In crucial control room applications where people and equipment safety are at risk, the stakes are high. Control room personnel need seamless connections and a birds-eye view of system status at a moment's notice. Evolve with the Emerald® IP KVM product family as it grows to encompass more functionality that helps you streamline control room processes. In 2024, Black Box added some new products and features to help make control room operators’ lives easier.
At the heart of these advancements is the Emerald Ecosystem, renowned for its advanced security features, user-centric design, and custom redundancy. Operating 24/7 with resilience, this ecosystem leverages low bandwidth usage, enabling seamless integration of remote and hybrid users over LAN, WAN, or the internet. By unifying IP KVM with AV video wall processing and IoT predictive maintenance under Boxilla® Manager, the Emerald Ecosystem reduces system complexity and total cost of ownership, underscoring Black Box's commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions for control room efficiency and collaboration.
First up, we released Emerald®AV WALL, a new feature of our award-winning DESKVUE IP KVM receiver that supports a 2x2 video wall to create an immersive viewing experience for enhanced collaboration. Making its debut at ISE 2024, the AV WALL seamlessly blends KVM and AV functionalities, offering unparalleled versatility. This innovative solution not only integrates effectively with Emerald IP KVM systems but also extends support to non-KVM environments, meeting diverse user requirements.
Next, Emerald GE Gateway enabled up to 8 Emerald users to access a virtual machine at the same time. Multiple users can simultaneously access the same virtual machine (VM) via RDP or PCoIP. Before GE, only one user at a time could access the same VM. Emerald GE simply connects to the Emerald IP network giving all Emerald users enhanced connectivity with VM sharing and physical machine access, saving the costs of RDP or PCoIP clients. IT administrators can manage and monitor Emerald GE via central, user-friendly dashboards created using Boxilla KVM management.
Following next was the TAA-compliant version of DESKVUE. Like the previous version of DESKVUE, it gives users flexible, real-time concurrent access to up to 16 systems for more situational awareness, improved efficiency, and greater productivity. Emerald DESKVUE (EMD5104-R) is the ideal solution for monitoring up to 16 systems simultaneously on 4K monitors or for active users using HD monitors. It features four DisplayPort connectors and dual-copper 1G network ports for redundancy, and may be teamed in the future.
Going live before year’s end, the Emerald DESKVUE PE (EMD5004PE-R) will provide 4K60Hz resolution high-precision performance designed for operators who actively work on multiple concurrent sources and need smooth mouse operation across all four 4K screens (one screen can be 5K).
We also released Emerald Multiviewer, which enables users to display up to four screens on one monitor at the same time at 4K resolution. It is essentially a single-head switch that combines 4K60 DisplayPort 1.2 video signals and USB. Display up to four screens on one monitor at the same time with 4K resolution. The Multiviewer enables 4:2 single-head visualization.
To round out the new additions to the Emerald product line, we added new DisplayPort RX units, including single- and dual-head PE receivers with power and link redundancy and a dual-head SE receiver. These products have new firmware that enhances security.
Remote users connected via any type of Emerald receiver unit get a seamless desktop experience that is no different when connecting to a physical computer or a virtual machine. Users obtain low latency real-time remote access with lossless pixel-perfect video up to 4K.
Our own John Hickey said it best, “Our expanding Emerald Ecosystem is bringing unprecedented flexibility to control room environments, offering robust performance and security features along with customization options that allow for greater efficiency, more seamless collaboration, and improved operational responsiveness.”
— John Hickey, Senior Director of R&D and KVM Systems at Black Box
