SVG Europe Sport Facility Integration Summit: Rick Kreifeldt delivers update on AVnu-certified AVB

The diverse programme of SVG Europe’s recent Sport Facility Integration Summit – which took place during ISE on 5 February – featured a ‘progress report’ on the Audio/Video Bridging standards that aim to deliver true interoperability to professional level networks.

The presentation was made by Rick Kreifeldt, an industry stalwart and currently chairman/president of the AVB-promoting AVnu Alliance as well as holding a ‘day job’ as VP research and innovation of Harman International’s Corporate Technology Group.

Reflecting on the time before the interoperability movement really got into its swing, Kreifeldt observed that the industry had historically been “stuck in a wheel of doom… proprietary networking really limited our business.” By contrast, efforts such as AVB aim to “develop something that has a broad marketplace… not just AV but other industries that shift around a lot of video and video [and would benefit] from standard-based and intelligent products that do the set-up.”

In his 20-minute presentation, Kreifeldt charted the current transition being made by AVB from the IEEE standards-backed drawing board to products that deliver guaranteed interoperability “through a very rigorous certification programme. This was developed by the AVnu Alliance itself and is broken down into [different] market focuses. We work in different subgroups to make sure we satisfy different market needs.”

With 65 members in its ranks – the most recent addition being residential technology giant Crestron – the momentum behind the AVnu Alliance is considerable, maintained Kreifeldt. The AVnu Alliance chairman also took the opportunity to highlight the arrival of the very first certified AVB bridge: the Summit X440 switch from Extreme Networks.

Shipping now, the Summit X440 switch delivers high density, low latency, line rate 10/100/1000 Ethernet, dedicated 10 Gbps ports used for stacking or 10GbE uplinks, redundant power, hardware-based IP support [IPv4 and IPv6), and Later 2 to Layer 4 functionality in a 1RU form factor.

“We’re delighted to be able to make this announcement here at ISE,” said Kreifeldt. “The certification programme will be an easy way to specify a network and everyone will know that [certified products] will work together, [thereby] providing valuable market assurances.”