Zones

Zones are a logical Grouping of system resources and usually a subset of the overall system. This allows the logical classification of devices into easily manageable zones. Also, Zones may be associated with specific users or user-Groups. For example, each studio may have its own zones so that the users only see the devices associated with the studio they are working in, thus reducing unnecessary clutter and also reducing the risk of error.

Creating Zones

Zones are created by users with Engineer or higher permissions. To create a zone, click on “the Zones” tap in the top right corner of Dashboard.

Figure 1 - Open Zones configuration window

Figure 2 - Add devices, IFBs, Groups, etc., to the members area and then click “Set” to activate the Zone

Figure 3 - Clicking on “Clear” in the Zones window deactivates the Zone configuration

Figure 4 - Clicking on “Set” in the Zones window activates the Zone configuration (in this case Studio C)

Note - If “Set" is clicked, all devices associated with the highlighted Zones will be displayed in the "Devices" window. If "Clear" is clicked, the full system will be displayed (subject to access rights).

When a new system is created, no zones are initiated by default. But the whole system is available to the admin-user, meaning that all devices within The Telos Alliance ecosystem are available. Creating a zone subdivides the whole ecosystem into more manageable logical associations that are applicable to a specific task. For example, an entire broadcast facility with multiple studios may consist of hundreds of Livewire+™/AES67 devices available to it as well as many Input/Output streams. Using Zones, the whole broadcast facility can be divided into individual studios, control rooms, post processing, and workflow control. For example, a user might only have access to devices within the “Studio A” zone.

Zones are only able to be created by users with System Engineer level access of greater, and only within the constraints established by System Administrators. Zones may be allocated to individual users or User-Groups.

To maintain maximum flexibility, zones may be nested, that is one zone may contain another. And zones may overlap, that is one zone could contain devices and resources available in other zones.

Figure 4 - Example of a three zone system with some resources shared between two of the zones

Assigning Zones

Each device or resource associated with the zone must now be added. To achieve this, highlight a device in the devices window and click on the “Assign” key on the left. A window will appear; click on the Zones already created to add the device.

Figure 5 - Assign a Zone (or multiple Zones) to the User Group and set the permissions

When a device or resource is associated with a Zone, or multiple Zones, then clicking on the “Filter” button shows only the devices in the “Devices” window associated with the selected Zones.

Figure 6 - Allocate a user to a group (the group has the assigned Zone)

Figure 7 - Example showing Zone allocated to a user

In Figure 7 above, Zone Studio A is allocated to user "Tony." When Tony logs into Dashboard, he will only see the devices associated with Studio A and not the entire network.

Clone Function

Large systems contain many devices and there is usually much commonality between Zones. The Clone Function is provided so that users do not have to completely re-assign every device for each Zone.

If a user creates a “Studio A” Zone and needs to add a “Studio B” Zone, using the Clone Function means they do not have to completely re-assign all the devices to “Studio B”. They just clone “Studio A” to “Studio B”. A Clone is an exact copy of the selected Zone. Therefore, the user only has to edit the Cloned Zone, in this case “Studio B”.