As open-standards-based IP has come of age as a network protocol for the broadcast, AV and corporate sectors, the emphasis has moved from making essence transport work to refining and improving the customer experience and workflow, writes Jeremy Courtney, senior director, CTO office, Lawo
By Contributor
Published: August 11, 2022 Updated: August 16, 2022
As open-standards-based IP has come of age as a network protocol for the broadcast, AV and corporate sectors, the emphasis has moved from making essence transport work to refining and improving the customer experience and workflow, writes Jeremy Courtney, senior director, CTO office, Lawo
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Jeremy Courtney, Lawo Gone are the days when the ability to control all devices via a unified, overarching control system was enough to set one's pulse racing. Even staunch defenders of ST 2110-based infrastructures admit that getting everything to work as expected used to take oodles of blood, sweat and tears. Just ask them about the behind-the-scenes programming and configuration work as well as their negotiations with vendors to implement the missing links.
In a sometimes brutally competitive environment, operators are expected to do more with ever less and quite naturally look for solutions that keep their tasks manageable. They expect their IP infrastructure to work like a samba that swings so cool and sways so gently right from the start
Head start Finding ways to reduce complexity, increase speed, and simplify the management of devices and signals with higher levels of agility and protection is key.
Operators and vendors can be proud of what has already been achieved. The number of operations built around a distributed set-up, with control rooms on premise in different parts of the world and data centres in still other locations is growing steadily. Operators in the US, Australia, Norway, Belgium and many other countries successfully managed to devise a new normal where the studio as well audio and video controllers are in one city, whilst the processing happens elsewhere.
Flexible, globe-spanning resource sharing over the IP network allows broadcasters and production service providers to lower their capital expenditures simply by using the tools they already own more frequently. Some users even went so far as to design multi-functional workspaces whose feature-set is determined by the credentials of the user logging into that space. All of this was implemented well before the global pandemic.
Vendors who pioneered the migration to IP for both audio and video infrastructure had already reached cruise speed when distributed production scenarios moved from being a forward-looking approach to sheer necessity.
With all elements in place and most pitfalls out of the way, they rightly anticipated that the next step would be to make broadcast IP manageable. Hence the launch of the HOME management platform for IP-based media infrastructures. It offers a microservice architecture based on modern technology and techniques that deliver the performance, reliability and experience tier 1 broadcasters expect.
More standards Interoperability has been at the top of the agenda since day one. The term stands for the ability to use best-of-breed solutions for the task at hand, irrespective of the vendor. This requires vendors to scrupulously stick to the protocol of the open standards employed: ST 2110, AES67, ST 2022, etc. Complications often arose from the fact that different manufacturers seemed to have different understandings of the word scrupulous'.
Another aspect was quickly brought to the vendors' attention: unlike IP-based networks for IT applications, broadcast and AV tools are essentially blind until operators assign them an IP address and make the other networked devices aware of them. This used to be a manual process that often took weeks, or months, for large broadcast infrastructures. It was also error-prone.
To alleviate this issue, a number of manufacturers jointly developed the AMWA NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 protocols that take care of discovering and registering devices as well as device connection management. NMOS is an open standard with a certain level of interoperability, but it has yet to become the silver bullet that allows all devices to work harmoniously together. This is not intentional, by the way, it typically occurs due to differences in interpretation, behaviour and implementation of specifications.
In any case, today's operators expect more than discovery and registration: they want a simple, but rich user experience, complete with the ability to tweak parameter settings on remote devices and signal grouping for one-click routing of essences. Separating audio from video and metadata offers more flexibility except when it doesn't. And this is where essence grouping steps in: devices and signals can be routed quickly and easily using a platform-agnostic web UI front-end.
Like NMOS, HOME revolves around a registry that keeps track of all known devices and greatly simplifies the discovery and registration process (no more manual input of IP addresses, etc).
IP broadcast standards for the mere encapsulation of content (ST 2110) can be complemented with robust, established IT standards for other important tasks. Support for DHCP, DNS and RADIUS therefore makes a lot of sense.
Elephant in the room Given the dramatically increased awareness regarding network security and the need for a strategy to fend off hacker attacks and content theft, the addition of the tried-and-tested 802.1x standard offers a robust solution.
This simplified way of adding devices to a network via automated discovery and registration may pose a new threat: the newly-added device might immediately come online and wreak havoc on at least part of the network. This i
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
As open-standards-based IP has come of age as a network protocol for the broadcast, AV and corporate sectors, the emphasis has moved from making essence transport work to refining and improving the customer experience and workflow, writes Jeremy Courtney, senior director, CTO office, Lawo
