THE IP STORY

Kim Francis, applications specialist, Infrastructure, Grass Valley, shares his thoughts on where the media industry is headed with IP

- Kim Francis

Four years ago, it became very clear that there was a need for a standards-based approach to IP migration, within the broadcast industry. With this common goal in mind, broadcasters and vendors came together to drive open standards-based IP forward. Work by industry bodies like SMPTE, AIMS and AMWA has pushed the development of IP-based solutions forward enormously in a relatively short space of time. The SMPTE ST2110 specification addresses IP stream interoperability and need for comparable functionality to SDI environments. The widespread adoption of these standards by vendors across the content production chain has seen pricing driven down and has contributed to the accelerated deployment of IP-based solutions.

Today, most of the major broadcasters, OB and production companies – from RTE and Televisa to NEP and Mobile Television Group (MTVG) – have IP infrastructures in place. IP-based live production workflows support premier events on the global sporting calendar, from Premiership soccer and the NFL to the Alpine World Ski Championships and Wimbledon. As broadcasters and content producers drive to meet consumer appetite for high-quality content and stunning images more efficiently, they need infrastructures that are agile and scalable. IP meets this need. The technology can handle much higher bandwidth than legacy SDI environments, supporting more live streams from a live event and opens up new, smarter approaches to content creation.