The Klark Teknik business unit of Telex Communications UK Ltd. has purchased the assets of the SuperMAC and HyperMAC audio networking business previously operated by Sony Oxford, a division of Sony United Kingdom Ltd., effective September 2007. The assets include all the SuperMAC and HyperMAC technology implementations currently available from Sony Oxford.
SuperMAC technology is the basis of the Audio Engineering Society standard “AES50-2005: AES standard for digital audio engineering—high-resolution multichannel audio interconnection.” Klark Teknik will promote the use of AES50, SuperMAC and HyperMAC and license the use of the technology. Support for existing licensees will transfer from Sony Oxford to Klark Teknik. Compliance with the Audio Engineering Society patent policy will be unaffected. Klark Teknik will additionally seek standardization for the HyperMAC technology.
SuperMAC and HyperMAC together create a high-performance audio interconnection and routing system, designed for a wide range of professional audio applications, including single-cable duplex interconnection for audio and sample clocks. SuperMAC offers up to 48 audio channels bi-directionally over Cat-5 cable, while HyperMAC offers up to 384 channels bi-directionally over Cat-5/Cat-6 or fiber. The technology also offers ultra-low, fully deterministic latency; comprehensive error detection and management; Ethernet physical layer audio data transmission; and Ethernet TCP/IP protocol compatible auxiliary data channel.
Implementations of the technology are available as both FPGA cores and dedicated chips.
SuperMAC and HyperMAC are used extensively in the Midas XL8 digital mixing console to provide a highly flexible audio routing and distribution network. As well as licensing the technology, Klark Teknik will launch a range of products using this networking technology, beginning with the DN9696 High Resolution 96-track/96kHz live performance audio recorder to be previewed at PLASA 07.
Klark Teknik expects further product announcements from third parties.
For more information, visit www.klarkteknik.com.
