Panasonic Connect announces next generation of KAIROS live production platform

Panasonic Connect North America, Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America (Panasonic Connect), has announced the next generation of KAIROS, its state-of-the-art live production platform. The release expands the KAIROS ecosystem, adding two new Core mainframes (the KC200 and KC2000) and software enhancements that will increase the platform’s scalability to support larger and more complex productions.

The proliferation of streaming workflows has challenged production teams to create more dynamic content that delivers high volumes of quality video and graphics to multiple screens, but the specific scale, budget, and production requirements may vary significantly. Panasonic Connect’s KAIROS platform scales to meet the needs of any production. The latest release will expand the ecosystem, including:

• The KC2000 will offer the most capacity yet, boasting 200% of input & output capacity compared to current Cores, along with more video processing power and a much larger 900 GB internal clip player
• Both new Cores can support 2022-7 network redundancy when connected to two 100Gb ST 2110 networks
• The 4RU Chassis for both the KC200 and KC2000 offer significantly reduced noise levels appropriate to run in venue or studio

“With this release, Panasonic is demonstrating our customer-focused commitment to expand KAIROS’ already broad range of functionality” explains Brad Rochon, KAIROS Group Manager.

As media and broadcast studios transition to IP and cloud workflows, they are finding themselves in need of new technology solutions to maintain efficiency. In addition to streaming workflows, KAIROS natively supports ST 2110 IP connectivity. This simplifies connections to Panasonic’s latest ST 2110 compatible cameras, the AW-UE160 PTZ and the AK-PLV100 Cinelive studio camera, allowing for much more streamlined multi-camera productions. “KAIROS is the ideal solution for broadcast & media professionals looking to move to a next-generation IT/IP centric platform for unlimited production creativity, regardless of format or content destination,” says Rochon.

KAIROS is a live production platform developed with innovative CPU/GPU architecture and ground-breaking software to maximize video processing capacity and utilization with just one frame processing delay. Deployed across a variety of productions, ranging from broadcast studios to remote production & streaming of live sports and concert events, KAIROS virtualizes traditional switcher functions and uses the innovative multi-format Agile I/O, eliminating the one-to-one input constraints of legacy SDI-only switchers.

Panasonic Connect continues to work closely with forward-thinking customers to innovate and evolve the platform’s capabilities, including recent announcements to develop a Cloud native version, increased third party alliances and integrations, and the release of new KAIROS software control modules. The next generation of KAIROS hardware will be shown at the 2023 NAB show in April, with the hardware and software becoming available in the latter half of 2023. BCS Bureau