As IBC2016 gets closer, Radio World offers a series of short Q&As with manufacturers about their plans and offerings, to help you get the most out of the big annual trade show. Charlie Gawley is vice-president for sales at Tieline.
Charlie Gawley is vice-president for sales at Tieline.Radio World: How has business been for the company since IBC2015?
Charlie Gawley: It has been a very busy year for Tieline not only on the business front but also in product development. We have seen increasing growth in EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific. We are pleased to showcase the fruits of our hard work here at IBC this year.
RW: What are you hearing from your customers about their business outlook this year? In what areas should we expect growth or the most interesting projects?
Gawley: We are increasingly hearing from customers wanting more cost-effective alternatives of delivering audio to costly satellite networks.
RW: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend, generally speaking, at IBC2016?
Gawley: Having enabled customers for over a decade in broadcasting rock-solid audio over IP that rivals that of circuit-switched networks we are seeing an industry wide adoption of IP for delivery of content as the confidence is there and the significant cost savings that can be achieved.
RW: What new products will your company be showing?
Gawley: We will unveil our new portable codec, ViA. At its core is an IP audio codec with multiple IP network interfaces including onboard Wi-Fi equipped with FUSE-IP, our IP bonding technology. We also have an optional PSTN/ISDN module, recognizing that this technology is still around, and will be so for quite some time and customers are looking for equipment that allows a seamless transfer. We also will be showcasing enhancements for ReportIT Enterprise that includes VIP Connect and the addition of SmartStreamPlus dual streaming.
RW: How is this new product different from what’s available from your past products, and elsewhere on the market?
Gawley: Where do you start? ViA is uniquely positioned as it’s the only portable codec that provides support for IP network bonding and dwindling networks such as ISDN, POTS. Given our global reach there is still customer demand for ISDN and POTS, this gives them the best of both worlds and it allows them to update their aging ISDN plant with a product that will transition to IP when they wish to.
RW: What’s your favorite thing about the IBC show? Your least favorite?
Gawley: It’s getting to meet customers face to face and seeing their reaction to new product or features, but more importantly learning more about the challenges they face and how we can work with them to overcome them. I’m sure you would make good money putting a wager on the least favorite for exhibitors being the length of the show. For me the least favorite is despite the best planning, you can’t meet with all of your customers.
RW: Do you have any suggestion that would make the show a better experience for exhibitors and/or attendees?
Gawley: Perhaps for the more youthful engineers we could drop some Pokémons around the place.
