AV over IP solutions are central to all of our integration projects. As of today, we deploy and manage purpose-built networks for AV media and control, making our systems completely self-sufficient.

In the future this is likely to flatten out but further work on standards and better lines of communication between specialties are required. Industry standards are finally beginning to coalesce, and with bodies such as SMPTE, NMOS, and AES delivering workable standards we are starting to see cross-manufacturer inter-operability over IP. There is a long way to go but it seems to be accelerating as there are clear benefits for all parties. At some point we will start to see broad adoption across product types, and devices will plug and play together nicely.

Many processing functions that were once the exclusive domain of hardware solutions will become network or “cloud” resources. This opens new business models such as consumption based payment for services where we need capital investment today, such as recording, playout, transcoding, mixing and routing, etc.

There is still a cultural gap between the pro video or “broadcast” market and the commercial or “AV” market, resulting in divergent standards development. This is a shame and is a roadblock for industry growth.

Back when we couldn’t decide on Pin 2 or Pin 3 hot, I liked to say “Standards are great – that’s why we have so many!”. Unfortunately, this sentiment still seems to be shared all too widely. In concept, IP transport as “the standard” enables multiple services on the same backbone. In practice, networking implementations differ between vendors and may not work, or may require special sauce.

The is a very exciting time for AV and I’m looking forward to more surprises!