FOR-A's RDS Conductor Wins 2024 NAB Show Product of the Year Award

	RDS Conductor is the first RDS (Registration and Discovery System) solution to enable multi-vendor RDS to access shared resources in an organized way, the company says.

FOR-A Corporation of America announces that its RDS Conductor won a 2024 NAB Show Product of the Year Award in the Connect category as a top IT Networking/Infrastructure and Security product. This official awards program recognizes some of the most significant and promising new products and technologies showcased by exhibitors at NAB Show. RDS Conductor is the first RDS (Registration and Discovery System) solution to enable multi-vendor RDS to access shared resources in an organized way, the company says. It combines FOR-A's SOM-200RDS software with the SOM-20RDS Plus API, to organize and register NMOS-compliant resources and share them with other islands/studios.

Adding new systems to an existing Media over IP system (MoIP) has been difficult up to now because the RDS on new systems must have the same specs as the initial design or requires extensive redesign of the existing broadcast controllers and RDS. To make it easier to add and share devices on a MoIP system built using SMPTE ST 2110 standards, FOR-A designed a "hierarchical RDS (Hi-RDS)" environment for next-generation resource sharing of NMOS devices. FOR-A's RDS Conductor uses this technology to configure a system's primary RDS and manage NMOS-compliant common device resources.

"The NAB organization's acknowledgement of the promise of RDS Conductor is very rewarding to FOR-A," explains Satoshi Kanemura, president, FOR-A Americas. "We believe this is groundbreaking technology that will increase broadcasters' creativity through an easy-to-modify solution. Being able to add a new MoIP (Media Over IP) system only when and where it is needed, while still using the existing system, means that the MoIP system can be expanded in stages. The ability to build low-cost systems with multiple vendors without being tied to the initial design expands the possibility of using MoIP systems more flexibly - just like baseband systems. It allows operators to share devices when and where they need it."

NAB Show Product of the Year Award Winners were selected by a panel of industry experts in 15 categories and announced in a live awards ceremony at NAB Show on April 16. To be eligible for an award, nominated products had to come from companies exhibiting at the 2024 NAB Show and be delivered within the 2024 calendar year.

"NAB Show is the ultimate marketplace showcasing the latest trends and technology spanning creation, distribution and monetization in the broadcast, media and entertainment industry," says senior vice president and chief customer success officer Eric Trabb, NAB Global Connections and Events. "Congratulations to FOR-A for winning the prestigious 2024 NAB Show Product of the Year Award, a testament to the groundbreaking innovation embodied by RDS Conductor. Its profound impact on the content lifecycle underscores its pivotal role in empowering storytellers to navigate present challenges and embrace the opportunities of tomorrow."

FOR-A also won a "Best of Show" award at the 2024 NAB Show from Sound & Video Contractor magazine for AlfaArt from Alfalite. FOR-A is the exclusive U.S. partner of Alfalite, the Spanish LED display manufacturer. FOR-A represents Alfalite in in Latin America, Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, and Asia. At NAB, FOR-A showed AlfaArt - an all-in-one solution consisting of a UHD Finepix LED wall with incorporated media players and moving ambient artwork created by digital artist Cesar Yague. Designed for large-format art displays, such as hotels, corporate offices and entertainment venues, AlfaArt transforms entire walls into living canvases.