VSF Enhances RIST Protocol to Support New Media Transport Applications
RIST Activity Group Releases Advanced Profile with Tunneling and Multi-Protocol Support
November 16, 2021 – The Video Services Forum (VSF) announces the release of an important new specification: TR-06-3:2021 entitled “Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) Protocol Specification – Advanced Profile.”
This new specification greatly expands the functionality and interoperability of RIST devices, providing new capabilities that enable a wide variety of reliable, secure media signal transport applications. The document is freely available at https://vsf.tv/technical_recommendations.shtml for all to download and to use.
RIST Advanced Profile includes a protected tunneling mode that can carry any legacy protocol, including RTP-based media signals such as SMPTE ST 2110, ST 2022 and MPEG TS over UDP. In addition, bidirectional protocols based on TCP can be transported securely and reliably in the same packet tunnel while consuming only a single UDP port to simplify firewall configuration. Enhancements have also been made to RIST security features, to add support for some of the latest encryption and authentication technologies.
“By adding these features to the growing body of RIST specifications, the VSF continues to demonstrate our commitment to expanding the boundaries of interoperable technologies for media applications. With these new functions, users around the globe can reliably and securely deliver high-quality signals over unconditioned networks,” said VSF President Richard Friedel, EVP, Engineering, FOX Television Stations (FTS).
RIST technology has been incorporated into products currently offered by a number of manufacturers including Cobalt, Evertz, Net Insight, Nevion, QVidium, SipRadius, VideoFlow and Zixi. The libRIST open-source implementation has also been widely deployed for a variety of broadcast, enterprise and prosumer applications around the globe. The RIST Forum (www.rist.tv), which currently has over 150 members, provides a variety of resources for organizations that have deployed and are interested in learning more about RIST technology.
“RIST Advanced Profile is a novel way to provide a VPN service with reliable delivery for corporate applications, extending the benefits of RIST to any type of traffic, not just media,” said Ciro Noronha, EVP Engineering, Cobalt Digital and principal author of the RIST Advanced Profile specification. “These enhancements add functions that can be utilized to transport many signal types, including SMPTE ST 2022, ST 2110 and other protocols such as NDI, Dante and AES67.”
Future work within the VSF RIST Activity Group is focused on developing new capabilities for the protocol, including support for the popular WireGuard VPN, enhanced firewall traversal and adaptive bit-rate encoding. New functions that make RIST systems easier to control and administer across large enterprise networks are also being added, including automated configuration and standardized control/management functions to support even greater interoperability and scalability.
About The Video Services Forum
Founded in 1997, the Video Services Forum (VSF) is an international association composed of service providers, users, and manufacturers dedicated to interoperability, quality metrics and education for video networking technologies. The organization's activities include providing forums to identify issues involving the development, engineering, installation, testing and maintenance of video networking technologies; exchanging non-proprietary information to promote the development of video networking technology and to foster the resolution of issues common to the video services industry; promoting interoperability by contributing to and supporting development of standards by national and international standards bodies. Visit VSF online at http://www.videoservicesforum.org.
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