About – Milan AV

Overview

What is MILAN?

Milan is a media networking specification based on AVB, a TSN Ethernet technology.

Legacy Ethernet vs. AVB Technology

While legacy Ethernet was never designed to handle critical real-time traffic and only provides statistical priority for audio and video streams, AVB technology ensures completely reliable and fast delivery of media signals over a network.

Benefits of AVB Technology

With AVB, the Ethernet network itself automatically provides the bandwidth reservation and traffic shaping mechanisms needed for critical applications. This finally makes networking easy to handle, fast to deploy, and safe to use in all kinds of critical live event situations.

Overview

Foundation of Milan

Milan was founded in 2016 as an initiative of leading pro audio manufacturers under the umbrella of the Avnu Alliance.

Collaborative Effort for Future-Proof Networking

The manufacturers behind Milan have decided to work together beyond the usual competitive boundaries to make media networking future-proof, user-friendly, simple and scalable for the benefit of all parties involved, be they sound engineers, consultants, integrators, rental companies or venue owners.

Ease of use

Networking with confidence

Simplifying Ethernet Mechanics in Media Network Systems with Milan

Historically, audio engineers and system designers had to delve into setting packet priorities, managing multicast, and ensuring traffic coexistence on the same network. Milan now automates these processes, making network management reliable and effortless.

Interoperable Systems

Many media networks are actually separate, non-interoperable systems, each with strictly limited traffic types and users, and do not provide true, fully dependable reliability.

Milan's Solution

Milan provides the network as a space that can be shared by different users without artifacts or risk of packet loss. The network offers confidence that it “just works” as it should.

Meyer Sound – Ed Sheeran Tour

Best Practice Recommendations

Best practice recommendations for legacy audio networks often suggest strict separation of traffic across different physical networks. This separation is typically between traffic types such as media and control, or between different user areas on a network, as the risk of interference increases with the number of independent users.

Training and Risks

The effort required to train users and make legacy systems work has become very high. Using a technology that wasn’t designed for predictable delivery remains a critical risk that can be avoided using AVB / Milan.

About

Milan Applications

Milan has been designed with the very critical requirements of live sound in mind.

It ensures the highest audio quality combined with intuitive workflows, fail-safe operation with redundancy, and ease of use so users can concentrate fully on their actual production.

Layer 2 Protocol

AVB is a ‘Layer 2 protocol’, meaning it provides mechanisms within local area networks. Milan does not work through routers or on the web. Thus, while Milan covers the highly critical local production network, other protocols are suitable for connecting Milan network systems via routers. This setup is reasonable because such interconnections usually have less critical requirements for latency, synchronicity, and media bandwidth.

Broader ProAV Applications

These benefits make Milan an excellent choice for other ProAV applications, where ease of use and uncompromising reliability are crucial. Milan AVB switches also enhance other protocols with traffic shaping, simplifying the deployment of converged networks.

Ideal for Various Applications

Milan serves as the most robust signal structure foundation for any live performance application, including:

Live concerts
Corporate events
Performance installations in clubs, houses of worship, theatres, performing arts, and many others.

use cases

Live Sound

ProAV Milan

What is Milan?

Networking

Applications

Introduction

Introduction

Get Involved

Implementation

Community

Solution Options