[Satnews] Bridge Technologies will embrace both the AIMS and ASPEN initiatives, with the company’s products supporting any formats emerging from either of the two proposed approaches—AIMS and ASPEN are competing proposals for Video over IP as the broadcast industry transitions away from SDI.

“This is the decision our customers want us to take,” said Simen Frostad, Chairman of Bridge Technologies. “Bridge Technologies is fundamentally an IP company, and we are delighted to see these initiatives, because they will help establish IP in the broadcast world. Both AIMS and ASPEN have advantages. It could be that the market will decide in favor of one or the other—or it could be that both will find a place. Today, however, it’s essential that we remain open-minded, and to ensure that Bridge monitoring systems will continue to deliver a return on our customers’ investment, whatever the future holds. Agility is crucial for our customers in today’s dynamic broadcast industry.”

AIMS (The Alliance for IP Media Solutions) was founded by Grass Valley and counts Cisco, Arista Networks, EVS Broadcast, Imagine Communications and Snell Advanced Media among those who have declared support for it.
 
ASPEN (Adaptive Sample Picture ENcapsulation) is a proprietary system developed by Evertz with supporters including AJA Video Systems, ChyronHego, Hitachi, Ross, Sony and VizRT among others.

The two initiatives are based on different SMPTE standards. The primary difference between the two is in their proposals for video synchronization, using different methods to encapsulate video, audio and data. AIMS is based on SMPTE 2022, while the ASPEN approach has as its foundation  MPEG-2 TS encapsulated over IP as described in SMPTE ST 302 and 2038.

“There is the opportunity for both AIMS and ASPEN to thrive, and that they will become successful,” continued Frostad. “What’s important is that the broadcast industry focuses on accessible, open standards that can enable it to continue to flourish. But: until we have some clarity, it’s entirely appropriate that Bridge does as it has always done, which is to support the widest possible range of standards and formats, giving our customers the freedom and flexibility that are essential to their business.”