I n the p ast y ear , w e hav e seen trem en dous ex c item en t surroun din g I P c on v erg en c e — b ut this has n ot al w ay s b een ac c om p an ied by realistic expectations about what it w il l tak e to g et there . W e ’ re seein g , f or instance , an assumption that the move to IP w il l reduc e c osts due to the use of stan dard sw itc hes . T he real ity , how ev er , is m ore c om p l ic ated than that .

While it ’ s true that IP ultimately will deliver revenue benefits , it ’ s also a fact that the I P sw itc hin g used w ithin the hig hl y synchronised deterministic IP network arc hitec ture n eeded f or m edia tran sp ort is hig her- en d g ear . S y n c hron ised I P is a new and different animal , as it involves v ery l ow - l aten c y I P n etw ork s that are f ul l y sy n c hron ised to ac hiev e hig h- qual ity audio or v ideo , an d seam l ess sw itc hin g reg ardl ess of stream ty p e .

L ook in g ahead to f uture stan dards an d product development , Riedel is continuing its f oc us on the use of I P in f rastruc ture to tran sp ort m edia data w ithin l oc al facilities , via routers and between larger n etw ork s . M oreov er , the stream ex c han g e w ith dev ic es of other v en dors an d p rov en interoperability is still an important topic , sin c e m an y n ew n etw ork - en ab l ed dev ic es b ec om e av ail ab l e .

A s in terop erab il ity on the tran sp ort l ay er is on l y hal f of the p ic ture , R iedel al so has been exploring NMOS and its potential with respect to supporting device discovery and registration . NMOS could enable users of f uture sy stem s to k eep , an d en han c e , existing workflows . Among our recent p roduc t l aun c hes is an A E S 6 7 c ard f or the Artist digital matrix intercom system ; it adds the c ap ab il ity of p rov idin g sy n c hron ised I P direc tl y on to the dig ital b ac k b on e of our in terc om sy stem .

C on sequen tl y , R iedel c l ien ts today c an work with whichever connectivity they p ref er : A E S 6 7 , R A V E N N A , A V B or D an te . Installed into the Artist mainframe and then configured through Riedel ’ s Director software , the interface also facilitates AES67 connectivity between the Artist and Riedel ’ s SmartPanel multi-function user in terf ac e , as w el l as third- p arty dev ic es . A n other real ity ab out the m ov e to

I P is that it w il l sp an m ore than a sin g l e

in v estm en t c y c l e or in f rastruc ture ov erhaul . F or m ost b roadc ast an d p rof ession al A / V facilities , it will be a shift that takes years , w ith these c om p an ies g radual l y l ay erin g in m ore I P tec hn ol og y as their b udg ets al l ow .

A t R iedel , w e are addressin g this real ity w ith hy b rid p roduc ts en g in eered to ease the transition and help companies make the m ost of their in v estm en t in I P tec hn ol og y . W e ’ re try in g to el im in ate as m uc h c om p l ex ity as w e c an , b ut it ’ s n o sm al l task . After all , the industry is adopting a whole n ew set of tec hn ol og ies — an d a n ew array of related benefits and problems .

W e ’ re w ork in g to educ ate c ustom ers an d the in dustry as a w hol e ab out I P technology and to help them better un derstan d w here the issues an d bottlenecks are likely to be . As part of this effort , we ’ re focusing on making it as simple as p ossib l e f or in teg rators to n av ig ate I P - b ased n etw ork s . I n teg rators w ho w eren ’ t ac c ustom ed to w ork in g w ith I P , or n ot to an y g reat ex ten t y et , n eed to b uil d out their k n ow l edg e an d c om p eten c ies in this area . So , although we strive to offer products that present as little complexity as possible , the w idesp read em b rac e of I P m ak es im p rov in g sk il l - sets a n ec essity .

S tan dards b odies , of c ourse , are w ork in g n ot on l y on dev el op in g stan dards and best practices , but also on educating the in dustry . W e are j oin in g them in this w ork . F or y ears , R iedel has b een dedicated to supporting the industry stan dards that en ab l e in terop erab il ity , an d today is a m em b er of al l m aj or stan dards organisations such as SMPTE , AMWA , N M O S , I E E E , V S F , A V n u an d A I M S . As active participants in these groups ’ stan dards w ork , our en g in eers are hel p in g to shap e the in dustry . I n tern al l y , w e are committed to supporting ratified standards and to establish compatibility with them . f c ourse , n ot al l of the in dustry b uz z in 2016 was about IP . Most noteworthy from our perspective were the continued embrace of higher-resolution formats ( 4 K / U l tra H D an d up ) an d the in c reased implementation of software-based solutions .

H an dl in g the hug e b an dw idth in v ol v ed in moving high-resolution formats around

“ Another reality about the move to IP is that it will span more than a single investment cycle or infrastructure overhaul … For most broadcast and professional A / V facilities , it will be a shift that takes years .”

— Christian Diehl Product Manager

Riedel Communications

a f ac il ity rem ain s a c hal l en g e . A t R iedel , w e ’ re addressin g that c hal l en g e throug h en han c em en ts to our M ediorN et real - time media-routing systems , which offer p ow erf ul f eatures an d n earl y un l im ited flexibility in moving , processing and distributing broadcast signals . In fact , M ediorN et w as used suc c essf ul l y this past summer in Bra�il for a high-profile 8K production , so we are confident that it ’ s ready for broader 8K adoption .

It has been an eventful year for Riedel an d f or the in dustry , an d the sp eed of innovation today guarantees that 2017 will be an equally exciting time .