IBC 2018: Pebble Beach Systems to showcase ‘IP in Action’ with multiple vendors

Pebble Beach will demonstrate interoperability with a range of solutions across multiple IP standards in an ‘IP in Action’ feature on stand 8.B68 at IBC.

Pebble’s IP Playout Pod is the latest initiative from the automation, workflow and playout specialist in this space. The company will showcase SMPTE 2022-6/7, SMPTE 2110, NDI, and the NMOS suite of standards in a playout chain architected especially for IBC featuring vendors including Arista, Embrionix, AJA, Vizrt, Tektronix, Newtek, Matrox, Atos and Suitcase TV.

Head of Software Architecture Miroslav Jeras stated: “Pebble has long been regarded as the expert in playout automation, with solutions encompassing ingest and playout automation as well as integrated and virtualised channel technology. As broadcasters seek to transition to IP architectures, they are understandably seeking to work with those vendors who can demonstrate working solutions and who have experience in this space.

“With a number of high-profile installations and a proven managed migration strategy, Pebble is ideally placed to share its expertise with media companies who are investigating this path. To this end, we’ve drawn together a high-profile group of vendors that we are proud to feature on our stand.”

As part of the IP playout demonstration Pebble will be demonstrating a new open standard ‘Event & Tally’ protocol for signalling events in real time. Under development as part of the AMWA initiative, this is a vendor-agnostic protocol which allows for the exchange of signals across a network, much as GPI triggers have traditionally been used. For the broadcaster this offers interoperability between systems built using COTS hardware in a software-based IP/NMOS environment, with tally indicators signalling when a state is changed or in response to user actions.

Miroslav adds “In addition to demonstrating this new protocol, we are also working on an Audio Channel Mapping API to deliver interoperability in audio workflow control within an NMOS environment.  The goal is to enable end users and integrators building systems out of IP-connected off-the-shelf hardware & software processes to achieve a level of interoperability in audio workflow control functions which means they do not need to rely on vendors for specific development or integration work. This commitment to open standards and interoperability is fundamental to Pebble’s approach, and we’re looking forward to showing and discussing these developments at IBC.”

In addition to the IP Playout Pod on Stand 8.B68, Pebble technology will be on display in interoperability demos on the Cisco and Arista stands, and Pebble will once again be participating in the IP Showcase in Room E106.