A family of open-source, free of charge specifications that enable interoperability
between media devices on an IP infrastructure.​​
Using NMOS-enabled products ensures interoperability of your IP video and audio equipment, whether IPMX or 2110 are used. And whether locally or in the cloud. NMOS facilitates discovery, control, and monitoring of devices, and more.
Whether you work in Broadcast or Pro-AV, the ability to quickly and reliably set up a working system is vital to business efficiency. This may be building permanent or temporary facilities - or changing operational set-ups between TV shows or professional AV activities. If you work in traditional media or a professional communications environment, NMOS, Networked Media Open Specifications, exists to provide an effective open control layer to get you working as easily as possible.
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A guide to Resouces for Implementers and Integrators is here to make life easier.
"NMOS – What's In It For Me?" See the video here.
​How Does NMOS Help?
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Read What NMOS is. What NMOS isn’t. A non-technical overview which also explains the benefits to your job in the media industry.
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NMOS offers significant benefits over proprietary solutions.
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Watch a video on Why We More Than Ever Need an Open Control Plane
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Watch a video describing what NMOS is, and how NMOS has evolved Beyond Routing Control.
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NMOS is a fundamental building block in an open, fully-functioning architecture. Read how it fits within the JT-NM full stack and the EBU Technology Pyramid.
NMOS benefits if you're a manufacturer or supplier:
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You can integrate your products into larger ecosystems without developing proprietary protocols
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Your equipment becomes more attractive to customers who want flexible, multi-vendor solutions
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You save development time/costs by using established open standards
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You can participate in shaping the standard's evolution
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Your products gain broader market appeal since they can work alongside competitors' equipment
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You avoid the costs and complexity of maintaining proprietary protocols
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No need to develop custom control protocols or monitoring solutions
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Equipment status and health monitoring become standardized
NMOS benefits if you're a customer, integrator, or end user:
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Freedom from vendor lock-in gives you more choice and control
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You can select best-of-breed equipment for each part of their system
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Lower total cost of ownership by avoiding proprietary ecosystem costs
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More flexible upgrade paths since you’re not tied to a single vendor
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Easier to expand systems gradually with equipment from different suppliers
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Freedom to choose equipment that fits your budget
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Simpler training and operations with standardized interfaces
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Reduced risk since you’re not dependent on a single vendor's business decisions
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Consistent status monitoring and control across the entire system
The NMOS ROADMAP
Since the NMOS developments began, there has been a steady demand from users to provide additional functionality.
Version 2 of the NMOS Roadmap shows all of these key developments, now grouped to show the overall benefits and how they work together. These include the many developments that are finished and deployed, along with “work in progress” and future additions.
Much of the new work is focused on operational control of devices, accommodation of compressed video formats to extend the use of NMOS between media premises and to / from the Cloud, and new developments for monitoring and configuration are coming up.
Also, as the IPMX standard is adopted in the Pro AV market, NMOS will bring valuable plug and play benefits to both end users and suppliers alike.
The roadmap includes Interface Specifications (IS-xx), Best Current Practices (BCP-xx) and Data Model Specifications (MS-xx), to show the functionality and benefits that they offer.
Please note - there is a range of supporting material for these technical developments. These can be found as INFO documents on the
What you will find
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Core Functionality
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Security Features
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Compressed Streams
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Control and Monitoring
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System Features
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Testing Tools
Join the family of NMOS users and suppliers
AMWA members have invested thousands of hours in developing the open specifications that are in use today. But we also encourage non-members to benefit from this development time by including the code, free of charge, in their product range.
See below for a range of resources that are available to help you.
​How can I use it?
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Get started with the easy-NMOS tool from NVIDIA.
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Watch the presentations which explain the benefits and how to use the easy-NMOS tool, with a practical demonstration.
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The business benefits of using NMOS with DNS-SD for discovery of devices on your network.
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Use the free of charge test suites.
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Watch the NMOS Test Tool tutorial with a demos of installation and a typical test.
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Read how new versions and upgrades are handled, for example on IS-04.
NMOS is available form a broad range of vendors
Suppliers worldwide have signed up to participate in the NMOS developments.
Big industry names and small independent specialists are contributing to the working groups, showing a long-term commitment to the success of this initiative.
The JT-NM Tested program offers confidence to purchasers that products have been thoroughly checked by industry experts.
Where can I buy it?
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The AMWA maintains a catalog of NMOS-enabled products and software.
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The Buy NMOS Here page provides links to the existing catalogs and application form so that new entries can be added.
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The JT-NM Tested program has catalogs for successful products with carefully documented procedures and results.
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Watch the JT-NM Tested presentation from IBC.
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nmos developments are based on real business needs
End users and their suppliers are working towards open standards and specifications to escape the limitations of closed technology solutions. Customers want the ability to build systems using products with the best features. Vendors value the ability to make sales into the widest customer markets.
​Will it help my business?
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Read What NMOS is. What NMOS isn’t to learn how all vendors and their customers can benefit by adopting NMOS.
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Many suppliers are participating in the AMWA's NMOS initiative to participate in developments and implement the APIs.
NMOS is a fundamental part of an ip-based infrastructure
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For an excellent picture of how end users are employing NMOS and IP-based architectures - plus how their suppliers have stepped up to satisfy those needs, please use the Resources option on the AIMS IP Showcase website.
There you will find many presentations delivered online and at trade shows.
And for end users who want to specify NMOS in their procurement processes, there is a standard form of words at the bottom of this section, prepared by the EBU.
Is there a risk in adopting it?
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Four media organisations joined a panel discussion at IBC on Real-World SMPTE ST 2110 and AMWA NMOS Implementations.
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At IBC, Riedel gave a presentation on secure Discovery and Connection of ST 2110 Media Devices
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An example of the practical application of NMOS is included in the Mellanox (now NVIDIA) presentation at IBC in "Simplifying JT-NM TR-1001-1 Deployments Through Microservices".
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How to specify NMOS in a system tender or specification.
SO what for the future?
IP-based infrastructures take us on important first steps, liberating workflows from traditional, hard-wired, point-to-point installations. However, the professional media industry can also harness the power of IT infrastructures that we have come to expect every day in our office systems.
The future vision​
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NMOS provides a path to true IT infrastructures.
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A presentation by Brad Gilmer explains the business benefits that an IT infrastructure can deliver and how flexible professional media workflows can be built using IT principles.
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At IBC2019, Gordon Castle of Discovery / Eurosport gave his vision for an IT future.