Chris Lennon

Chris Lennon is a lifelong member of the media industry, having served as a broadcaster, vendor, consultant, and executive during his career. He has led MediAnswers, a leading consulting firm since 2013, and also founded the Open Services Alliance (OSA), a global industry organization focused on interoperability among microservice oriented media systems. The OSA produced the media industry’s first microservices standards, working closely with SMPTE, in 2020, and continues to lead the way in this rapidly evolving area, with the development of about ten standards, including the SMPTE ST 2138 (Catena) suite, the industry’s first open standard open source control protocol. Chris has held a variety of leadership positions in the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), including Standards Director, Western US Governor, Chair of the Rocky Mountain Section, Chair of multiple Technology Committees. He is a SMPTE Fellow and recipient of SMPTE’s prestigious 2008 Citation. In addition, Chris serves as Executive Director of the Open Services Alliance (OSA), a global industry organization focused on interoperability among microservice oriented media systems, now a part of SMPTE’s Rapid Industry Solutions. The OSA produced the media industry’s first microservices standards and continues to lead the way in this rapidly evolving area. Chris has held a variety of leadership positions in the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), including Standards Director, Western US Governor, Local Section Chair, and has sat on multiple technology committees. He is a SMPTE Fellow and recipient of SMPTE’s prestigious 2008 Citation. He currently is a manager of the SMPTE Rocky Mountain Section and serves on the IABM Board.

1:30pm - 2:00pm - UNIFIED - 30 Min Seminars

1 October 8, 2026

Catena, Agentic AI and MXL: A Powerful Combination

Controlling devices using a common, standardized open-source solutions is great. SMPTE recently made the brand new ST 2138 (Catena) suite of five documents available as Public Committee Drafts, with all kinds of associated goodies on their Github repo. This is all available for free, for implementers to try out. What if we could take this all a step further, and use an Agentic AI approach to controlling any device that talks SMPTE ST 2138? Today, this is possible. Among many other cool features you get for implementing 2138, there is the ability to describe what the devices are, and how they can be controlled…in plain English. In fact, you can do this in virtually any language, and receive responses in the language of your choice. This allows AI Agents to do everything that Catena does, like voice control for any 2138-enabled device in your facility, regardless of platform, vendor, or type of device. Imagine the possibilities once you add compatibility with one of the most exciting trends in media exchange in years: MXL, part of the DMF initiative. Chris will discuss why this matters and show how it all works together.