Continuing its global expansion, Datapath has formed a new entity – Datapath Japan GK – committed to providing dedicated sales and support service to its APAC customers.
The 100 sq m office in the heart of Tokyo features a demonstration for Datapath’s multi-source video management and AV over IP solutions.
Datapath has equipped its new offices in Japan’s capital with its Aetria solution, allowing customers to experience the possibilities of networked video – including visually lossless, zero latency transmissions over 10G – first hand.
Michael Austin, Datapath’s director of channel management for the region, said: “Throughout the Far East, there is still a tendency to rely on highly compressed 1G AVoIP-, H.264 encoding, or even video matrix switcher-led solutions, for source distribution. However, larger projects that require high quality and low latency for a large number of sources on numerous end points are now embracing the flexibility of AVoIP. Greatly increased visual quality has become possible by the availability and decreasing cost of higher-bandwidth network infrastructure."
He continues: “Aetria is a solution that really needs to be experienced in person. Our remote demo capabilities are excellent for overviews and basic training but having a full solution here in our new Tokyo offices allows us to explore its full capabilities with our customers far deeper than ever before.”
Datapath’s expansion in Japan comes on the back of impressive growth in the Far East. Austin detailed: “Business has been steady, even through the pandemic. Our APAC sales in 2020 were actually one of our strongest years to date.”
In light of pandemic restrictions lessening across the APAC region, Austin said: “Our sales and support team covers Southeast Asia as well as Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. During Covid-19, it wasn’t possible to freely travel to customers and we have relied heavily on virtual communication to demonstrate our latest products. The establishment of Datapath’s new demonstration suite now allows our customers to enjoy a short vacation in Tokyo and experience Aetria’s full potential and flexibility for themselves, along with its military-grade encrypted security.”
In Datapath’s opinion the switch from video matrix switchers, H.264 video transfer and dedicated 1G AVoIP solutions towards AV over IP can only be made by winning the trust of users and letting them experience the difference between the solutions. The Tokyo space is not the only step Datapath has taken in this direction.
Austin added: “A Singaporean partner has invested in an Aetria demo facility to showcase to end users and key SIs directly – a strong indicator that we have engineered a solution that is set to change perceptions of how multi-source video is managed.”
The introduction of the Aetria solution from Datapath points to a future for where videowall processing takes new billing for the manufacturer. Austin said: “Up until now, our trusted processors, capture cards and graphics cards needed to be used with a variety of third-party technology. With Aetria, we have the ability to offer far more integration across a solution’s devices, from the KVM components to video wall processing – all with source and feature access subject to Aetria’s user rights management.”
He added: “As with our conventional videowall processors and control software, Aetria offers an API which gives our customers the option to create custom control interfaces to communicate both with Aetria and third-party systems where required.”
This also benefits lead time concerns, as integrators are not as reliant on multiple manufacturers’ components. Austin said: “Datapath has done an excellent job of maintaining supply of products throughout the global supply chain crisis – far better than most from what I can tell.”
Austin concluded: “No AV manufacturer offers everything of course - display devices and audio switchers are not in our portfolio for example - but with supply lines improving across the industry, and with Datapath well stocked in its hardware offering, we can look forward to the future with optimism.”