AIMS advances argument for open IP standards in broadcast production

A group of broadcast and media industry suppliers including Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Lawo and Snell Advanced Media have collaborated to form the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS). This new, independent trade association’s mandate is to bring IP solutions to market that offer complete interoperability, are based on open standards, and integrate seamlessly into media workflow environments to foster industry innovation and efficiency. The group’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.

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 over-the-top (OTT), open standards are the key to protecting current investments and ensuring long-term interoperability.

Specifically, AIMS will prioritise three key strategies: initiatives that facilitate the education and adoption of open standards; facilitation of activities that accelerate the development of solutions that support these open standards; nurturing the creation of new standards by supporting standards bodies with participation and testing in real-world environments.

“The mission of the Alliance for IP Media Solutions is to endorse open standards and protect the choice that broadcasters and media companies must have when selecting the right solution for their particular needs,” said Steve Reynolds, CTO, Imagine Communications. Mike Cronk, senior vice president of strategic marketing, Grass Valley, added, “Our intent is to avoid perpetuating a future where suppliers push their proprietary technologies only to lock media companies into technologies that don’t work well with other systems or are not easily scaled and upgraded.”

Andreas Hilmer, director of marketing & communications with Lawo, said, “AIMS’s 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.“

Tim Thorsteinson, CEO of Snell Advanced Media (SAM) added, “In this transition to IP, we need one set of standards that become as ubiquitous as SDI. SAM is throwing its weight behind AIMS because it supports the only set of standards for IP that have been collaboratively developed and that meet the needs of future business models.”

AIMS provides specific guidance in its bylaws to its members and to the media industry via the AIMS Roadmap. The organisation endorses an IP transition plan that includes support for SMPTE 2022-6, AES67 and VSF recommendations TR-03 and TR-04.

A number of solutions are already on the market to help media companies begin the transition by introducing IP components to an SDI workflow. The transition represents a significant investment and will not happen overnight. An open standards approach allows media companies to implement the technology over time and transition at the pace that makes sense for their businesses.

“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.”

Membership in AIMS is available to all individuals and companies that support open standards and share a commitment to the group’s founding principles.

For more about the importance of open standards and interoperability in the broadcast and media industry, visit the alliance website at www.aimsalliance.com and download the Alliance for IP Media Solutions’ new white paper ‘An Argument for Open IP Standards in the Media Industry.’