The Model 5401A Leader Clock Proved Essential as Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík Pivoted to Virtual Events Due to the Pandemic
REYKJAVíK, ICELAND — Harpa is a distinguished venue in the heart of Iceland’s capital, housing a concert hall and conference center. According to Technical Director Andri Guðmundsson, the venue is “a one stop shop” with premier facilities, sound, lighting, video, and catering. Due to COVID-19, Harpa has pivoted to virtual events using an advanced, Dante®-based audio environment. To maintain precise Dante timing Guðmundsson and his team turned to the Model 5401A Dante® Leader Clock from Studio Technologies.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have been shifting our infrastructure to Dante to meet the demand for the surge in virtual and streamed events,” said Guðmundsson. “The Model 5401A Leader Clock from Studio Technologies has provided us with a solid master clock to support all timing needs with our Dante operations.”
The Model 5401A Leader Clock provides precise timing signals for applications that leverage Dante Audio-over-IP media networking technology. The unit implements a high-performance IEEE® 1588 precision time protocol (PTP) server, providing PTP v1 for Dante and PTP v2 for AES67 compatibility. Guðmundsson also noted the unit’s dual power supply capability and multiple “GigE” Ethernet features as beneficial to the venue, as only power and one, two, or three Ethernet network connections are required for full operation.
“We recently hosted a conference for the Icelandic Medical Society, which we streamed eight hours a day from four of our venues for five consecutive days,” said Guðmundsson. “Having reliable timing capabilities with our setup was a must have, and the Model 5401A Leader Clock was able to provide that throughout the conference.”
Guðmundsson also highlighted that the unit supports the Dante Domain Manager™ software application, which Harpa leverages to coordinate its overall Dante workflow.