Artistic Licence to Host Art-Net 4 Zone at PLASA 2016

Artistic Licence, inventor of Art-Net and expert in lighting control, is hosting a dedicated Art-Net stand at this year's PLASA London show. This exciting new initiative -- entitled Art-Net 4 Zone (Stand R71) -- is supported by PLASA and LSi and seeks to provide expert education and training on the use of Art-Net and related protocols.

Thanks to the support of similar-minded sponsor companies, Artistic's formidable expertise will be complemented by a wide range of technical experts who are giving their time to make the event a success. Among those already signed up are Wayne Howell and Fraser Connolly of Artistic Licence; Hamish Dumbreck of JESE; Peter Willis of Howard Eaton Lighting; Bob Goddard of Goddard Design Co.; Jon Hole of Eaton - Zero 88 Series; Geoff Archenhold of ISTL; Iain Ruxton of Speirs and Major; Tapio Rosenius of Lighting Design Collective; and Gorka Cortazar of UNSTATIC Technologies. AV support is to be provided by TSL Lighting and White Light.

As such, the company says "the zone promises to be a hub of activity, with some of the industry's most highly regarded figures in Ethernet and DMX/RDM lighting control on hand to provide one-on-one training, mini-seminars, and practical product advice in an 'Art-Fest' session."

As one of the most widely supported Ethernet lighting protocol in the industry, Art-Net has arguably come of age. This is particularly so with the release of version 4, which is timed to coincide with the PLASA show. Art-Net 4 provides a significant advance in lighting control because it incorporates management of the gateway data source; this allows users to choose Art-Net as the discovery, management, and RDM tool, while using sACN for the live control data. Flexibility is further enhanced by the elimination of "multi-homing," which means that Art-Net 4 does not require multiple ports to have different IP addresses.

Visitors are encouraged to drop by the stand throughout the show for face-time with the Art-Net experts. A program of events is planned for Sunday, September 18, and Monday, September 19, with 15-minute tech-briefings taking place on a range of relevant topics. Booking is not required, and a full program will be released in the run-up to the show.

For the most hands-on technical enthusiasts, the final show day Monday, September 20, is saved for "Art-Fest." The format, which will be familiar to many product developers, is intended to allow visitors to test the inter-operability of devices from various manufacturers.

Given the ever-wider adoption of Ethernet lighting protocols, an up-to-date technical reference that seeks to address real-world implementation issues is well overdue. The company says visitors to Art-Net 4 Zone (R71) may therefore be interested to take a look at copies of Light Bytes: Inside Art-Net and sACN by Wayne Howell, the CEO of Artistic Licence and inventor of Art-Net.

The book has just been published in preview edition, and a small number will be available for purchase. This is an opportunity to quiz the author first hand on Art-Net or sACN!