Challenge
With 260 conference rooms, some of which were webcast-enabled, CERN needed to find a solution that provided the same experience to those watching abroad as the scientists watching in person. Marek Domaracky, senior video manager at CERN IT department, was seeking a dependable solution that would capture and deliver both the speaker and presentation material simultaneously. CERN had been using a PC, two capture cards, an encoder, and additional control software to share seminars online via video conference. However, this setup was both cumbersome and at times unreliable. Wanting to simplify the streaming process, they needed a standalone appliance, capable of independently starting and stopping streaming and recording.
Since CERN holds back-to-back lectures on a regular basis, a continuous webcast was required to avoid disconnecting viewers during the downtime between presentations. Looking to make their presentations more accessible to their worldwide audience, Domaracky wanted a reliable and flexible solution that would allow them to minimize the hardware in their setup.