lip-reading the speaker. The sources are distributed to each of the 24 booths, including two interpreters and two displays in each booth. The initial project phase included over 800 endpoints.

The second phase was heavily focused on the interconnection and control interface. IDK developed a four-button selector that enables seamless switching between the four sources available to interpreters. Each button has been programmed for simplified and instantaneous switching. The solution eliminated the traditional freeze frame and black screens between switching. The final solution includes over 1000 endpoints – a historic project with one of the most extensive AV-over-IP integrations worldwide.

IDK’s SDVoE-based AV-over-IP product, the IP-NINJAR, is designed to provide low power consumption with a smaller footprint by eliminating the need for an internal fan. The IP-NINJAR fits seamlessly under the interpreters’ booths and provides a reliable, low-latency solution for transmitting and receiving audiovisual content through Parliament chambers. The IP-NINJAR is available with both fiber-optic and Cat6A connectors for users to choose from depending on extension distance needs, existing infrastructure, or network switch configuration.

Benefits of SDVoE Technology

SDVoE reaches beyond existing standards to provide benefits no other technology can claim:

• A complete ecosystem – SDVoE Alliance members are manufacturers with expertise in signal distribution, display manufacture, IT infrastructure, chip design, and AV software. The integrator has dozens of partners to align with and products to choose from.
• A flexible yet simple software platform – the SDVoE API allows rapid development of highly specialized software, custom-tailored to the needs of a vast array of end users.
• A full OSI stack solution – only SDVoE offers the simplicity of a complete top to bottom solution, fully encompassing infrastructure, transport, processing, and a simple control layer.

About IDK

IDK Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer headquartered in Kanagawa Japan with sales, fulfillment, service, and support operations in the USA, Europe, and Asia. For over 30 years, our market leadership and unwavering commitment to providing both exceptional and high-quality equipment has helped shape IDK to become a world leader in the Pro AV market. IDK is not only committed to creating and developing best-in-class AV equipment, but we are also committed to our planet and environment. The entire IDK organization supports our social responsibility policy, and we are continually conducting activities based on the three “R’s”; Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. This way, we are doing our part to reduce our footprint ensuring that we leave a healthy, clean planet for future generations.

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