All Beeblade media engines will come with Dante connectivity as standard
HIVE, a specialist provider of compact media servers, has announced the addition of Dante® audio-over-IP networking to its award-winning Beeblade media engine range, further strengthening the company’s ecosystem for synchronised, networked AV delivery. The new integration enables HIVE players to transmit high-quality, multi-channel audio directly over standard Ethernet, eliminating the need for complex cabling or external routing hardware.
HIVE’s Dante implementation features a bespoke, custom-built HIVE-Dante driver – designed and compiled in-house to deliver seamless performance and reliability. Unlike third-party add-ons, the integration requires zero setup, licensing or configuration. Every Beeblade unit will now ship with Dante pre-installed and ready to go, fully embedded into the HIVE software platform.
For existing devices, users can ship theses back to our headquarters to perform a system upgrade to get them Dante ready. A small fee will need to be applied to cover the license in this instance.
“Dante allows our customers to treat audio just like video, as another stream on the network. By building our own custom driver, we’ve made it effortless to use. There’s no setup or configuration needed – just plug in, select Dante in the HIVE app and you’re ready to transmit up to 16 channels of high-quality audio across your network.”
Ciaran Abrams, Lead Software Developer at HIVE
Supporting up to sixteen output channels per device, the integration gives creators and integrators precise control over multi-layered soundscapes for immersive experiences, exhibitions and large-scale installations. Each channel can be routed independently to networked speakers, enabling dynamic, spatial audio design without the complexity of traditional signal distribution.
“This integration marks another important step in our mission to deliver a complete, distributed media server platform, where the playback hardware lives at the edge. By bringing Dante audio-over-IP into the Beeblade family, we’re giving creators and integrators even more power and flexibility – all within a compact, scalable system.”
Dave Green, CTO at HIVE
The HIVE-Dante integration mirrors the same distributed workflow methodology that underpins HIVE’s media control architecture – operating entirely on the IP network stack for unified communication between devices. This consistency allows users to manage video, lighting and now audio from a single connected environment.
“The synergy between HIVE and Dante is clear. Our mission has always been to make audio networking simple, scalable and interoperable. HIVE’s native Dante integration extends that simplicity into media playback and synchronisation, enabling a new generation of fully networked AV experiences.”
Joshua Rush, CMO at Audinate
With audio, video and lighting now all controllable over IP, HIVE continues to blur the boundaries between disciplines in live and fixed AV environments. From immersive art spaces and museums to theme parks and projection-mapped venues, the update empowers creators to design richer, more responsive experiences with fewer cables, devices and points of failure.
The Dante integration will make its public debut at LDI Show 2025, taking place 3–9 December at the Las Vegas Convention Center (West Hall). Join HIVE on Booth 801 to see Dante in action and discover what’s next in networked media. Register for free here.