A closer look at AV and IT PoVs on AES67, a Layer 3 protocol suite for audio-over-IP.
From the AV Perspective:
Using AES67 allows you to make use of the existing facility infrastructure, resulting in significant material and labor savings on your project. Given it is an interoperability standard, it allows you to use products that make use of a variety of network technologies, yet still interoperate with each other. This allows you to freely select products from a variety of manufacturers, while having the assurance of using a true, open industry standard.
When the audio data is transported over the same network as all the other data in a facility, such as video, control, point of sale, etc., all the benefits of network management, redundancy, and more, are realized at no additional cost.
From the IT Perspective:
AES67 is an interoperability standard from the Audio Engineering Society. It is a not a network itself but rather an interoperability mode that allows products using different network technologies to be able to work together. It operates over standard layer 3 IP, Ethernet networks. The good news for an IT professional is that it is based upon the same IT standards that you use every day. These include standards such as RTP, IEEE 1588-2008 PTP, and DiffServ QoS.
It is most likely that you can use AES67 compliant products with your existing network. It works with switches from all the main switch manufacturers.
