09.18.2007 — While much of the Russound buzz lately has revolved around the company’s new Smart Media Consoles—servers based on Media Center PC—Russound is sticking to its commitment to dedicated media servers.

Russound launched its integrator-friendly Smart Media Server (SMS3) in 2004 and today it is among the most popular dedicated servers among CE Pro readers.

When Russound introduced the Media Center-based products earlier this year, Jeff Kussard, vice president of strategic development for Russound said that the SMS3 would not go away. “We’re not so naïve to believe that convergence is going to happen overnight,” he said. “A lot of people want to stick with the tried and true.”

Back then, Kussard said the experience of developing the MCE-based Media Console has provided many ideas that can be incorporated into the SMS3, and that Russound would take “a good hard look at the next iteration of what the SMS3 might look like.”

Well, the next iteration of the SMS3, Version 3.0, appeared at CEDIA.

Among the updates:

• Intelligent raising and lowering of song volume
• Seamless transitions and crossfades
• Faster transitions when skipping from one song to another
• System Messaging that alerts users to updates
• Diagnostic messaging
• Improved music selection capabilities

Read all the details in the SMS Press Release

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