The Dante Domain Manager was developed by Audinate to work with its Dante Ethernet-based media transport protocol, which is being used for audio over IP (AoIP) applications in broadcasting and post-production, as well as live sound. The aim is to bring "enterprise-grade system administration to the AV [audio visual] world", while at the same time bringing more security, scalability and management to audio networking.

The Domain Manager was first introduced last year, at a time when beta testing was still ongoing and Audinate was setting up a global distribution network. That last target has now been achieved and the system is now fully available through resellers on a world-wide basis. Manufacturers of audio and AV equipment have also started to provide compatibility with the management system, with more than 400 products integrating Domain Manager.

The idea of network domains has been borrowed from the IT sector and applied to the AV market. The aim of Dante Domain Manager is to allow audio signals to be routed and managed over wide networks, directing signals to specific areas as required. "Networked audio systems are commonly being delivered over standard IT data networks," commented Lee Ellison, chief executive of Audinate. "Dante Domain Manager provides AV and IT professionals with a scalable and secure network solution that can build upon existing and new installations of Dante-enabled products."

Dante Domain Manager comes in three versions: Silver, Gold and Platinum. The Silver edition is intended for smaller installations with a maximum of two domains and ten audio devices. Gold includes an Active Directory and is for medium-sized applications with up to ten domains and 50 audio units. Platinum is for large projects incorporating up to 50 domains and 250 devices. It offers SNMP (simple network management protocol) alerts and comprehensive redundancy for real-time operations.