Community

Collaboration

Media networking technologies and standards are too complex to be mastered and defined by individual ProAV manufacturers.

Lack of Understanding in Network Technology Companies

Dedicated network technology companies, on the other hand, lack an understanding of basic market, user, and AV system requirements. Only companies in close contact with end users and their challenge to transform their work into fully networked media systems can collaboratively develop and maintain relevant standards for digitization.

Milan: A Collaborative Network of Manufacturers

Milan is developed by a long-standing community of leading ProAV manufacturers and network equipment manufacturers, all of whom are committed to providing the best possible user experience. In this sense, Milan is more than a media network; it’s a network of manufacturers working together to define a future of user-friendly and instrumental networked media.

Community

PLUGFESTS

Plugfests are collaborative events where Avnu members convene to conduct hands-on testing of their products, specifications, and applications, enabling real-time interoperability assessments.

Over the course of a week, these gatherings provide members with critical insights into product performance and functionality, all within a supportive and collegial environment.

Role of Plugfests in Development

Held multiple times annually across Europe, America, and Asia, Plugfests play a crucial role in fostering collaboration and innovation within the TSN, AVB, and MILAN development teams. They not only facilitate the testing and development of new products and standards but also provide a unique opportunity for industry professionals to connect

Avnu Spring Week at Comarch
Full details on COMARCH Article

Strengthening the Community

By sharing insights and expanding their networks, Plugfests ultimately strengthen the community and advance technological progress.
Avnu’s Spring 2024 Plugfest is April 15-19, 2024, in Krakow, Poland, and is being hosted by Comarch.

Top 6 reasons to Attend a Plugfest:

Access to multiple development tools
Support with debugging
Access to the latest test plans
Certification Process/Program
Interop testing with other Avnu member products
Ask the experts if you have any questions

What our partners say

“Avnu plugfests are an excellent opportunity to ensure the interoperability of the devices being developed within the Milan specification, ours included. It’s always a pleasure when the industry’s driving forces can come together and mutually advance a format that benefits the entire community.”

Brian Fraser, Head of Product and Technology, Adamson Systems Engineering

“When we started moving from AVB to Milan we joined a plugfest for the first time in Krakow. We were made very welcome and gained a lot of insight into the technology as well as the incredible spirit of cooperation between the member companies. Since then, the plugfests have been a regular occurrence on our calendar and the event keeps helping us to verify the performance and interoperability of our various products.”

Jeroen van Waterschoot, Director, ALLDSP GmbH & Co. KG

“The recent Avnu plugfest was a great experience and an invaluable tool to ensure interoperability of silicon for TSN features. ADI looks forward to continued participation as we build out the TSN ecosystem.”

Jordon Woods, Product Line Director, Industrial Ethernet, Analog Devices

“Plugfests like the one Avnu hosted in Boston, MA are a critical part of driving interoperability for devices designed around the IEEE TSN specifications. Together with the certification efforts driven by Avnu such plugfests represent an important next step in the adoption of TSN.”

Dieter Cohrs, IoT Real-Time Capability Manager, Intel Corporation

“The Avnu Alliance plugfests serve as an invaluable tool for L-Acoustics to test the interoperability of our devices. The plugfest was a platform for us to connect with other audio and networking device manufacturers, especially the silicon manufacturers, who are working on the advancement of TSN and Milan protocols.”

Genio Kronauer, Executive Director of Electronics & Networks Technologies, L-Acoustics

Pending

Pending

“NXP was pleased to participate in the Avnu Alliance TSN plugfest to help facilitate the broad adoption of TSN technologies in multiple industries. We look forward to joining the upcoming sessions that will include a wider set of TSN features, specified in the IEEE’s open standards for TSN.”

Jeff Steinheider, Vice President and General Manager, Industrial Edge Processing at NXP

“Plugfests are an invaluable opportunity to validate TSN features on our silicon and low-level software interoperates with others. Remote is not a practical option when nanoseconds matter.”

Pekka Varis, Senior Member Technical Staff, Texas Instruments

Community

Industry

AVB - the technology behind Milan - was originally developed by an IEEE working group with the sole focus on the needs of the AV industry, particularly in live production environments.

Awareness and Development of TSN

As this work progressed, network specialists from other industries became aware of the new capabilities that AVB would add to traditional best-effort Ethernet. The desire to develop deterministic Ethernet as a new foundation for industrial automation, automotive, aerospace, medical, and other industries quickly emerged. Since ‘AVB’ stands for ‘Audio-Video-Bridging’ and is thus dedicated to the AV industry, a new name was created for this broad field: Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN).

Standards and Principles

Since the requirements for these applications are mostly different from AV, new IEEE TSN standards have been developed and are still under development. However, the basic idea of Ethernet being predictable, fast, and synchronous is the same as AVB.