At the recent NAB convention in Las Vegas (USA),
the first CopperLan licensee in the broadcast industry, Radio Systems Inc. of Logan New Jersey, was unveiling its new modular radio console system that uses the CopperLan technology to handle command and control while the audio streaming relies on Livewire, a technology from Axia Audio.

The new PLATFORM console includes multiple physical and virtual control surfaces, each controlling one or more audio engines. Given their high performance standards and long list of required features for connection and communication, Radio Systems found with CopperLan a ready-made comprehensive solution, dramatically reducing the integration effort.
Using CopperLan was also fulfilling the desire to provide openness and collaboration in system control, enabling the broadcast community to benefit from manufacturers and products that work well together.

The show was a very good opportunity for us to meet and discuss in details the implementation of CopperLan’s broadcast solutions.

We spent a fair share of time with manufacturers of outboard gear. Among them, those whose products rely on GPIO find network solutions, however appealing, unfortunately rather tedious to implement and maintain, given the usual associated software issues. It is precisely this stumbling block that gets removed with CopperLan’s software offering.
Not only do we maintain the CopperLan service on six different platform and OS variations, but we also provide universal Manager software that allows editing of any CopperLan compliant product, hence not mandating the supply of any computer application software.

Our single-chip drop-in Ethernet solution was equally found a valuable asset in product development as it provides the benefit of distributed intelligence even in simple controls, such as those found in radio turrets.

The remainder of our time at the show was devoted to companies that produce consoles and more complex systems. Since they are unavoidably confronted with challenging network and automation issues, they voiced their appreciation for our zero-configuration non-IP based protocol that eliminates the risk of interference/conflict with other network streams or potential hacking.
The VPN (virtual private network) capability was also praised as it allows instant maintenance calls or remote radio performance over the Internet.

For many, an element of surprise was the fact that CopperLan does not mandate the use of computers (a setup can indeed consist of hardware units only, and since there is no "master unit", there is no critical gear whose failure could jeopardize the entire system).

We believe this convention was a successful and rewarding event for CopperLan not only in the light of the many constructive meetings we had, but also because of the interesting requests, suggestions and feedback on behalf of the community.
This strengthens our belief that our ready-made solution will further instill inspiration in the design of innovative products.

As you most likely know it by now, CopperLan is fusing all hardware and software applications in a unified network. For this to happen, a virtual network piece of code should reside in the computer(s).

From there, every CopperLan application or equipment can talk to each other regardless of its location and cabling type. Moreover, it becomes possible to freely exchange messages between CopperLan and MIDI applications or equipment.

But wait! Does that mean that I can use this networking for MIDI-only purposes? The answer is yes! A CopperLan network is de facto an all encompassing matrix where every MIDI flow can be directed, on a channel basis, to any MIDI destination, also on a channel basis.

Practically, the MIDI channel 2 data entering a PC via an ordinary MIDI USB interface can play as channel 5 in the software synth in a MAC located remotely. Any number of flows can be simultaneously directed to a given destination. In CopperLan, the merging capability is implicit.

Well, but how do I define the linking? One application included of the CopperLan bundle is the Connector. This is a side application you can use from any computer part of the setup. It shows you all sources and destinations in the entire setup and allows you to edit their connections. This shows how CopperLan can be useful even with MIDI-only applications and equipment.

Two more side applications are part of the CopperLan package: the Editor, to access every parameter into anything that lacks a dedicated editor or editing front-end; the Snapshot, in charge of capturing, storing and restoring the state of the entire setup, including its connection settings.

The networking software and its side applications will be available to download free of charge. Don't hesitate to subscribe to the newsletter, as soon as the package is ready we will inform you.

Our ties with the academic community are bearing fruit. Their (sometimes outlandish) needs and unbridled creativity have pushed us into new territories.

Many interesting developments are brewing. We are excited to reveal them to you as they will unfold over the next months.
The end result of these exchanges is that we now have a more versatile CopperLan than before.

We would like to thank the people at IRCAM, CICM-MSH, LaBRI, Didascalie, GMEA, CNRS, ENSATT, GMEM, iMAL, ISTS, BEK, and GRAME for their great support.

We always welcome interested academic communities to join us.

The most pressing question about CopperLan is its availability. When will CopperLan be delivered?

Well, it is already available, but not widely and not in its final stage (currently still in beta mode V3.1).

We are teaming up with a small group of companies, academic and independent developers to make our way towards a final release.

If it all goes as planned, we should have a Release Candidate for March 2010, just in time for the Musik Messe.

So far, we have communicated mostly via our web site, through many meetings held at product manufacturer's sites and trade shows, and the occasional newsletter or press release, but we feel this is not completely satisfactory.

As we have much more to tell in order to keep the various communities interested in CopperLan updated, we hope this blog will somehow help filling the gap.

As you might guess, this is not the place to reveal details of corporate deals and developments, unless we are expressly authorized to do so, but it will be an ideal location for the many snippets of info we’d like to share with you. And, not to forget: your comments are very welcome.