Artel Video Systems, a world-class provider of innovative, real-time multimedia delivery solutions, today announced that Passion City Church is using two Artel Quarra 1G PTP Ethernet switches to support IP-based handling of audio signals being transported between its two main Atlanta church locations — “515” and Cumberland — and a third site in Trilith, Georgia, to support worship services, events, and other productions.

“The high-performance feature set of Quarra and its level of timing accuracy allows us to leverage the power and flexibility of IP in the most reliable way,” said Stephen Bailey, Lead Audio Engineer at Passion City Church. “Having this infrastructure in place allows us to be ‘living in the future,’ capable of exchanging full-resolution audio to wherever there’s an internet connection while being ST 2110-ready at the push of a button.”

Passion City Church uses a dark fiber connection between the three locations to support bidirectional RAVENNA audio transport. This approach allows the church to implement audio over IP (AoIP) transport now while maintaining the flexibility and scalability to move toward SMPTE ST 2110-based media transport in the future.

Fully compatible with RAVENNA, Artel’s Quarra switch serves as the networking element that allows Passion City Church to move a large volume of audio signals between multiple sites with ease and reliability. With exceptionally accurate IEEE 1588v2 timing, the switch also provides the accurate PTP synchronization essential for audio over IP applications. During concurrent live services across all three sites, Passion City Church leverages this accuracy to allow three separate bands at different sites to perform together live, all playing the same song at the same time.

“Few houses of worship embrace the possibilities of AoIP, and it’s exciting to see Passion City Church approach this recent audio transport challenge with an eye toward the future,” said Paul Seiden, Director of Sales at Artel. “Designed for demanding applications including pro AV and broadcast, Quarra is a great choice for any worship facility with plans for IP migration. It ensures interoperability along this journey and boasts the capabilities needed to maintain the quality of real-time audio streams.”