14 October 2011, Cleveland Ohio, USA

Axia Audio is now shipping Livewire SIM modules – tiny plug-in boards that will allow any Broadcast or Pro Audio equipment manufacturer to easily add Livewire connectivity to their products.

Earlier this year, Axia announced the Livewire Limitless License (known as L3 for short), a one-time $500 license fee which entitles any audio equipment company to build Livewire into an unlimited number of devices. Now, partners may also purchase the Livewire SIM, a Livewire interface on a compact pluggable module, to expedite the addition of Livewire to their gear.

“Under the Livewire Limitless License, we are publishing our designs and source code, and sharing development information with our partners using the information gateway at OpenAoIP,” says Michael “Catfish” Dosch, President of Axia Audio. “With the Livewire SIM, a ready-made interface, Axia partners can fast-track the addition of Livewire to their products for instant access to the enormous installed base of Livewire users around the world.”

The Livewire SIM is a 72-pin Single Inline Module with a compact, 4.55” x 2.2” form factor. It fits Dolby-E type slots (Dolby Cat No. 552 and 559) and supports standard Dolby input-dominant and output-dominant I/O modes as well as 8x stereo-channel TDM, making it easy to include native Livewire connectivity in nearly any audio gear.

Each Livewire SIM has a capacity of 8 channels of bi-directional stereo I/O via a single Ethernet connector, an embedded Web server for easy configuration, and an internal clock; users can designate the Livewire SIM as the clock master for their Livewire network, or synchronize it with an external master clock. The cards operate at a studio-standard 48 kHz sample rate, but also contain SRCs for compatibility with other sampling rates. A test fixture for evaluation and development is also available to L3 partners.

The Livewire Audio-over-IP standard, developed by Axia parent company Telos Systems, allows broadcasters to quickly and easily build audio networks using switched Ethernet to connect a few rooms, or an entire facility. Livewire networks have a total system capacity of more than 10,000 audio streams, and can carry hundreds of digital stereo channels (plus machine logic and PAD) over a single CAT-6 cable, eliminating much of the cost normally associated with wiring labor and infrastructure.

Over 30 Axia Partners, including companies such as Nautel, AudioScience, International Datacasting, 25-Seven Systems, and RCS Sound Software already offer broadcast hardware and software that connects directly with Livewire networks. More than 2,000 radio studios are equipped with Axia AoIP networks, and over 25,000 Livewire-equipped devices are in daily service.

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Axia, a Telos company, builds Ethernet-based professional IP-Audio products for broadcast, sound-reinforcement and commercial audio applications. Along with the Element 2.0. iQ and Radius AoIP consoles for on-air, commercial production, audio workstations and personal studios, Axia products include intercom systems, digital audio routers, DSP mixers and processors, and software for configuring, managing and interfacing networked audio systems.