Secure audio is now built into the foundation of Dante audio networking to help manufacturers and organisations meet modern AV security and compliance requirements.
Dante Media Encryption for the Dante AV-over-IP platform is now released and supported in the latest firmware releases for the Dante Embedded Platform (DEP) and Dante Brooklyn 3 audio networking modules.
Released by Audinate, the developer of Dante, this update adds AES-256 audio encryption to the diverse range of Dante-enabled products, and allows manufacturers and organizations to transport audio securely with zero added latency.
“Security is no longer optional in enterprise AV,” said Mark Gerrard, Group Product Manager at Audinate. “Organizations are under growing pressure to meet internal security policies and regulatory requirements as they evolve. Dante is in a special position to help by creating a secure, standards-based platform that spans hundreds of manufacturers. With Dante Media Encryption, customers have the ability to strengthen their approach to security without sacrificing performance, interoperability or ease of deployment.”
To support encrypted workflows at scale, Audinate has also released specific updates to Dante Director, software used to manage Dante devices and user access, and remotely manage one or more Dante networks, and to Dante Controller, which routes AV signals between Dante-enabled audio and video devices on the network, and saves configurations directly to the devices themselves.
Dante Director now manages encrypted media flows with a built-in Key Management System [KMS] that securely generates, distributes and rotates keys. This new functionality makes sure that keys are shared only between devices actively participating in a media flow, and reduces risk through automatic, regular rotation.
Administrators gain fine-grained control over how encryption is enforced, with flexible channel-level policies that support both secure and legacy devices. This level of control means organizations can strengthen their security infrastructure over time without disrupting existing deployments. It becomes especially valuable in environments with more rigid, demanding compliance needs, such as financial institutions, public sector networks and university IT systems, where encrypted and unencrypted devices need to operate together within the same system.
In Dante Controller, users can view real-time encryption status for each device in a site managed by Director. Supported endpoints (audio devices connecting users to the site network) are clearly indicated, giving teams the clarity needed to confidently manage secure AV systems.
Dante Media Encryption is available as a firmware update for many existing Dante devices. Manufacturers including Yamaha, Sennheiser, Symetrix and Powersoft have committed to supporting the update in upcoming releases. Currently, Dante networking is built into products from over 600 manufacturers. getdante.com
