N&M Opens First Permanent Remote Hub for Simultaneous Interpreting

"Remote Simultaneous Interpreting" (RSI) is a service package provided by Neumann&Müller Veranstaltungstechnik for efficient simultaneous interpreting at international conferences and events. Interpreters work in a remote hub without having to be present at the conference location itself. N&M has now opened the first permanent facility of this kind in Neuhausen near Stuttgart.

N&M has installed the first permanent hub for "Remote Simultaneous Interpreting" (RSI) in Neuhausen near Stuttgart. The remote hub is a kind of studio that provides services for international conferences and multilingual events. Sound and images are transmitted to simultaneous interpreters in four permanently installed booths, and it is from here that they provide interpreting services for the event. Their translation is transmitted back to the venue and can then be heard by attendees by means of conventional receivers or their own mobile devices ("bring your own device").

The remote hub is part of N&M's RSI service package, which constitutes the technical basis for non-location-dependent "Interpreting 4.0" at multilingual congresses – in particular when they are being held simultaneously in different countries, have been organised as hybrid or virtual festivals or are to be provided on demand as a streaming service. "On the one hand, event organisers avoid the usual space problems associated with equipment and booths for simultaneous interpreting at the venue itself," says Marcel Scharmann, who is in charge of conference technology and devised the RSI concept for N&M. "On the other hand, conference planners have fewer requirements in terms of personnel and logistics for simultaneous interpreting than has been the case in recent decades – in fact, they enhance their flexibility thanks to the utilisation and scalability of RSI."

Using high-performance IT networks, interpreters in the remote hub can go about their work regardless of where the conference is actually taking place. The link to the "spoken word" is a special IT transmission technology and infrastructure between the interpreter hub, the venue and the speaker's microphone.

The first hub in Neuhausen provides excellent working conditions for professional conference interpreters thanks to generously dimensioned and ergonomically designed booths, and equipment with the latest simultaneous technology in accordance with DIN/ISO standards. Julia Böhm, head of the RSI business at N&M, gives expert advice on simultaneous interpreting and multilingual capability to clients and colleagues alike on the basis of her own long-standing expertise as a conference interpreter. At the same time, company technicians provide and install the required equipment as well as integrating client-oriented solutions for 100% virtual meetings. N&M's RSI service is not bound to a specific platform: transmission is realised with the company's own, highly professional solution with a dedicated server structure featuring end-to-end control. Reception is possible via UHF or infrared as well as by means of Cloud connections for users' own mobile devices ("bring your own device", BYOD). The RSI solution has in-built redundancy and ensures both data and cyber security.

Photos: Ronny Barhel for BrandEx Festival; Bam Images for N&M

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