Since Luminex’s soft launch of the super-flexible GigaCore 10 Gigabit switch – at
Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt earlier this year – it has fast established itself as the
manufacturer’s most versatile plug-and-play Gigabit Ethernet Switch to date.
The GigaCore 10 is specifically designed to address the rigours of the live events and
touring industry where effortless setup, flexible use options, compact size and rugged
reliability are key. To complement this, Luminex has designed a thoughtful range of
accessories to enable easy rigging in all professional environments – including touring
trusses, 19-inch rack and wall mountings.
Safeguarding the product’s industry relevance, Luminex has developed and validated
the key features of the GigaCore 10 in collaboration with its dealer network, third
party manufacturers and end users.
With eight fully pre-configured Ethercon ports (to transport all commonly-used
lighting and audio protocols) – four on each side of the unit – plus two (optional)
FiberFox or Neutrik opticalCON connectors and a safety-standard compliant PowerCon
TRUE1 Connector, the GigaCore 10 enables speedy design and set up of converged,
multicast, PoE (Power over Ethernet) capable networks, while avoid the usual pitfalls
of bandwidth issues.
One of GigaCore 10’s key features is the ‘easy group’ function, which allows users to
modify groups, change port settings or add devices to the network on the road, with
speed and ease. Not only that, this modification can be achieved without
reprogramming the entire system. Lighting, audio and video protocols can be assigned
to different colour groups and sent over the same network with a guarantee that each
device will receive the correct protocol signal, whether it be Dante©,
RAVENNA/AES67©, Q-LAN, sACN, ArtNet, MANet2, HogNet, RTTrPL (BlackTraX) or
IEEE 1588 PTP V2.
Another key feature is the ability to provide PoE+ – in this case, a maximum per unit
of 130W with PoE+ on each port up to a maximum of 30W. Ports running PoE+ to
critical devices can be prioritised so that, in the unlikely event that the overall limit of
130W is reached, GigaCore will cut power to the lowest priority device first.
RGB LED status indicators on each port help users to quickly identify the activity on
the port such as group (VLAN) settings, PoE status, redundancy or if the port is part
of an aggregated set of ports delivering a higher total bandwidth for applications such
as video.
The quick to navigate (and password-protected) status page, which can be accessed
via any browser also allows system users to quickly identify a single device in a multi-
device system by ‘poking’ the unit from the user interface; in response, the LED on
the ‘poked’ unit will wink! In addition, if a connected device has ‘frozen’, the user
interface can facilitate a remote reboot of the afflicted kit.
The option to create up to 10 unique profile presets, one of which can be a preferred
default that automatically reloads on reset, can be invaluable in a festival scenario.
When faced with a roster of LDs or FOH engineers that may need to connect a
different manufacturer’s console to the lighting rig or PA system, this feature can save
time on a major re-patch – not to mention the wear and tear caused by repeated re-
plugging of cables and connectors.
Should a link fail, Luminex’s RLinkX redundancy protocol, validated around the world
with third party manufacturers of lighting, sound and video, is enabled on all Ethercon
and fibre ports and indicated by a blue LED when active. Such redundancy offers a
stress-free, seamless, 20-40 millisecond switchover speed to a redundant link.
The latest GigaCore 10 version includes the often-requested SNMP (Simple Network
Management Protocol), enabling users to remotely monitor the status of a GigaCore
10 device. Information on temperature and TX or RX traffic on each port can be
accessed via a separate monitoring software such as PRTG or, alternatively, via
Luminex’s own, free-to-access application, LumiNet Monitor. Such monitoring access is
crucial to engineers working with converged networks, where high data consumption
may be a concern.
GigaCore 10 is 100% Luminex designed and manufactured. Created as the ultimate
effortless solution for versatile, intuitive and scalable networking, it has been built to
suit any application or environment and allows users with little or no IT knowledge to
set up a pro AV network with ease.
The GigaCore 10 will ship from the beginning of October 2017 and can be seen at IBC
in Amsterdam, PLASA in London, Interbee in Japan and LDI in the USA.