AXON EQUIPES ALFACAM OB VANS WITH SYNAPSE AND ROUTERSJune 12th, 2008

Alfacam has equipped its 11 latest OB structures, built in 2007-2008, with AXON’s routers and Synapse. The whole project, which was supplied through AXON’s Belgian dealer Diginet, consisted of four 30-camera and six 12-camera OB vans and one 36-camera flight pack. Alfacam will use some of these OB vans for the A1 GP car races and the upcoming Beijing Olympics.  

The four large OB vans as well as the flight pack each have AXON’s NV8288 truck router with 3Gb/s in and outputs. Alfacam is the first OB company to adopt 3Gb/s routing. The six other OB vans have the NV5128 multi-format router equipped with HD, RS422 and time code routing. Furthermore, these OB vans are equipped with AXON’s modular Synapse infrastructure and communications system. The 12-camera OBs have four Synapse SFR18 frames with a mix of SD and HD modules and the 24-camera have 6 SFR18. Alfacam also purchased the Synapse 2HS10, a dual channel high-end down converter with de-embedding function. The 2HS10 is especially designed for high density applications as in OB vans.

 “The purchase by Alfacam of AXON’s routers and Synapse is a further proof of Alfacam’s trust in our products”, comments Arjen Hofland Area Sales Manager Belgium at AXON. “Alfacam has always been at the forefront of technology when it comes to HD and they have contributed to the development of various HD products in our Synapse product line.”

Mr. Gabriel Fehervari, CEO of Alfacam Group, stated: “AXON offers a reliable signal-processing platform for all our HD transmissions. We have used their equipment for many renowned international sporting, musical and news events and find that their versatile Synapse solutions offer the smartest solution to our specific needs."

Alfacam, the Belgian TV facilities provider that is part of Alfacam Group (Euronext Brussels: ALFA), is based in the Eurocam MediaCenter in Lint near Antwerp, Belgium. The company offers services to TV stations and production houses. Yearly, Alfacam carries out about 1800 assignments of which 1400 are done in HDTV. Its fleet is being deployed all over the world. Alfacam has a wide range of OB trucks, which are HDTV capable. Up to 36 HDTV cameras can be connected to the largest OB vehicles. Mobility, capacity and flexibility are key features of the Alfacam fleet. Each OB truck can be easily adapted and modified, thus tailoring it the customers needs.