A group of broadcast and media industry suppliers have collaborated to form the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS).
Its mandate is to bring IP solutions to market that offer complete interoperability, are based on open standards, and integrate into media workflow environments to foster industry innovation and efficiency.
The group includes Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Lawo, Snell Advanced Media and Nevion.
The alliance’s efforts will be focused on promoting the adoption, standardisation, development and refinement of open protocols for media over IP, with an initial emphasis on VSF TR-03 and TR-04, SMPTE 2022-6 and AES67.
Andreas Hilmer, director of marketing and communications with Lawo, said: “AIMS’ support of open standards and technical recommendations such as TR-03, TR-04 and AES67 afford us an opportunity to eliminate the fragmentation of implementations that our industry has endured over the last 20 years – our chance to avoid repeating expensive and time consuming mistakes of the past.”
As broadcasters and other media companies look to use IP workflows to speed and streamline the movement and management of increasingly complex content, and adapt their businesses to better compete with other content options such as OTT, AIMS believe that open standards are the key to protecting current investments and ensuring long-term interoperability.
Specifically, the alliance will prioritise three key strategies:
1) Initiatives that facilitate the education and adoption of open standards
2) Facilitation of activities that accelerate the development of solutions that support these open standards
3) Nurturing the creation of new standards by supporting standards bodies with participation and testing in real-world environments
Open standards work for the IP transition is already underway by the 74-member Video Services Forum (VSF), with the support of organisations such as SMPTE and the EBU. AIMS endorses the work of the VSF and will continue to lend support in the development of a standard approach to IP. More than 30 broadcast equipment manufacturers are actively testing and validating the VSF’s approach today.
“The rate of change in broadcast and media is unprecedented, so it is critical that the industry rapidly aligns with open standards to the benefit of all—from suppliers to end users,” said Brad Gilmer, executive director of VSF.
“The approach that AIMS is endorsing is already enjoying broad industry support and is well suited to the industry’s future, providing IP’s enhanced flexibility and cost efficiencies by leveraging the huge investments being made in off the shelf IT technology.”
