LOUD Technologies Inc. has announced its membership in the AVnu Alliance, where it will engage in helping to set standards and compliance programs for the pro audio community and will integrate these standards into its brands’ networked products when these programs are successfully implemented.
“As an industry, we owe it to our customers to simplify and standardize networked audio/video installations through the universal adoption of AVB,” explains Mark Graham, CEO of LOUD. “Through our AVnu partnership and thoughtful migration to AVB, LOUD will position our brands and our customers well for the next phase of growth in the install, A/V and PA markets.”
“We developed U-Net to meet market need for a low latency, low per-node-cost networking protocol,” adds Jeff Rocha, general manager and vice president of the LOUD EAW business unit. “And there’s no question that U-Net’s integrated bi-directional communication and digital audio transport native to many EAW products is of great value to our customers. As the AVB standard matures, we will eventually offer our customers the same functionality of U-Net, but with the added benefit of seemless integration across a wide range of components from other manufacturers.”
Anthony Taylor, general manager and vice president of the LOUD Martin Audio business unit, notes, “Undoubtedly, networked audio/video systems and installations will be the next driver of growth in the worldwide install and A/V markets. We look forward to the time when AVB evolves to provide the advantages currently provided by U-Net in an open architecture format.”
The alliance will also help LOUD deliver networking technology to mass-market users through its Mackie brand, which to date has not deployed the LOUD U-Net protocol. “The Mackie R&D team is chomping at the bit to deliver AVB-enabled products that will deliver some serious bang for the buck… how very Mackie, no?” says John Boudreau, vice president of the LOUD Mackie brand.
“Since AVB is built on proven Ethernet hardware, enables easy discovery of all networked devices and allows for simple audio routing, we believe it is the best solution for cost-effective, plug-and-play networked audio and video applications,” adds Nathan O’Neill, LOUD senior director of engineering.
