Over the years the amount of energy required by Bexel Broadcast Services to help build out U.S. Open facilities for CBS Sports and the USA Network has always been a challenging task but, this year, the addition of ESPN and a quick ramp up schedule, made Bexel’s U.S. Open effort an all-hands-on deck experience. “Every branch office pitched in and we have racks here from every office in our US network,” says Joe Wire, VP/Bexel Broadcast Services.

The core of the project was putting together an EVS server system that includes 14 XT[2] servers with Turbo functionality (and 3 TB of storage each) to handle HD material and three EVS XL[2] servers to handle low-res proxies of the HD material.

The servers are located on the second floor of a large broadcast cabin (CBS Sports is on the first floor) and is used by ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN 360, and ESPN Interactive TV. Avid editing systems and a 32TB Avid Unity, VizRT graphics, and a wealth of Evertz gear is also on hand and all of the systems also are tied into 22 outgoing transmission paths that connect the U.S. Open ESPN compound with Bristol, CT.

The low-res network and servers are in place to move content easily over the facility’s Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure. EVS IP Director systems allow personnel to browse for clips using a Windows-based GUI. Bexel Broadcast Services Systems Engineer Lane Robbins (pictured above at the heart of ESPN's U.S. Open facility - the EVS server room) played a key role in the effort alongside Bexel Engineer in Charge John Steinmetz. “We never had the entire facility built until it got here [to the USTA],” says Steinmetz. “The [rental company] that is most available and most flexible will win the day.”

Robbins says the Bexel EVS equipment is located in Dallas, making the Dallas office an important hub in the U.S. Open project. Racks for project were sent to New York from facilities all across the U.S. were they then met up with the incoming EVS and other equipment.

“Two racks of DA equipment were pre-wired but we basically came in here knowing what feeds we had to have and what needed to be sent out,” adds Robbins.

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