The IP Showcase: Back by popular demand

The media and entertainment industry’s embrace of internet protocol (IP)-based infrastructure is no longer a future possibility; it is a reality now.

Even as the industry makes its way toward a unifying standard for real-time media over IP, major North American and European broadcast companies are planning and commencing real-time IP production infrastructure projects.

In fact, IP infrastructure is a hot topic for media organisations both large and small.

Their intense interest in IP was evident at the inaugural IP Showcase at IBC2016 and again earlier this year when visitors to the 2017 NAB Show filled the aisles to watch IP Showcase presentations and demonstrations.

Each event offered a holistic view of many industry groups’ efforts to promote and enable production, contribution and distribution workflows over IP, and at the 2017 NAB Show, more than 40 manufacturers used the final draft of SMPTE ST 2110 standards to connect their systems.

Building on the success of these earlier events, the Audio Engineering Society (AES), Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), European Broadcasting Union (EBU), IABM, Media Networking Alliance (MNA), Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and Video Services Forum (VSF) are working together to support the return of the IP Showcase at this year’s IBC show.

Dedicated to informing visitors and highlighting the business and creative benefits of IP, the IP Showcase at IBC2017 will provide a unified industry-wide view of the latest advances in IP technology and how this technology can add maximum value to the broadcast industry and the individuals and organisations that drive it.

The exhibition will present a collective and expert view of the most essential and exciting developments and applications of IP.

The IP Showcase will feature engineering progress along with real-world examples of IP applications from leading networks and programme producers. The exhibition also will assist broadcast/IT engineers, chief executives, producers and others in determining how they can leverage the benefits of ST 2110 standards.

The SMPTE Standards Community has been working diligently to complete and publish the ST 2110 suite of standards, which allow for separate routing of real-time media over professional IP networks to support broadcast production and playout applications.

Several of the ST 2110 standards documents are nearing completion, and publication via the SMPTE Digital Library is tentatively slated for later this year.

Unleashing the full potential of IP in real-time media, ST 2110 represents a seismic shift in how media can be handled, processed and transmitted. To give visitors a real sense of how the standards work, the IP Showcase will feature an array of interoperability demonstrations, divided into logical application pods — including live production signal flows, contribution and playout signal flows — and shown under the control of familiar user interfaces.

Nearly 50 vendors will work together to demonstrate real-world IP interoperability based on the common roadmap.

A full schedule of free seminars and panel discussions in the IP Showcase Theatre will offer engaging content ranging from advanced technical knowledge to stimulating creative-focused case studies to commercial and strategic keynotes.

Visitors will hear about the rapidly increasing number of real-world IP deployments from broadcasters that have already embraced IP signal flows, plus lessons they can apply to their operations. These accessible expert sessions will have something of value for broadcast professionals working across every specialty and degree of corporate responsibility.

With no sales agenda at the stand, the IP Showcase is free to focus on educating and energising all show visitors to help build a more flexible, more efficient and more creative broadcasting industry that’s even better able to delight audiences and create value.