
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
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
14/07/2025
The Royal Moroccan Air Force hosted a C-130 award ceremony with L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert a...
14/07/2025
UK launch set for September, following on from recent US and Germany releases
London - UK, July 14, 2025 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, da...
14/07/2025
SHENZHEN, China Telycam has added control options for its portfolio of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras with a new plug-in for Elgato's Stream Deck family of con...
14/07/2025
The awards are open to IBC2025 show exhibitors and offer a valuable platform for companies to raise awareness for the new products and solutions they will be la...
14/07/2025
Clear-Com is excited to announce a significant expansion of the award-winning Arcadia Central Station with new software updates. Together, these releases dram...
14/07/2025
Grass Valley and Daktronics today announced a strategic technology partnership that unites Grass Valley's live production expertise with Daktronics' lea...
14/07/2025
Cloud playout solutions provider, Veset, and swXtch.io, provider of cloud-based multicast and reliable networking solutions, are partnering to deliver multicast...
14/07/2025
Tintri , a DDN subsidiary and leader in AI-powered data management solutions, today announces a game-changing and award-winning refresh to its global Partner P...
14/07/2025
HighField AI, the broadcast industry's first agentic and multimodal AI platform for automating graphics production, is now commercially available. Developed...
14/07/2025
Encompass Digital Media has today announced that it has been delivering a complex global services project for DAZN, the world s leading sports entertainment pla...
14/07/2025
MASV (massive.io), the fastest, most reliable large file transfer platform trusted by over 10,000 global organizations, announced today it will showcase its nex...
14/07/2025
Calrec is introducing a series of usability, customisation and system enhancements across the entire range of Argo consoles at IBC 2025, on Stand 8.C47. Look ou...
14/07/2025
Fincons Group, IT business consultancy and systems integrator company with more than 40 years of experience in the market, is proud to announce a new engagement...
14/07/2025
Stand 5.F45, IBC2025, Amsterdam, 12 15 September 2025 Intinor returns to IBC to present the latest updates to its Direkt series. A key development on show is ...
14/07/2025
Sony's New Coach's Headset Was Designed in Collaboration With the NFL Featuring a custom dynamic boom mic, the headset will debut in the fall By Dan Da...
14/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network's Marc Caiafa and Tom Guidice on th...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix ISP Speed Index for June 2025
Product
14 July 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
One percent of Internet Service Providers (ISP...
14/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Begins Filming The Map of Longing With Al cia Falc , P...
14/07/2025
This July marks 100 days since I officially stepped into the role of CEO at Grass Valley, a milestone not of abrupt change, but of confident continuity.
Unlike...
14/07/2025
Enhancing Public Service Broadcasting with
Innovation, Accuracy & Sustainability
New regional detail and local towns featured...
13/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Expands B&B Universe' with Yu Jae Seok's B&B ...
13/07/2025
Live From MLB All-Star 2025: MLB Network Marks Five Straight Years of Onsite MLB...
12/07/2025
Ryan Coogler accepting the 2013 Vanguard Award. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez.
Editor's Note: In honor of Fruitvale Station s 12th anniversary, we're d...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, the professional training division of Key Code Media, proudly announces a major update to its Adobe Premiere Pro Engineering and Advanced Op...
12/07/2025
Key Code Education, a leader in instructor-led post production training for over...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...
12/07/2025
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and MIAMI -DirecTV and TelevisaUnivision have signed a deal that will make the ad-supported premium subscription tier of ViX, ViX Premium wi...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...