Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NAB 2019 Reflections: Cisco's Bryan Bedford On Why Finding Engineers With a Mixed Skillset in Broadcast and IP is the Industry's Greatest Challenge

18/04/2019

NAB 2019 Reflections: Cisco's Bryan Bedford On Why Finding Engineers With a Mixed Skillset in Broadcast and IP is the Industry's Greatest Challenge Cisco offers training for broadcast engineers looking to add to their expertise with beginner and advanced training sessions By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Thursday, April 18, 2019 - 2:44 pm

Print This Story

Visitors of Cisco's booth at the 2019 NAB Show were treated to a colorful, journey-like experience that helped map out and simplify the end-to-end workflow of the media supply chain covered within the popular products and solutions of the Cisco Media Blueprint. One of the crown jewels of the chain was an overview of the company's COTS-based switching solution known as IP Fabric for Media (which was also celebrated with a Best in Show Award from TV Technology).

While its booth buzzed with activity, we got the chance to talk with Bryan Bedford, Cisco's Global Industry Lead for Media & Sports about significant challenges and opportunities facing the sports video production industry (and the larger media ecosystem) as the transition to IP engulfs it.

Bryan Bedford, Global Industry Lead for Media & Sports, Cisco

Bedford believes that perhaps the greatest challenge currently facing the live video operations world (especially sports) is developing below-the-line talent with a mixed knowledge in both broadcast and IP engineering.

The topic a multiple times over is this idea of enabling the workforce to learn a new skill set, Bedford said at NAB Show last week. It's an issue of investment and return. When do I do it and with who and how?' It's investing into personnel and that's the big thing that needs to happen next to move the industry forward.

The standards are there. The technology is there, he continued. Most people have moved to an as-a-service business model at the application layer and the supporting infrastructure is there, but what's happening is our biggest customers are saying I don't have the people that know IT and broadcast together.' The up and coming generation knows IT but they don't know broadcast. The older crowd doesn't want to learn IT. So we're in this chicken and the egg situation. We've got to figure out how to get over that hump.

Beginning as recently as last year, Cisco has begun offering training sessions for both beginners and advanced engineers with a broadcasting background to learn more about the differences that come with an IP infrastructure in a live environment. The training team was on-site at NAB Show to help increase awareness of the opportunities available to those in the industry ready to learn something new.

This is about investing in what our customers need to make this transition to an IP/broadcast skillset, but also all of the system integrators and companies out there that are trying to play a hand in services and delivery, says Bedford. They are also trying to do this.

For those with a broadcast engineering background with an interest in dipping their toes in the water on IP, Cisco's IP Foundation for Broadcast Engineers (CCIPFM) has a v1.0 course that can be taken (either virtually or at a specific location available in various cities globally) that can help those who anticipate using IP technologies to replace SDI-based backbones. The course covers basic principles of IP including Ethernet functions and standards, the TCP/IP stack, and other technologies used throughout a modern network.

Back at the NAB Show booth, the Cisco Media Blueprint was the star with the company making some notable changes to the way they are telling the story of how Cisco can be a leader in the business's move to IP.

We need to make sure our Blueprint is speaking the language that resonates with this audience, says Bedford. [We need to] use less Cisco language (IT language) and be a part of the industry's language. The idea of the supply chain of media content and how its developed, distributed, and published: that's the language. Elements around the supply chain of media workflows is what people [in this industry] are used to hearing. The good thing is that we have technologies and solutions that align to that pretty well.

Bedford outlined Cisco's NAB Show messaging in four chapters: Collaboration, the Move to IP, When in an IP World What Comes Next?, and Distribution. Within the move from SDI to IP is the much-publicized battleground around COTS-based switching. For Cisco, its one of the main opportunities that they are dedicating the most effort to helping the industry move forward on.

It drives the most traffic and drives the most interest because its real, says Bedford. If people are going to make that jump, then they've got to understand. Because of our legacy, investment, and research and development around network switching, that is important for us. So showcasing new and innovative solutions around that is part of what we're doing. That's the next piece of that supply-chain journey. Once you've ingested and developed that storyline, you have to capture it and do something with it.

That monitoring of the flow leads into Bedford's third point: you've got your media in an IP world now what? From there, in Bedford's eyes, it becomes a story of how do you virtualize that and leverage traditional data center technology in a broadcast environment.

There's lots of innovation happening around virtualized workflow, he says. We're showing Avid in our booth around virtualized asset management workflows. We're showing Imagine [Communications] here with virtualized media playout.

