Telos VX - System Configuration: Lines, Studios, and Shows

12 | Section 2
System Conguration
Selectable and Fixed Lines
The VX supports the concept of both ‘Selectable’ and ‘Fixed’ lines. It is possible to have a mix
of both.
Selectable lines are used for an operation style like traditional Telos systems, where there was
a line selector before the hybrid or hybrids. Hybrids were expensive, which meant that we
were not able to have one dedicated to each line. This limitation is now over, and we can pro-
vide a hybrid and other processing functions for each line. (Yeeeaaa! – Progress with a capital
‘P’). Nevertheless, operators are used to the operating paradigm that the old “1A2” key phones
made so widely-known, where you have a column of buttons and pressing one takes a line
and drops the one that was active before. For that reason, we have kept this operation style as
the default for the VX. We have also kept the “lock” function that lets an operator conference
multiple lines and keep VIP callers on-air while coming and going with others. This also allows
selective holding and dropping of conferenced lines.
Multiple calls that are assigned to a single fader have individual hybrids/processing and are
actively conferenced within the VX Engine using an internal mix-minus matrix. Calls assigned
to different faders would normally be conferenced via a mix-minus matrix of some kind within
the studio mixing console.
With fixed lines, there is a one-to-one correspondence between Telco lines and console faders.
A particular telephone number is always associated with a particular button on the VSet phone
and a particular fader on the console. It is as if each line had its own hybrid. This allows VIP
and hotlines to have fixed and dedicated console faders. Perhaps this will be an easier operat-
ing paradigm for stations that often have multiple lines conferenced together on-air.
You could configure a system to have only fixed lines and no selectable lines. Each line would
have its own dedicated fader. This is, in fact, the way most large European stations have oper-
ated their phone interfaces for years.
This approach has become more practical as we move away from analog lines since the
“lines” are virtual and the cost for a telephone number added to the ISDN, T1, or SIP trunk
pool is much less than the cost of an analog line – usually less than $1 per month.
Fixed line calls would normally be conferenced via a mix-minus matrix of some kind within the
studio mixing console.
Studios and Shows
The VX system can support multiple studios and can share lines among them.
A studio is a collection of controllers and other devices that are used together, usually to serve
one studio: VXsets, VX Producer applications on PCs, Audio input and output Nodes (if any),
GPIO interfaces (if any), and console controllers (if any).
A show is a pre-configured profile that can be selected by users. It assigns the lines to buttons
and such. This is the mechanism that lets you move lines from studio to studio.
Studios and shows are configured via the web interface to the VX Engine. Interfaces such as
the VSet and the VX Producer let operators select the studio and show they want to use.