In his presentation, 5G-MAG Chair Frédéric Gabin addressed the usual lag between finishing a media technology standard and actually deploying it. Open-source development can turn a specification into a working prototype, but in practice it tends to only start once the spec is already final — leading different companies to duplicate the same prototyping work, testing that starts too late, and plugfests that end up as debugging sessions rather than real interoperability checks.

To close that gap, Gabin presented 5G-MAG's Media Connectivity Software Accelerator: an open-source development programme built to keep a continuous feedback loop running between drafting standards and shipping production-ready code, delivering open reference tools, testbeds and prototype applications for media and connectivity technologies along the way. Planning open-source projects alongside the standard itself, bringing developers in early, and building end-to-end demos all help the industry catch bugs while they're still cheap to fix — and get to market faster.

The workshop was also a chance to show some of what the programme has already delivered, with the Conversational Avatar Real-Time Communications project — already at its first MVP — as the highlight.

More information on the Media Connectivity Software Accelerator is available at developer.5g-mag.com.

The event marks an important milestone: with 3GPP Release 19 now frozen, attention is shifting from standardisation to implementation and deployment, and interoperability across multi-vendor set-ups is a key part of that path — confidence that products from different manufacturers actually work together in real deployments doesn't come for free.

Over the three days, participating teams paired core networks and transmitters from different suppliers and worked through a shared test plan. Equipment vendors ENENSYS, Nakolos, Rohde & Schwarz and TRedess contributed cores and transmitters, while receiver platforms, middleware and application tools from across the ecosystem completed the end-to-end chain. The collaborative, hands-on format let engineering teams debug together in the room and compare notes against the specifications as they went.

Testing spanned the full delivery chain: core-to-transmitter interfaces, the radio layer across 3GPP Releases 14 to 19, and application-layer services including media streaming and public warning. A particular focus was on the newer functionality introduced in Releases 16 to 19 — time and frequency interleaving, CAS muting, CAS enhancements, and the additional subcarrier spacings and bands — since testing these more recently specified features in live, multi-vendor set-ups gives especially valuable early feedback, both to the engineers implementing them and to the standards community refining them.

Many multi-vendor combinations were brought up successfully and run end to end, demonstrating that cross-vendor 5G Broadcast is achievable today and providing practical feedback to implementers and the standards community alike.

5G-MAG thanks all the teams who took part, and the sponsors whose support made the event possible, including Nakolos and Qualcomm. The full report is available to members on the members' portal.

Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, phine.tech builds tools that make 5G more approachable for industrial and developer use cases, aiming to close the gap between 5G vendors and the industries that need them. Its flagship product, the Virtual 5G Lab (V5GL), replaces lengthy hardware setup with a cloud-based, developer-friendly environment that's ready in seconds — supporting use cases from robotics and manufacturing to research, with the same approach already extending toward 6G.

Welcome on board! Find out more about the 5G-MAG Reference Tools and how to get involved at developer.5g-mag.com.

Rounding out the new leadership team are Vice-Chairs Robin Ribback (Swiss TXT/SRG SSR) and Victor Kueh (Huawei), who will support Gabin in steering the association's strategic goals.

Gabin takes on the role at a pivotal moment for media connectivity, as connected devices, software-defined architectures and high-speed networks move to the centre of media creation, delivery and consumption. Under his leadership, 5G-MAG will keep focusing on bridging technical specifications and real-world deployment through open standards and open-source software.

"I am honored by the trust placed in me by the 5G-MAG Steering Group. Working with the Vice-Chairs, WG leaders, and the community, my focus will be on strengthening industry collaboration. My goal is to keep the association strong, open, and practical, helping the industry turn relevant innovation into deployable, interoperable solutions," said Gabin.

Gabin brings more than 25 years of industry experience, having held senior positions at Ericsson, NEC Technologies and Nortel Networks. He chaired 3GPP SA WG4 (Codecs & Multimedia) from 2016 to 2025, contributing to the development of 4G/5G streaming and multimedia interoperability, and received a Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award in 2022 for his work on Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH).

David Vargas (BBC) will lead the WG Technology and Standards, coordinating efforts to shape and harmonize standards that enable interoperable Connected Media services and applications, ensuring consistent, industry-driven contributions toward requirements and actively integrating developer feedback into the evolution of future specifications.

Daniel Silhavy (Fraunhofer FOKUS) takes the helm of WG Development and Ecosystem-drive, fostering collaboration in open-source software development, translating specifications into tangible software enablers for services and applications, and pushing technology out of the lab into trials, MVPs, and prototypes.

Victor Kueh (Huawei) will chair the WG Promotion and Communication, focusing on the active promotion of standards and open-source software for Connected Media Experiences and managing the outreach and engagement of 5G-MAG with the global community, including synergies with 3GPP, MPEG and relevant technology-making organizations.

Internet-based Media Delivery, Streaming, 5G Broadcast, Real-Time Media Communications, Volumetric Video, Extended Reality (XR), Non-Public Networks, Network Capability Exposure and APIs, Non-Terrestrial Networks -- these are among the current activities of 5G-MAG.

These appointments mark an exciting step forward as 5G-MAG continues to shape the future of media connectivity.

The Steering Group sets the strategic direction of 5G-MAG and oversees the association's activities across standards, open-source development and industry outreach. The full composition of the new Steering Group, along with how it fits into 5G-MAG's wider governance, is available on the Structure page.

5G-MAG is a not-for-profit association fostering collaboration to shape the future of connected media experiences, bridging standards and open-source implementation so that services, applications and networks stay interoperable and future-proof.