Appear has named Andy Rayner as chief technology officer (CTO). In this role, he will steer the company’s technological strategy, ensuring Appear remains at the forefront of customer-centric innovation.

“I’m delighted that Andy has joined us and look forward to working with him on Appear’s future technology strategy and product roadmap,” said Thomas Bostrøm Jørgensen, CEO at Appear. “His 35 years of industry experience and active involvement in crucial industry standard bodies, make Andy the ideal person to ensure we continue to provide market-leading solutions that make a real difference to our customers.”

Rayner brings a wealth of experience from his 13-year tenure at Nevion and 22 years at BT. At BT, he designed the UK’s digital terrestrial TV network, for which he was awarded the Martlesham Gold Medal, BT’s highest accolade for technical achievement. After becoming head of broadcast solutions at BT Innovate and Design, he joined Nevion, where he became chief technologist, receiving a technical Emmy for his JPEG 2000 standardisation work. He holds several patents from his time at Nevion and BT.

Reflecting on his appointment, Rayner remarked: “I admire the way that Appear’s vision and passion is enabling it to support many of the world’s leading broadcasters, operators and content providers with high-quality, low-latency media transport. Right now, Appear is incredibly successful in winning contracts for premium live sports contribution from the world’s biggest brands, so it’s my job to ensure that this winning team has the technology vision to stay ahead of the pack, as the industry increasingly evolves to a software-based hybrid-cloud future.”

Rayner is actively involved in various standards bodies, He is a SMPTE fellow, a director of VSF and part of the steering board at AMWA. Notably, he played a pivotal role in helping shape the SMPTE 2110 group of standards, aiming to revolutionise the industry’s evolution to IP-based production.