Over the course of the last decade, Ethernet and Wi-Fi have become the most dominant of all networking technologies. Many people with a computer have, at one time or another, plugged into an Ethernet network via the RJ45 jack. Over time, these technologies have continuously pushed the boundaries of speed — with the current state-of-the-art Ethernet moving to 100Gbps. Given the enormous cost savings in cabling and other infrastructure over analog cable, it is natural that networked A/V would be widespread in the professional world. Up until now, the high licensing cost associated with proprietary audio network technologies, limited offerings of compatible products, and high networking expertise required to deploy these networks have kept AV networking out of reach for all but the largest systems.
The IEEE AVB Task Group has developed a series of enhancements that provide highly-reliable delivery of low latency, synchronized audio and video. This technology enables the construction of affordable, high performance professional media networks without complex network engineering. The Avnu Alliance is the organization that certifies that AVB products for interoperability, providing a simple, reliable networking solution.
With Avnu-certified AVB products, end-users can choose lower cost per node devices from multiple manufacturers to create AV systems using products that are certified to work together. This combination of a wider choice of compatible products and open technology brings high-quality AV networking within reach of virtually any Professional AV system, regardless of size.
The IEEE is not standing still – new enhancements called Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) include seamless redundancy and low-latency high priority control traffic that could be deployed for critical life-safety functions.
