The The United States Senate on Capitol Hill relies on an Audio Network designed by Boulder, Colorado-based K2 Audio to centrally monitor the audio network devices in all of the remote hearing rooms. Part of the routine maintenance required a power reboot—which meant maintenance personnel had to walk to a given Hearing Room and manually cycle power. Looking to maximize the uptime of the Senate’s system, K2 Audio turned to Dataprobe’s iBootBar technology for a remote power management solution.

Rodrigo Ordonez, a design consultant at K2 Audio, provides an overview of the Senate’s system and explains the equipment challenge the company was looking to overcome. "Each of the audio systems installed in the Hearing Rooms has its own microphones that connect to a ‘break-out box’. This box houses eight additional microphones and the connectivity to the rest of the K2 system. These boxes require routine maintenance for firmware upgrades, which typically results in a power reboot.

"Prior to the implementation of Dataprobe’s iBootBar," Ordonez elaborates, "anytime one of the break-out boxes required an upgrade, maintenance was called to the room in question to open up the rack. With maintenance staff potentially located in a different building, and with six or seven break-out boxes per Hearing Room, the Senate decided this situation was no longer workable."

To eliminate the need for in-room technical support, K2 Audio integrated the iBootBar into the Senate’s audio network. The iBootBar is a multi-outlet, multi-user remote reboot power strip designed to remotely monitor, manage and control corporate and personal computing devices and other electronic equipment. The switch allows remote equipment to be rebooted or power controlled over an IP network using an Internet browser or network management system.

Audio communications now run more smoothly in the Senate. Ordonez continues, "Thanks to the iBootBar, when a box needs to be reset, it can be done easily and efficiently—from the maintenance shop. Using remote control for this type of issue versus having to be in the physical location to power cycle equipment is a great benefit. By improving equipment uptime and productivity, it saves the Senate valuable time, money and resources!"

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