A group of broadcast equipment manufacturers have formed a new trade association with the aim of speeding up the adoption of IP-based workflows.

Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Lawo, Snell Advanced Media (Sam) and Nevion are the founding members of the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (Aims).

The organisation’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.”

It will endorse the work of the Video Services Forum (VSF), which is supported by organisations such as SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) and the EBU (European Broadcasting Union).

Sam chief executive Tim Thorsteinson said: “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 will promote the adoption, standardisation, development and refinement of open protocols for media over IP. Its initial focus will be on VSF TR-03 and TR-04, SMPTE 2022-6 and AES67.

Grass Valley senior vice president of strategic marketing Mike Cronk said: “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.”

Aims 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

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