As for the IP Fabric for Media solution, its gaining serious momentum worldwide with notable on-the-record deployments at Arena TV in Australia and Canal+ in France. For Bedfo
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/04/18/nab-2019-reflections-ciscos-bry...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

14/04/2026

Appear Expands X Platform from Core to Edge at NAB Show 2...

Appear launches include XM estate management and new X Platform processing enhancements to add density for next-generation hybrid & IP workflows, X5 is also now...

14/04/2026

Synamedia turns OTT content into TikTok-style feeds with...

Addressing the needs of a new generation's viewing habits, Synamedia launches GO Shorts. The AI-powered module turns existing catalogues into TikTok-style ...

14/04/2026

NAB 2026 - Vubiquity and Eluvio Showcase Streaming Soluti...

Vubiquity, an Amdocs company and global leader in technology-led media services, will be showcasing a new end-to-end streaming solution in collaboration with El...

14/04/2026

LiveU Announces Expanded Collaboration with Sony at NAB S...

LiveU today announced a significant expansion of its collaboration with Sony Corporation, introducing integrated support for Sony's file-based workflow solu...

14/04/2026

BBC World Service TV selects Open Broadcast Systems for I...

Open Broadcast Systems (https://www.obe.tv/) has announced that BBC World Service has selected its decoders for IP Television distribution. The high-quality, lo...

14/04/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 21

Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 21 Brie Clayton April 14, 2026 0 Comments Major update adds new Photo page bringing Hollywood's most a...

14/04/2026

Sinclair's WTOV Taps Brightline for Lighting Upgrade

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

Grass Valley Showcases Alliance Ecosystem at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

FCC Selects New Lead Administrator for U.S. Cyber Trust Mark Program

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

Gray Media Names Jim Hays GM of WTHI

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

NAB Blasts CTA in FCC Sports Probe Comments

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

14/04/2026

Wowza to Showcase AI-Powered Video Workflows and Emerging...

Wowza will return to NAB Show 2026 with a set of live demonstrations focused on how video infrastructure is evolving for a new generation of AI-powered and oper...

14/04/2026

Stegawave Debuts Real-Time Forensic Watermarking to Tackle Piracy in Live Sports Streaming

Stegawave Debuts Real-Time Forensic Watermarking to Tackle Piracy in Live Sports...

14/04/2026

Living in Boston: A Guide for Incoming Boston Conservatory Students

Living in Boston: A Guide for Incoming Boston Conservatory Students From navigating the T to balancing school with professional gigs, a current student shar...

14/04/2026

Just What Is Genre These Days, Anyway?

Just What Is Genre These Days, Anyway? Understanding the business and art of genre-bending in 2026. April 10, 2026 By Bryan Parys Illustration by Jack Fla...

14/04/2026

Lenora Helm Hammonds Is Turning Passion Into Plan A

Lenora Helm Hammonds Is Turning Passion Into Plan A The dean of the Professional Education Division has seen the industry from all sides. Now shes bringing it...

14/04/2026

How Michelle Zalabak Found Her Dream Career in Music and Finance

How Michelle Zalabak Found Her Dream Career in Music and Finance The Warner Music Group deal analysis manager helps determine what artist catalogs are worth a...

14/04/2026

SES, Japan Airlines to Expand Multi-Orbit Inflight Connectivity to Long-Haul Fleet

Luxembourg, April 14, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, today annou...

13/04/2026

ToolsOnAir Composition Builder 2026 Boilerplate

ToolsOnAir Composition Builder 2026 Boilerplate More Details: The Composition Builder 2026 application for macOS enables TV stations and Live Event broadcast...

13/04/2026

ToolsOnAr just:live pro 2026 Boilerplate

ToolsOnAr just:live pro 2026 Boilerplate More Details: just:live pro 2026 is a Multi-Channel Live Production Playout solution for video and static or real-ti...

13/04/2026

ToolsOnAr just:play pro 2026 Boilerplate

ToolsOnAr just:play pro 2026 Boilerplate More Details: just:play pro 2026 is a Multi-Channel automated 24/7 Master Control playout solution with SD, HD and U...

13/04/2026

ToolsOnAr live:cut 2026 Boilerplate

ToolsOnAr live:cut 2026 Boilerplate More Details: live:cut is an option to just:in mac pro 2025 and enables multicamera production workflows for up to 16 cam...

13/04/2026

ToolsOnAir Just In Mac Lite NDI 2026 Boilerplate

ToolsOnAir Just In Mac Lite NDI 2026 Boilerplate More Details: The Just In Mac Lite NDI application is a streamlined media capture solution designed specific...

