This is an item from the broader A/V industry, but one of interest to those following developments in audio networking.
A group called the Open Control Architecture aims to create an open public control standard for professional media network systems. It was founded last year and incorporated this October.
The founders of the OCA Alliance are Bosch Communications Systems, Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup, TC Group, Yamaha Commercial Audio, Loud Technologies, d&b audiotechnik, Media Technology Systems, PreSonus and Duran Audio. Audinate, developer of a networking system called Dante, now has joined the alliance as an associate member.
According to the Audinate announcement, the OCA Alliance formed to complete the technical definition of OCA, then to transfer its development to an accredited public standards organization.
The Open Control Architecture is a system control and monitoring architecture; it does not provide signal transport, but is designed to cooperate with signal transport standards, such as the audio/video bridging (AVB) protocol suite under development within the IEEE, and the IP-based media transport protocols defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Its current focus is on audio systems, according to its website, though expansion to cover control of video devices is considered a longer-term goal.
