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The transition to IP is one of the biggest challenges facing broadcasters and media companies today, with fears over limited inter-working and a lack of recognised standards the most common brake on progress. IBC is set to demonstrate practical and proven interoperability with an exciting new demonstration area launching at this year’s show.
The IBC IP Interoperability Zone is presented for the first time this year with the cooperation of broadcast vendor associations AIMS and the IABM. The zone brings to life the work of the JT-NM (the Joint Task Force on Networked Media: a combined initiative of AMWA, EBU, SMPTE and VSF) and the AES on a common roadmap for IP interoperability.
Central to the IBC Feature Area will be a live production studio, based on the technologies of the JT-NM roadmap that Belgian broadcaster VRT has been using daily on-air all this summer as part of the LiveIP Project: a collaboration between VRT, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and LiveIP’s twelve technology partners. This IP trial and demonstration production project at Flemish public broadcaster VRT is a shortlisted finalist in the IBC2016 Innovation Awards.
The Studio will also be used by IBC TV, the show's own TV Channel available on the City's cable system, aswell as on-line. The backbone of the studio is provided by Belgian broadcast vendor EVS, whose nearby booth will also house the studio's datacenter.
“Visitors will be able to see verified technical interoperability over IP from more than 30 companies and the same technology being used in a real production environment,” said Michael Cronk, VP of Core Technology at Grass Valley and Chairman of the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS). “It will be a showcase for the reality of the technology and a demonstration that the industry is converging on a common roadmap.”
Peter White, CEO of IABM, the body that represents vendors in the industry, added “For a number of years now the industry has needed a way forward to collaborate on IP interoperability. It was critical that the industry’s vendors came together to achieve this and at IBC we will see the fruits of the labours of the organisations behind the JT-NM and the Live IP project. We are pleased to be standing alongside AIMS to evidence the real practical progress the industry has achieved through collaboration”
The new initiative sees a 150 square metre area in Hall 8 given over to the zone. With dedicated demonstrations showcasing interoperability and the IP studio at its heart, the zone also provides space for visitors to discuss the benefits and challenges of IP workflows with a large number of diverse vendors, each aligning their efforts to achieve standardisation and seamless inter-working.
“Even just a few months ago, the whole field of IP and interoperability was an alphabet soup of seemingly unrelated organisations,” said Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC. “The industry has worked hard to bring a critical mass into alignment and IBC was keen to facilitate engagement and focus around this important contribution to the future of our industry. By creating a dedicated zone at this year’s IBC, we are delighted to make a space to show what has been achieved and the standards around which everyone can group. I look forward to seeing what has been achieved at the IBC IP Interoperability Zone.”
The IP Interoperability Zone can be found in Hall 8 (Stand 8.D10). It is open throughout the IBC Exhibition, from Friday 9 September to Tuesday 13 September, and is free to all IBC visitors.
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