8 April 2002, Las Vegas, NV USA

Engineers and talent agree on the benefits of the new Zephyr Xstream from Telos Systems. With its convenient combination of portability, ease of use and breakthrough Low-Delay MPEG AAC coding, Zephyr Xstream has become a runaway success with broadcasters around the world.

Case in point: Rick Dees, internationally-known syndicated morning personality at LA’s KIIS-FM, the top-billing radio station in the US∗ . “Rick absolutely loves his new Zephyr Xstream,” says Jerry Burnham, KIIS-FM’s Special Projects Engineer in charge of Dees’ personal studio and remote equipment.

“The new AAC-LD coding in Zephyr Xstream is amazing,” Burnham continues. “Low-Delay coding is a tremendous advantage. We get fantastic-sounding remotes, and we can interact with phone callers, traffic reporters and other remote sources without that annoying time lag.”

Dees commented, “It’s finally here! No delay makes my day!”

Low-Delay AAC coding (sometimes referred to as MPEG-4) was developed by the Fraunhofer Institute (Fhg), famous for their pioneering work in audio and video coding, including the Internet audio standard MP3. “Low-Delay AAC gives broadcasters the high audio quality they’ve come to expect from Layer-3, while reducing encode times by up to 80%,” says Marty Sacks, National Sales Director for Telos.

Three Xstream models are available: a rackmount unit for studio or head-end use, and portable and rackmount models with a four-input stereo mixer and DSP voice/music processing by Omnia.

All Zephyr Xstream models feature Low-Delay MPEG AAC-LD coding, which dramatically reduces delay time and gives better quality than MPEG Layer-3 at comparable bit rates. There is also an Ethernet port, which allows Zephyr Xstream to stream and receive audio over IP connections, and adds networked remote control capabilities via a built-in Web server. Zephyr Xstream also includes industry-standard G.722, Layer-2 and Layer-3 coding capabilities.

To find out more about Zephyr Xstream, visit the Telos Systems / Omnia booth at the NAB, Booth L2251 in the Las Vegas Convention Center Radio Hall.

Syndicated personality Rick Dees, morning talent at Los Angeles’ KIIS-FM, and KIIS engineer Jerry Burnham show their discovery: The Zephyr Xstream from Telos.

Telos Systems, with headquarters located in Cleveland, Ohio, and offices in Baltimore, Maryland; San Diego, California; and Freising, Germany is a leading manufacturer of ISDN, digital network and telephone interface products for talk-show programming, call-in radio segments, teleconferencing, audio production, remote broadcasts, and intercom applications.

Omnia, a Telos company, is world-renowned for its innovative digital audio signal processing expertise. Its family of digital audio processors for FM, AM, TV, DAB, Internet, and broadcast audio production are setting new standards for audio quality in the broadcast and Internet industries worldwide.