At the point of foundation AIMS had three members. It now has 54 and it is playing a huge role in supporting the IBC Interoperability Zone, where a huge gathering of the industry’s tribes is talking up a roadmap towards self-managed networks and virtualisation.
Mike Cronk, chairman of the AIMS board, is also VP of core technologies with Grass Valley. He said: “The interoperability initiative is a seminal event. It is the first time in my broadcast history spanning over 20 years where all the leading standards bodies have coalesced.
“We are working with standards that are forming the basis of SMPTE SD-2110, which is in draft,” he added. “This prescribes how to use IP even in live production. It also prescribes a whole bunch of benefits and it paves the way to virtualisation and increased flexibility.
This event at IBC is the watershed where people can say it is time to start planning to build out with IP.”
Why has AIMS grown so fast? “It is a very simple, powerful idea, and for us to compete in the new era of digital media and OTT we need IP.
Unless we can forge a standard that everybody can use, it is worthless,” said Cronk.
“For the first time in my career companies that have always been fiercely competitive have recognised the value of pushing a true standards-based approach to avoid the fragmentation we have seen all to often in our industry,” he added.
“Our mission statement is, to foster the adoption of a common ubiquitous set of protocols for interoperability over IP.”
