Announced earlier in 2017, Audinate's Dante Domain Manager makes audio networking more secure, more scalable and more manageable than ever before. Now, the Australian company, which has recently completed their initial public offering of stock on the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange), has finally revealed the business model going forward for what was essentially technology licensing, until now. Previous software tools from Audinate, like Dante Controller, a basic free software application, the Dante Virtual Soundcard that turned any computer into a Dante-powered workstation, or the Dante Via software to control multichannel routing of computer-based audio, both available at affordable prices, can be almost considered essential add-ons that basically helped to make Dante networking more user-friendly and created a unified approach for the technology.
The new Dante Domain Manager software not only will contribute to generate an important new source of revenue for the company, but can be considered as a complete professional network management tool that places Audinate at par with many other IT solution providers, revealing a new approach going-forward. With Dante Domain Manager, Audinate basically creates a software product that it will be sold as a perpetual license and will be available in three editions: Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
● The Silver edition is ideal for installations that primarily require user management, such as smaller houses of worship or schools, with a maximum of 2 domains and 10 audio devices. List price for the Silver edition is $995 USD.
● The Gold edition includes integration with Active Directory and is suited to many mid-sized business environments, supporting up to 10 domains and up to 50 devices. List price for this edition is $3,995 USD.
● The Platinum edition covers management needs of large-scale installations and expands support up to 50 domains and up to 250 devices. This edition includes SNMP alerting and a fully redundant “high availability” option for mission-critical systems. List price for the Platinum edition is $9,995 USD.
All editions of Dante Domain Manager enable the creation of Dante domains to isolate and organize audio devices, permission-driven user accounts, cross-subnet routing of audio, and powerful administrative features to monitor user actions and system status in key areas. To consolidate the new approach, Audinate is actively creating a distribution channel to sell Dante Domain Manager to end-users through authorized resellers. Interested resellers can get more information at www.audinate.com/ddmreseller
Manufacturer Support
Audinate has received strong support from its manufacturer partners who are in the process of updating their firmware to version 4.0 in order to support Dante Domain Manager. Leading manufacturers who have declared their intentions to upgrade to the latest firmware include: Adam Hall, Allen & Heath, AMK Innovations, Amphenol, Ashly Audio, Attero Tech, Aviom, Bose, Clear-Com, Crestron, CTP Systems, d&b audiotechnik, Dan Dugan Sound Design, Digital Audio Labs, Direct Out, Extron, Focusrite, Hear Technologies, Klang Technologies, Linea Research, Mackie (LOUD), MC2, Mandozzi Elettronica, Music Group, Nixer, Powersoft, RDL, Renkus-Heinz, Shure, Stewart Audio, Studio Technologies, Symetrix, TASCAM, Visionary Solutions, Wohler, WorldCast, XTA and Yamaha.
According to Dane Butcher, Founder and CEO of Symetrix, Dante Domain Manager is a considerable value-add for any AV professional seeking to leverage IT-grade system administration functionality. He noted, “Dante Domain Manager, coupled with the strengthening of security and system performance, makes deploying Dante 4.0 firmware a quick and straight-forward decision.”
"Dante Domain Manager provides easy management for large-scale sound systems, extending the scalability to countless numbers of existing Dante systems," states Yoshi Tsugawa, General Manager of Yamaha Pro Audio Division. "One of the most significant contributions of Audinate is that they have brought all the benefits of IT to system integrators in the audio world."Echoing the sentiment from manufacturers, Joe da Silva, Director of Product Marketing for Extron Electronics, concurred, “Dante Domain Manager used in conjunction with the Extron DMP 128 Plus audio DSP processors provides user authentication, security, and assessment capabilities all from an intuitive user interface. Dante Domain Manager will add flexibility and scalability for organizing and routing, visibility and answerability with its audit reporting and alerts, and a higher level of security and control with added layer of user rights, privileges, and role settings.”
The flexibility and security features have also helped Ashly Audio find success as a Dante adopter. Mark Wentling, President of Ashly Audio, expressed, “Moving to Dante 4.0 with Dante Domain Manager has taken our current line-up of 74 Dante-capable products, including power amplifiers and signal processors, to the next level. Dante Domain Manager allows our products to reliably span much wider systems. They are IT-manager friendly and are much more secure overall. Dante is a very important part of our overall product offering.”
“Dante Domain Manager adds huge value for any AV professional,” agreed Ryan Cassady, Product Manager for Mackie. “The combination of Dante Domain Manager and Dante 4.0 offers premium security and system performance while delivering the flexible scalability that our customers demand.”
System integrators also recognize the value Dante Domain Manager will bring to their business. Treva Head, Managing Director of tm stagetec systems, says Dante Domain Manager is a winning proposition, especially for integrators. “Audinate has a strong track record of offering the right ideas and features at the right time. Dante Domain Manager is the next game changer, enabling contractors and consultants to get ahead of the curve and serve clients with the most advanced, versatile, secure AV networks possible.”
Dante Domain Manager is currently being beta tested by several key customers worldwide, and the software is expected to be available in Q1 2018.
www.audinate.com/ddm
