One year ago, IBC CEO Michael Crimp pledged that IBC would help usher in the next stages of IP for broadcast in 2017.
“We believe that it is part of IBC’s role to help facilitate key issues. Clarity on IP standards will certainly help purchasing decisions and unlock business for everyone. We will be happy to host the next stage of development next year, too,” Crimp told FierceOnlineVideo on the eve of the first dedicated showcase for IP at IBC.
True to his word, the IP Showcase is returning, this time with more of a focus on real-world scenarios and education sessions.
“IP is no longer the future—real-time IP for production, playout and contribution is a practical, flexible, efficient reality that is rapidly taking hold in mainstream broadcast operations,” Crimp said.
At this year’s IP Showcase, located in E.106, IBC has lined up more than 50 vendors to populate the hall and demonstrate IP interoperability use cases based on applications—including live production signal flows, contribution and playout signal flows. The idea is to demonstrate IP interoperability based on SMPTE ST 2110 final draft standards and AMWA NMOS specifications.
A wide range of broadcasters and programmers will also be on hand to talk about experiences and best practices that have emerged in the early days of IP deployment. On Sept. 15, Paul Suters, head of broadcast engineering at Telstra, will discuss his company’s fully IP facility; and Peter Brightwell, lead engineer at the BBC, will discuss the AMWA NMOS family of specifications and auto-provisioning as a means toward dematerialization. On Sept. 16, Karl Paulsen, CTO of Diversified, will discuss how to prop up a hybrid IP/SDI system; and Thomas Edwards, vice president of engineering and development at Fox, will dig deep into media processing virtualization. On Sept. 17, Ian Fletcher, CTO Media at Grass Valley, will talk about the benefits and challenges of cloud playout architecture.
For many of those days, IABM CTO Stan Moote will kick off the program with an overview of the IP Showcase.
As Moote explained earlier this year in a blog post, there are no more excuses left to wait on IP deployment.
“With the IP SMPTE ST 2110 standard now through all the technical hoops and in the final throes of ratification, the industry no longer has any excuses not to embrace IP," Moote said. "With interoperability proven, end-users can take advantage of the massive flexibility, agility and efficiency of IP-based infrastructures and begin the transition process.”