BOTHELL, Wash. — Nov. 28, 2017 — The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today announced that, after nearly two years in existence, it has not only galvanized the industry around a standards-based approach to IP but also has demonstrated significant cross-vendor interoperability, proving that the standards it recommends are usable and supported by a large portion of the vendor community. Also, in time for the organization's second anniversary, the entire AIMS board of directors has been re-elected to another term. The existing board members, all of whom served in 2016, will continue leading the AIMS effort to foster adoption of one set of common, ubiquitous, standards-based protocols for interoperability over IP in the media and entertainment industry.
AIMS formally began in December 2015 to foster the adoption of a common set of IP protocols that would afford the industry a more flexible, scalable, and agile future. Since then, AIMS has grown to over 70 members, representing the lion's share of the industry in terms of workflow and operations impacted by IP — all of whom agree that the AIMS roadmap is the best way to achieve a common IP workflow. That roadmap, which incorporates the work of standards and specifications bodies such as AES, AMWA, SMPTE, and VSF, has found wide acceptance throughout the industry.
AIMS members have worked to foster the adoption of standards and specifications put forth by those other organizations and, in the process, have reached several milestones themselves — collectively deploying over 100 SMPTE ST 2022-6-based IP systems worldwide, and recently at IBC2017 achieving interoperability between 52 vendors using the recently approved SMPTE ST 2110 standard. Through these efforts, AIMS members have shown that standards-based IP for live production, playout, and contribution applications is practical and viable, delivering benefits including scalability, flexibility, and improved resource sharing.
Going forward, besides continuing to establish and promote SMPTE ST 2110 interoperability, AIMS is looking towards continued collaboration with its industry partners including AMWA to forge a common, interoperable path to higher-level functionality beyond SMPTE ST 2110 transport, including automated registration and discovery, connection management, and dematerialized facilities.
Regarding board elections, the 2017-2018 board members are:
- Chair — Michael Cronk, Vice President of Core Technology, Grass Valley
- Deputy Chair — Steve Reynolds, Chief Technology Officer, Imagine Communications
- Chief Financial Officer — Andreas Hilmer, Marketing and Communications Director, Lawo
- Board Member — Andy Warman, Director of Playout Solutions, Harmonic
- Board Member — Scott Barella, Chief Technology Officer, Utah Scientific
"In a little less than two years, we have moved from an uncertain future for IP to widespread vendor adoption and a massive response from the industry. There's no way we could have accomplished this enormous undertaking without people who are absolutely dedicated to it — including our own members and those in the standards organizations with whom we work so closely," said Michael Cronk, AIMS board chair. "I'm honored not only to have earned AIMS members' confidence but to continue working alongside my fellow board members, who have led the AIMS organization through two years of incredible progress toward a common, standards-based IP workflow. There is still much to do, though, including orchestrating successful deployments based on the recently approved SMPTE ST 2110 standards, providing education to the industry, and fostering the adoption of open standards and specifications for IP interoperability beyond just the transport layer. We look forward to the challenge."
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About the Alliance for IP Media Solutions
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the education, awareness, and promotion of industry standards for the transmission of video, audio, and ancillary information over an IP infrastructure, as well as products based on those standards. The group represents the interests of both broadcast and media companies and technology suppliers that share a commitment to facilitating the industry's transition from SDI to IP through industry standards and interoperable solutions that enable the rapid evolution to open, agile, and versatile production environments.
Link to Word Doc: www.wallstcom.com/AIMS/171128AIMS.docx
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