At the 2017 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) will host an Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) interoperability demonstration at the company's booth with other technology companies including Arista, Embrionix, LAWO, Tektronix and Vizrt. The companies will demonstrate uncompressed IP interoperability for a video playout chain featuring live source inputs, graphics workflow, network time sync, monitoring, playout with automation control with traffic integration, and broadcast encoding delivering transport streams for terrestrial, satellite, cable and OTT delivery.
"Being able to scale and adapt in a rapidly changing environment, along with having the flexibility for configuration and management, is absolutely critical today," said Andy Warman, director, production and playout strategy and market development, at Harmonic, AIMS board member and chairman of the AIMS marketing working group. "At NAB, we will demonstrate a leading-edge end-to-end playout and distribution workflow on IT network infrastructure. Working in the IP realm, broadcasters can provision network resources, tweak their workflow, add new channels and support higher resolutions without the need to roll out proprietary interfaces or infrastructure."
AIMS promotes standards for migrating from SDI to all-IP workflows. The demonstration at NAB is intended to illustrate interoperable IP interconnectivity. The workflow includes an Arista Networks switch and EOS operating system, a Tektronix PRISM hybrid IP/SDI media analysis platform and a SPG8000A precision multiformat master sync and PTP grandmaster clock generator, a LAWO V-link4 video over IP solution for signal transport and processing, Embrionix SDI-to-IP small form-factor pluggable (SFP) modules, a Vizrt Viz Trio CG system, and Spectrum X media server and Electra X2 media processor from Harmonic.
All of the technologies in the demo are designed to meet SMPTE ST 2022-6 (transport of SDI over IP) and SMPTE ST 2059 (PTP-based timing) specifications, and the capability to adapt to future standards, such as SMPTE ST 2110.