ClearOne IP Speaker - Manual (Page 6)

6/7
StreamNet
™
Connected IP Speakers W H I T E P A P E R
screen does not impact the system – the other devices simply work around the missing
device.
StreamNet enables speaker manufacturers to transform what is today an audio
rendering device into an audio distribution system without adding any specialized new
components to their product portfolio. The only additional component necessary is a
managed network switch, available from many networking manufacturers. This truly
creates a new category for the speaker manufacturer, linking them tightly into the
application value chain instead of being the passive box at the end of a lot of very
expensive electronics and wiring.
In terms of the requirements for audio distribution, StreamNet was designed from the
ground up to address these.
StreamNet Connected speaker solutions have been deployed to hundred of
synchronous zones of audio. In fact, the limit on the number of StreamNet Connected
devices on a network has not been reached yet. Additionally, StreamNet Connected IP
speakers scale linearly, you only buy what you need to use.
For the environment StreamNet Connected speakers are significantly better – a
separate StreamNet module, including the metal enclosure weighs only 0.5 lbs, at most
there is 0.1 lbs of copper in the system and hence the resulting carbon dioxide is about
0.4 lbs for each zone or 2.4 lbs for 6 zones (12 channels) of audio. For powering the
distributed system, the StreamNet Connected IP speakers use a centralized power
supply that contains 4.5 lbs of copper. The total system including the StreamNet
modules therefore contains approximately 5.1 lbs of copper and contributes about 20.4
lbs of carbon dioxide gas to the environment. You’ll recall that the similar analog
system contributed some 200 lbs of carbon dioxide or about 10x more than the
StreamNet connected system.
Since StreamNet Connected technology is built on top of the IP network foundation it is
by default very easily connected to the Internet. In fact all that is needed is an Internet
connection from your broadband provider. StreamNet connected systems could be
programmed to pull content directly from online sources, monitor themselves and
trigger alerts when they experience problems, and communicate with any IP connected
device.
Within each StreamNet Connected IP speaker is an advanced DSP capable of
encoding and decoding content and authenticating with different DRM schemes. The
DSP is a general purpose device and can therefore be programmed and upgraded to
support new codecs and DRM schemes as they come out. StreamNet Connected
licensees can choose which codecs and DRM schemes they wish to support for their
products. In addition the processing capability can be used for integration to control