IBC events are both exciting and overwhelming. For audio broadcasters and the equipment and service suppliers that drive their business and shape their innovation, these events are an opportunity to witness and embrace the energy that broadcasting generates. That’s exciting. However, the pace and direction of innovation feeding it can, at times, be furious and multifarious. That can be overwhelming. This is why the RedTech Awards are so important. They are a calm and authoritative assessment of the new ideas shaping audio broadcasting technology.
The RedTech Awards shun the distracting sparkle of the claim of new tech and focus on the rigor of performance. The expert jurors — all independent specialists in their respective fields — who took to the floor over the first few days of the IBC2024 were given a judging pack to provide guidance in their assessment and encourage coherence in the outcome. That ensures judging is balanced and that winners are invariably clear.
We asked the judges to examine nominated products or services introduced to the industry over the past year for market relevance, design, business benefits, operational benefits, innovation, technical excellence and cost-effectiveness. In essence, we asked them to consider the following:
- What key challenge faced by audio broadcasters does this product address/solve, and how widespread/common is that challenge?
- Does the product have other applications beyond addressing/solving that key challenge?
- Does the product save time and/or money?
- To what degree is it future-proof? Is it a short-term solution, or does it have the capacity to evolve?
As in previous years, who wins is out of our hands. Well, that’s not entirely true. Remarkable achievements demand special recognition, and the RedTech Team reserved a Special Lifetime Achievement Award to Peter Lee of Orban for distinguished contribution to the radio and audio industries.
Based on the criteria listed above, here are this year’s winners —the companies and their new products or services that showed commitment to product excellence — in alphabetical order:
- 22HBG — TX-Control site monitoring and control platform
- AEQ — Solaris multi-codec
- ai|coustics — Audio enhancer
- Aqua Broadcast — Cobalt FM transmitter series
- Axel Tech — TigerSync streamer
- DEVA Broadcast — DB6410 FM and digital radio four-band audio processor
- Ferncast — Next-Generation Loudness Control (ngLC)
- Genelec — UNIO personal reference monitoring solution
- Lawo — The new crystal broadcast console
- Orban — Optimod 5750 HD audio processor
- RFE — XC Series automatic changeover unit for FM transmitters
- Telos Alliance — Axia StudioCore
- Telos Alliance — Omnia Forza FM audio processing software
- Telos Alliance — Zephyr Connect multi-codec gateway
- Tieline — Bridge-IT XTRA II IP audio codec
- Xperi — AIM Player audio platform
- Xperi — DTS AutoStage entertainment platform and broadcaster portal
- WorldCast — APTmpX software
Congratulations everyone. And thank you for your commitment to technical innovation and excellence.
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