AoIP is here to stay. But now, everyone’s talking about virtual radio. What does it mean and how can it benefit you in the future?

The Telos Alliance has had a front row seat for the broadcast industry’s transition from analog and primitive digital systems to Audio over IP following our invention of the first broadcast AoIP protocol, Livewire, back in 2003. And what a view we have had! The broadcast industry is moving toward AoIP infrastructure, both in radio and TV, with system after system being swapped out for faster, cheaper, and better broadcast AoIP equipment. The pace of adoption is extraordinary.

AES67 compatibility and compliance are not one in the same. This short guide explains the difference, and why you should care.

One of our goals at the Telos Alliance is to further the adoption of AES67, the standard for audio-over-IP designed to allow interoperability between various IP-based audio networking systems, like our own Livewire+ AES67, Ravenna, Q-Lan, and Dante. So we hear the terms AES67 compliance and AES67 compatibility thrown about a bit, often with reckless abandon. And while they may sound the same, the difference between compliance and compatibility is huge. Here, we’ll spell out those differences and explain why it matters.

Since the AES67 standard was ratified nearly three years ago, a paradigm shift has occurred in the broadcast indus­try with AoIP becoming the topic both around the water cooler and in facilities around the globe.

By now, you probably already know and understand AoIP's benefits: It saves money. It makes for more efficient work­flows. It reduces the amount of equip­ment you need. It eliminates massive amounts of wiring. It leverages “off the shelf” IP-based components from the larger IT industry for easy integration.

Since Axia invented AoIP in 2003, I’ve had tons of conversations about Ethernet switches — as you might imagine! Switches are the heart of any AoIP system, so it makes sense to know a bit about them. But a lot of the language concerning Ethernet switches is fairly impenetrable (even to experienced engineers). So I thought that a post encapsulating some things I’ve learned might be useful to those of you planning your next facility.

You probably remember learning to drive. Your Driver’s Ed teacher (or other responsible adult) would constantly monitor your speed and point out when you were going too fast. In your own mind, you could never go too fast! And for some of us, once we got that adult out of the car, we put our foot down to the floor. We never changed our thinking, and we have the speeding tickets to prove it!

It would be easy to think of AoIP networks in the same terms: if fast is good, faster is better — right?

With more radio stations contemplating Audio-over-IP as an audio infrastructure, one statement made by certain equipment manufacturers goes something like this: “You know, if you buy that gear, a PC is required to run your AoIP network.”

In the sales trade (and let’s be honest, that’s what this is all about), this sort of statement falls under a special designation called “FUD” – Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Some folks make these sorts of statements in order to distract you from the fact that their systems have nothing better to offer than their competitors, by implying that there’s a horrible fault in their competitor’s gear. In this case, the implication is that a PC attached to the system somehow makes it unreliable for broadcast.

There’s a whole lot that goes into building AoIP studio gear. And there might be even more that goes into choosing the system that’s right for your studios!

One key decision you’re faced with almost immediately in your selection process is which design philosophy to align yourself with: Purpose-Built, or the Kitchen Sink.

By now, you’ve likely heard that the Audio Engineering Society (AES) has ratified the AES67 standard, which defines how Audio over IP (AoIP) systems from different manufacturers should interoperate.

The question, now that there’s a published specification, is — where do we go from here?

You might be interested in knowing that the team here at Axia has been involved in helping create this vital interoperation spec since the very beginning. We helped create and sustain the effort to create an interoperability spec, as well as contributing our technology and experience, to make creating the standard easier. Being the first company to develop AoIP technology for broadcast studios allowed us to help in ways that companies that were newer to this tech weren’t able to.

Most of my friends in the industry know that I’ve flown small airplanes for a number of years. As I’ve learned, I share this passion with a lot of folks in the industry. This got me thinking a bit. I asked myself, “Why are so many radio technical types also involved in aviation.” I have a few ideas about what those who excel in both fields have in common: