Genio Kronauer, Member of Avnu Alliance and Executive Director of R&D, Technologies and Platforms, L-Acoustic, shares how the AV industry is evolving
As the demand for high-quality, synchronised audiovisual (AV) experiences continues to rise, ensuring robust network performance has become essential for professional applications. From live event productions to complex corporate or public installations, achieving seamless AV delivery is no longer an option—it’s critical.
For this to be achieved successfully, devices within a network need to be interoperable. This is where Milan comes in – an innovative, standards-based protocol designed specifically to meet the needs of businesses within professional AV and focused on creating interoperability explicitly for devices with AVB enabled network interfaces.
Fostering AVB interoperability
Milan, short for Media-integrated Local Area Network, is a deterministic network protocol built on the IEEE Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) and AVB standards. Unlike generic IP-based networks, Milan guarantees time-synchronised, ultra-low latency communication tailored for real-time media applications. Milan allows network convergence by enabling devices with different protocols to coexist seamlessly within the same network. While interoperability may still be possible with devices using other protocols, Milan guarantees reliable and consistent interoperability for devices with AVB.
This interoperability is achieved through a rigorous certification process, ensuring that certified devices not only meet the protocol’s specifications but also function reliably across a diverse setup. By eliminating the guesswork from system integration, Milan streamlines network design, reduces deployment challenges, and enhances system robustness.
What sets Milan apart is its unparalleled features that redefine reliability in AV delivery. It guarantees determinism, ensuring delivery with ultra-low latency, and offers plug-and-play functionality, which streamlines integration and eliminates complexity. Its fast deployment capabilities are supported by exceptional network robustness and seamless redundancy, while precise synchronisation secures unmatched timing accuracy throughout the network. These traits position Milan as the ultimate solution for environments requiring consistent and high-quality audiovisual performance.
Supporting the grandest stages
A commitment to certification under demanding standards has made Milan a key technology for environments where consistent, high-quality performance is a must. Whether that is for large-scale concerts, enterprise AV systems, or broadcast events, Milan-certified devices maintain these standards and mitigate risks like signal interference and network downtime.
When you zoom in on Milan’s use in real-world applications, its value becomes evident. Take a concert venue where synchronised audio delivery is critical to the audience experience, for example. Milan-certified networks ensure that every beat and note reaches the loudspeakers in perfect harmony. The precision and reliability of the solution has led to Milan being used in a variety of venues and events, including the Hollywood Bowl, Coachella, and the Millenium Centre.
Aside from its robustness, Milan’s ease of use significantly streamlines operations. Milan reduces step-up complexity and allows AV professionals to focus on creativity rather than on configuration and troubleshooting. Thanks to the Milan protocol’s deterministic nature and automatic bandwidth reservation, jitter, and data packet delays issues are removed, ensuring a polished and professional result even in the most challenging network conditions.
The future of ProAV
The professional AV industry is at a pivotal juncture, where the demand for synchronised, high-quality AV delivery intersects with the growing complexity of networks. Standards-based solutions such as Milan are addressing these challenges and setting a new benchmark for AV networking.
As the ecosystem around standards-based AV networking continues to evolve, these protocols are poised to play an even greater role in enabling seamless, high-performance AV experiences. For professionals and organisations seeking to enhance their AV infrastructure, adopting certified technology represents not just an improvement but a transformative step toward the future of networked media.

Genio Kronauer founded the L-Acoustics electronics department in 2009, taking responsibility for the development of all electronic products, from hardware and firmware through to DSP algorithms, testing and networks. Keeping abreast of evolutions in technology, Genio steers the electronics and network strategy for the company, having built a team of engineers who ensure the electronics that pilot L-Acoustics speakers both guarantee the best sound and communicate seamlessly with the wider universe of production tools.
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