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IBC2016: IP all the way

Thomas Edwards, VP/engineering & development for Fox Network’s Engineering & Operations, told delegates to IBC’s ‘What caught my eye’ session that few might realise that major sports events, such as this year’s SuperBowl, were already wholly dependent on Ethernet. “Today’s challenge is that it is pretty much single vendor solutions. This session shows how much IP is changing, thanks to the now 54 members of AIMS (the Alliance for IP Media Solutions). By 2020 I want to walk into my facility and just see a complete data centre that’s wholly working with IP.”

AIMS itself played a major role in supporting the IBC Interoperability Zone, where a huge gathering of the industry’s tribes discussed a roadmap towards self-managed networks and virtualisation.

At the show, Mike Cronk, chairman of the AIMS board and VP of core technologies with Grass Valley, said: “The interoperability initiative is a seminal event. It is the first time in my broadcast history (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. The event at IBC is the watershed where people can say it is time to start planning to build out with IP.”

Pictured: Thomas Edwards with panel moderator Tom Marshall.