AES67/ST 2110 and Ravenna

When RAVENNA was introduced to the industry back in 2010, several – mostly proprietary – AoIP solutions were existing, but no standard was yet visible. Although RAVENNA is an open technology approach, with its modular architecture fully based on existing and well-accepted standards, people seemed to be confused by the wide choice of competing and non-interoperable solutions. The arrival of AES67 in 2013 made people cheer and pay homage to an AoIP standard they believed would finally render any other solutions obsolete… 4 years later, SMPTE published its suite of ST 2110 documents, with ST 2110-30 (linear PCM audio transport) fully referencing AES67 as its basis. A closer look at these standards reveals that RAVENNA – published some 7 years before the arrival of ST 2110 – was build on exactly the same protocols and functions as AES67 and ST 2110. So, does this mean, RAVENNA is now obsolete, being forced to coma by the AES67/ST 2110 nerve pinch? Andreas Hildebrand, RAVENNA Evangelist at ALC NetworX, Germany, explains why this Vulcan nerve pinch does not have any effect for RAVENNA at all…