ABSTRACT
In March 1996, before the fi rst digital luminaires, LED displays, or DMX512controlled media servers were exhibited at Lighting Dimensions International (LDI), David Bertenshaw of Strand Lighting suggested in a meeting of the Entertainment Services & Technology Association (ESTA) Control Protocols Working Group that they need to undertake the task of creating a standard for getting “data on and off the Ethernet pipe.” He cited the probability of the development of non-standard, proprietary systems that “could have a detrimental effect to the interconnectivity of devices.” Indeed, Strand already had developed ShowNet V1.0, Specifi cation for Transport of Output Data on ShowNet (“DMX Over Ethernet”), which uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) as an alternative to TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP.
