HIVE has expanded its Beeblade media engine platform with the addition of native Dante audio-over-IP networking, giving users integrated multi-channel audio delivery alongside the company’s existing networked video capabilities. The upgrade strengthens HIVE’s system architecture for synchronized AV playback across immersive experiences, exhibitions and large-scale installations.

The Dante integration is powered by a custom HIVE-developed driver designed to streamline setup and ensure reliable operation. Unlike third-party add-ons, the feature requires no licensing, configuration or external hardware. Each Beeblade unit now ships with Dante pre-installed and fully embedded into the HIVE software platform.

“Dante allows our customers to treat audio just like video, as another stream on the network,” said Ciaran Abrams, lead software developer at HIVE. “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.”

Each Beeblade device supports up to 16 Dante output channels that can be routed independently to networked loudspeakers. The approach enables precise control of multi-layered soundscapes and spatial layouts without the complexity associated with traditional signal distribution or standalone audio routing hardware.

“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,” said Dave Green, CTO at HIVE. “By bringing Dante audio-over-IP into the Beeblade family, we’re providing creators and integrators with a more powerful and flexible toolset for immersive deployments.”

The Dante-enabled Beeblade media engines are available now.