In case you missed it...IP at IBC2017

IP was arguably the topic which dominated most conversations at this year’s IBC, with the IP Showcase acting as the focal point for discussions about interoperability and adoption.

During the show, industry leaders hailed the “huge progress” made by vendors and standards bodies working towards the ratification and adoption of interoperable IP equipment in a discussion that focused on the need for a sound business case.

Mike Cronk, Chairman of the Board, AIMS Alliance for IP Media Solutions, said: “Two years ago at IBC there was a lot of talk about IP, but if I was going to use a single word to sum it up that would be ‘confusion’.

“There were multiple proprietary standards under discussion, but in terms of the real-time aspect – in terms of replacing SDI and using IP in production and for that to be an onramp to increased scalability, elasticity, people were holding fire because there wasn’t a clear path forward.

Nowhere was that progress more apparent than in the IP Showcase, a timely demonstration of the way in which in vendors are working together to create solutions demanded by customers. Indeed, a report released by IABM showed that interoperability is vital to 98% of users, 72% of whom also want best of breed.

And right on cue, SMPTE used IBC2017 at the setting to announce the approval of the first standards within SMPTE ST 2110, the standards suite for carrying content over internet protocol (IP). 

As SMPTE President Matthew Goldman, senior vice president of technology, TV and media, at Ericsson, said: ”SMPTE ST 2110 standards go beyond the replacement of SDI with IP to support the creation of an entirely new set of applications that leverage information technology (IT) protocols and infrastructure.”