13/04/2026

ToolsOnAir Just In Mac Lite 2026 Boilerplate

ToolsOnAir Just In Mac Lite 2026 Boilerplate More Details: The Just In Mac Lite application is a streamlined media capture solution designed specifically for...

13/04/2026

ToolsOnAir just:in mac pro 2026 Boilerplate

ToolsOnAir just:in mac pro 2026 Boilerplate More Details: just:in mac pro is a macOS-based client-server multichannel capture solution to record SDI, HDMI, N...

13/04/2026

Jnger Audio Joins EBU ADM Implementers Group as Founding Member

Telos Alliance has announced that J nger Audio has joined the EBU ADM Implementers Group (ADM-IG) as a founding member. The group is focused on advancing ADM an...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Grass Valley to Showcase Alliance Partner Ecosystem

Grass Valley will demonstrate its Alliance Partner ecosystem at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C2408, Central Hall, April 19-22), showing AMPP integrations across live pr...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Media Links to Demonstrate IP Transport Solutions

Media Links will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2033), demonstrating IP transport solutions for live production including hitless protection technology, Xscen...

13/04/2026

NBC Sports Partners with Overtime for OT7 Football League and Navy All-American Bowl

NBC Sports has announced a programming, distribution, and sales partnership with...

13/04/2026

FloSports Promotes Jayar Donlan from COO to President

FloSports has promoted Chief Operating Officer Jayar Donlan to President, effective immediately. In his new role, Donlan will lead the company's commercial,...

13/04/2026

MASV Case Study: PanCam Pictures Uses MASV for Remote Post-Production at Senior Bowl 2026

PanCam Pictures, the documentary production company founded by Paul Camarata, us...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Mimir to Showcase Cloud Production Platform

Mimir will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (North Hall, Booth N2850), demonstrating its cloud-native media production platform with new capabilities including Mimir Cu...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: BBright Adds RIST Protocol Support to IP Gateway

BBright has announced that its IP Gateway now supports the Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) protocol. The addition will be introduced at NAB Show 2026 ...

13/04/2026

Net Insight Awarded ESA NAVISP Development Project for PNT Technology

Net Insight has been awarded a development project through the European Space Agency's Navigation Innovation and Support Program (NAVISP), with co-funding f...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: intoPIX to Showcase JPEG XS, IPMX, and SMPTE 2110 Solutions

intoPIX will exhibit at NAB Show 2026, marking the company's 20th anniversary. The company will demonstrate its JPEG XS compression portfolio and IPMX-appro...

13/04/2026

Inside the Launch of BravesVision: How Braves, Raycom Sports Pulled Off One of the Most Ambitious Efforts in Regional-Sports-Media History

Starting from scratch, the team built an in-house content platform comprising ga...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: AI Will Make Its Presence Felt in Audio Offerings, Presentations

Here's a look at some of the new products and updates, along with audio-centric conferences, that attendees will find next week at the show When the 2026 N...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Avid to Demonstrate Integrated Newsroom Capabilities

Avid will launch new integrated newsroom capabilities for Avid for News at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2226, April 18-22), demonstrating how Avid Content Core connect...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Synamedia Launches Cloud-Controlled Edge Playout Version of Quortex PowerVu

Synamedia has announced a new version of Quortex PowerVu, an IP-native, software...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Mediaproxy Adds AI Brand and Advertisement Tracking to LogServer

Mediaproxy has developed a suite of AI-powered tools for brand and advertisement tracking, integrated into its LogServer compliance logging and analysis platfor...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: Disguise to Demonstrate Media Server and Software Integrations

Disguise will demonstrate its media servers and software at NAB Show 2026, appearing across five partner booths in Central Hall: MRMC, B&H, Planar, CarbonBlack,...

13/04/2026

NAB 2026: OpenDrives Introduces Edge Hybrid Cloud-Edge Performance Accelerator

OpenDrives is introducing OpenDrives Edge at NAB Show 2026, a hybrid cloud-edge performance accelerator for distributed video and rich media workflows. The prod...

13/04/2026

ESPN Returns to The Shed for 2026 WNBA Draft, Expanding Camera Arsenal and Deepening Fan Coverage

The show will deploy 18 cameras across two sets and the draft floor, including a...

13/04/2026

Musik Hack update SweetEQ

Intuitive EQ plug-in gets an upgrade Following its official launch back in February 2026, Musik Hack's intuitive EQ plug-in has been treated to its firs...