www.psneurope.com
April 2013 l 59
livefeature
critical mass. It is also true to say that momentum is building with our customers and we want to be at the forefront of this development.” Shortly before this issue went
to press, it was confirmed that Bose – manufacturer of loudspeakers, amplifiers and DSPs – had also joined the fray. Like Warrington, Bose Professional Systems Division general manager Akira Mochimaru highlights the AVB project’s goal of interoperability as a boost to seamless networking: “Bose Pro is passionate about high-quality digital audio and supports customers who are looking to make audio networking easy and reliable – after all, it should be. AVnu supports the adoption of the IEEE AVB standard that enables seamless media networking. Through the AVnu Alliance, Bose is proud to be active in an industry initiative that combines connectivity and performance with seamless interoperability – a valuable benefit to our customers.”
AVB PRODUCTS ON TAP? But what of the actual availability of products suitable for use with AVB networks? After what some observers have suggested was a slightly slow start, the past 18 months have actually witnessed a steady stream of AVB-enabled launches. Announced in January 2012, Avid’s VENUE SC48 compact digital live sound system delivers fully redundant Ethernet AVB snake connectivity over Cat6 cable. Shipping as of last May, Tesira is Biamp Systems’s first DSP-based networked media system to use AVB as the primary
UMAN’s Jürgen Scheuring: hopeful AVB will trigger a rethink to command and control
digital media transport. Meyer Sound’s CAL column array loudspeaker incorporates an AVB port to provide communications for AVB-capable systems such as its D-Mitri digital audio platform, while users of Harman BSS Audio BLU-805 and BLU-825 processors can also take advantage of AVB functionality. The first few months of 2013
brought the news that Extreme Networks has brought AVB technology to its Summit fixed Ethernet switches, while several announcements have taken place around Lab X’s Xavity Audio AVB connectivity platform. New AVnu Alliance members Bose and Calrec have both licensed Xavity Audio to provide AVB connectivity, while Calrec’s Warrington reveals that the manufacturer is “currently developing an AVB interface to the Hydra2 network” that it plans to exhibit at NAB. Recent weeks have also seen
Lab X release details of its Xavity Audio for Xilinx Spartan-6 Evaluation Kit. Designed, explained Lab X Technologies’ vice president of
KEY POINTS
l Bose and Calrec are the latest manufacturers to join the AVB-
promoting AVnu Alliance l Final AVB-related standard is
expected to be ratified in June l AVB bridge and endpoint certification now underway at the
University of New Hampshire, US l AVB video effort ‘gathering steam rapidly’ with demos due to take place at NAB and IBC
business development, Chris Pane, to enable “the evaluation and integration” of the Xavity platform, the kit features two 64 x 64 AVB modules, one Titanium 411 ruggedised AVB switch, and two HPX evaluation baseboards to facilitate eight analogue inputs, eight analogue outputs, one AES3 digital input and one AES3 digital output. Audinate’s CEO Lee Ellison
confirms that the company is “continuing its migration to AVB” and says that it will support the protocol “for those who wish to deploy it” as part of its Dante media networking
technology, which is now in use by more than 70 OEM manufacturers worldwide [see box on p55 for more]. Jürgen Scheuring, CEO of UMAN Universal Media Access Networks, tells PSNEurope that he is hopeful AVB will serve as “a kind of trigger to rethink the entire command and control area”. Going forward, it plans to provide connectivity solutions which combine AVB transport with its own UNOS command and control environment; Scheuring expects that related products could begin to reach the market in late 2013. Xilinx, meanwhile, is enthusiastic about the potential of AVB for broadcast environments and is currently working with an Xilinx Alliance Program member on a 10GB suite of AVB IP cores for the transportation of Layer 3 uncompressed video channels. Some industry observers have queried whether there are sufficient levels of suitable product to ensure that AVB completes the switch (pardon the pun) from theory to reality – but Minich insists that availability is “a natural evolution in any technology uptake. It always is slower than desired, but momentum builds. [...] There are lots of products in the pipes, and more will follow after that. It takes a bit of time to spin up an ecosystem – but that process is clearly well underway now.”
SO... WHAT NEXT? Although PSNEurope has inevitably focused on the audio side of the AVB project, Minich says that AVB video is now “gathering steam rapidly”. A recently established AVnu
Alliance Pro Video Sub Group is working to define key requirements for AVnu certification of video products. “The goal is to have requirements done for uncompressed video focused mainly at broadcast applications by the end of 2013, with certification programmes ideally to be developed and rolled-out in 2014.” NAB visitors should also look
out for a notable demo. “I know there will be [a presentation] of high-def, low-latency, uncompressed video over 10GB AVB network infrastructure (3G HD-SDI 1080p over 10G) in Las Vegas, and expect this to expand by IBC this autumn.” With the pace of product
release almost certain to pick up with the commencement of interoperability testing, 2013 may well confirm Warrington’s assertion that AVB has now reached “critical mass”. But for it to become a daily default, well... that “will take a few years”, admits Minich. “We now take USB and WiFi for granted, but we forget there was an adoption ramp-up phase. AVB will walk that same path – and ultimately reach the same ubiquity.”n
www.audinate.com www.avid.com www.avnu.org www.biamp.com www.calrec.com www.china-tech.com www.electrovoice.com www.iol.unh.edu www.labxtechnologies.com www.meyersound.com www.netgear.com pro.bose.com www.umannet.com www.xilinx.com
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