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OPTOCORE FESTIVAL BOX

Optocore Applications Engineering Manager, Maciek Janiszewski lifts the lid on the Festival Box.

What were your original goals in the development of the Festival Box?

Our goal has always been to provide a straight-forward and powerful solution which makes production simple, yet flexible and better sounding. When we started thinking about the current market, we noticed that there are simply too many protocols, all requiring different cables and providing different functionalities. Our main goal was to simplify that and provide single-fibre transport which is as open as possible and compatible with everything.

What are the main capabilities and functions of the Festival Box?

It essentially brings multiple protocols into single fibre and filters them out on the other end. Each protocol remains completely unaltered and independent, customers don’t need to look at the protocol type or bandwidth - it is truly ‘plug and play’ solution. Festival Box’s connectivity is based on SFP fibre platform which means user-swappable SFP modules which provide different connectivity - copper or fibre in different flavours. Based on job specifics users can easily change the device configuration by swapping the SFP module.

How has the product been specifically designed to offer maximum flexibility in signal transport in live environment?

We used our fibre expertise and knowledge. Instead of operating in electric signal the device works in optical domain - all SFP modules mentioned below are multiplexed in fibre domain which means there is no bandwidth restriction, also it doesn’t matter how a specific protocol which connects via the Festival Box works - Festival Box is as transparent as a cable.

In terms of flexibility - the SFP-based design allows the user to change the connectivity even on daily basis - one day he can connect only fibre protocols, another day a mixture of fibre and Cat5 and on another occasion only Cat5 connections.

What areas of opportunity does it afford festivals and live events?

Festival Box saves time for the crew - instead of running 12 fibre or Cat5 cables, it allows for everything in just one fibre. It saves the storage and transport costs - just compare the weight and size of one cable drum with 12 drums. It also gives flexibility in longer festivals. For example, alternative days of festivals require different production crews bringing in different desks with just a couple of SFP all can be covered with the same Festival Box. Finally, as it is all fibre, you can reach further distance and there is less environment influence on the signal.

Could you outline what the differences are between the Grand and Petit models of the system?

Grand offers 12 SFP slots which are transported on two duplex fibres. Petit is 6 SFPs on one duplex fibre.

Were there any challenges in the creation of the Festival Box?

The main challenge is to test it with all protocols which are available on market - there are a lot of those! We released the box quite some time ago and there are still some protocols we didn’t have a chance to play with. Still, up until now the tests have been very successful and the list of checked compatible protocols is growing every day.

Where are we likely to find the product over the course of summer?

The Festival Box has played a key role in signal transport at recent Spice Girls Spice World 2019 tour, the box has also played key role at Sweden Rock, Parklife and Opener Festival. Additional sets are touring in the United States as well.

www.optocore.com