The AVnu Alliance is pushing IEEE 802.1 AVB standards, appointing the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), an independent networking and data communications testing provider, as its first test house.
UNH-IOL will be a major part of the certification of AVB devices and the appointment will help bring AVB networking products to market.
AVnu Alliance has also announced the timeline for the AVnu certification program. Alliance members can submit AVB-enabled bridges to UNH-IOL to begin certification testing from August 2012. For professional audio products, the testing process will begin in the first quarter of 2013. Products by alliance members Avid, Biamp, Extreme Networks, Harman, Meyer Sound, Riedel Communications, and others are expected to be in the first wave of devices submitted for full AVnu interoperability certification.
The UNH-IOL is a neutral, third-party testing service provider that works with other industry consortia including the Ethernet Alliance, Wi-Fi Alliance and IPv6 Forum.
"UNH-IOL welcomes the opportunity to assist the AVnu Alliance in developing a validation program for AVB technologies," said Bob Noseworthy, chief engineer at UNH-IOL. "The possibilities AVnu Alliance brings to establishing seamless digital AV connectivity are compelling. This certification program provides confidence in the compliance and interoperability of early and future implementations."
"We are very pleased to be working with UNH-IOL as a key part of our interoperability and conformance program," said Kevin Stanton, AVnu Alliance Technical Work Group Chair. "UNH-IOL's long experience testing networked devices, especially Ethernet, along with the collective expertise drawn from the expanding AVnu Alliance membership, is quickly moving us toward certification of interoperable AVB networking and A/V products."