Open suite of specifications for discovering and managing networked media devices: IS-04 for discovery, IS-05 for connection control.
What it is
NMOS (Networked Media Open Specifications) is a family of open standards from the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA). It standardises how media-over-IP devices announce themselves, describe what they can do, and negotiate connections between sources and receivers.
The two specs you meet most
- IS-04 (Discovery & Registration) — devices register with a network registry and publish their senders, receivers, and node capabilities. Replaces ad-hoc service discovery (mDNS, vendor-specific sweepers).
- IS-05 (Connection Management) — a control plane uses RESTful HTTP to bind a receiver to a sender. Replaces SDP push and SNMP for IP-AV connection control.
Why it matters
Without NMOS, every SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX deployment would need a custom orchestration layer per vendor. NMOS is the discovery + control glue that makes open-standard AV-over-IP actually multi-vendor in practice. Modern control-room tenders that mention IPMX almost always mention IS-04 / IS-05 in the same paragraph.
Beyond IS-04 and IS-05
Newer specs cover authentication (IS-10), audio mapping (IS-08), event & tally (IS-07), and channel mapping. Worth tracking if your buyers ask, but the operational floor is set by IS-04 + IS-05.