Odéon National Theatre
PoE switching solution with more than 100 endpoints — 8 audiovisual control rooms interconnected via OM3 optical fibre in one of France's six national theatres.
Project context
The client
The Odéon National Theatre is one of France's six national stages. Its audiovisual infrastructure comprises 8 small control rooms spread across the site, each equipped with 4 to 28 devices — sound consoles, decks, stage equipment, cameras and workstations.
All network traffic from these 8 rooms must be centralised in a main IT control room that aggregates the data and supervises operations.
Technical requirements
- Full PoE power — every device in the control rooms powered through PoE switches
- Surplus port capacity — number of ports greater than the sum of devices in each room
- PoE+ 15 W/user — mandatory for rooms with 25 users or more
- Inter-room UDP communication — to trigger synchronised actions between rooms
- ~100 m distance — between the central IT room and the satellite control rooms
The three network challenges
Distributed power
Each room hosts up to 28 devices powered by PoE. Total power must cover the most demanding scenario: 25 users × 15 W = 375 W minimum per affected room.
100 m fibre reach
Cat6 copper cable would be insufficient at this distance in an environment where stage lighting and sound generate electromagnetic interference. OM3 optical fibre delivers lossless transmission.
Real-time synchronisation
The rooms must trigger coordinated automations (sound, light, motorisation) via UDP multicast. Latency must be minimal — incompatible with entry-level equipment.
Solution deployed by Elfcam
Network architecture
| Parameter | Value | Technical detail |
|---|---|---|
| Control rooms | 8 | From 4 to 28 devices per room |
| Total endpoints | 100+ | Including 25+ users in the main room |
| Fibre distance | ~100 m | OM3 LC/UPC duplex cable |
| Total PoE power | 550 W | Minimum required: 325 W (25 × 15 W) |
| PoE per port | 15 W | IEEE 802.3at (PoE+) |
| Inter-room protocol | UDP multicast | Synchronised real-time actions |
| Uplink transceiver | SFP+ 10G | 850 nm — OM3/OM4 — 300 m max |
Main auditorium. Front view — the network infrastructure serves every dressing room and technical area on the front-of-house side. © Benjamin Chelly.
Network topology. 24-port central PoE switch connected to the 8 distributed switches via OM3 cables over ~100 m.
Results achieved
✓ Network operational at D+1
Thanks to the plug & play switches, the deployment required no network configuration. Installation across all 8 rooms was completed in a single day.
✓ 69% PoE power headroom
550 W delivered for 325 W required — a capacity reserve that absorbs load peaks and anticipates the future addition of equipment without new infrastructure.
✓ Reliable stage synchronisation
The low latency of the unmanaged switches guarantees UDP triggers in real time across the 8 rooms — lighting, sound and motorisation perfectly coordinated.
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