Vectorworks, Inc. along with founders MA Lighting and Robe lighting have transitioned the General Device Type Format (GDTF) website to VPLT—the German Entertainment Technology Association. This migration will ensure a compliant platform for the exchange and future development of GDTF, which offers manufacturers and users a better way of planning and controlling complex productions from design to implementation for an event.

GDTF was conceived to create a unified definition for the exchange of data for the operation of intelligent luminaires. The unified standard provides a constituent and dependable way to adapt new fixtures and devices in the lighting industry. GDTF was previously recognized by DIN SPEC 15800 as an open standard for the entertainment industry worldwide.

“Technological developments are part of everyday life in our industry and ensure even better opportunities to deliver creative solutions that are precisely tailored to diverse productions of the highest quality,” said Randell Greenlee, director of commerce and international affairs at VPLT. “With the publication of DIN SPEC 15800, a new and important standard for the event industry has now been created. We hope for the widest possible dissemination of the standard within the industry thanks to the companies involved—Vectorworks, MA Lighting and Robe lighting—who have strived right from the start for an ‘open’ standard.”

VPLT is the German Entertainment Technology Association, representing around 800 members from the service, personnel, trade, and manufacturer sectors of the event industry. The association is actively involved in all of the industry standards and standardization processes of DIN and is represented in the European standardization committee (CEN / TC 433 – Entertainment Technology). The association is also involved in standardization in the ESTA Technical Standards Program (ANSI) in the USA.

“On behalf of the three founding companies, we are all more than pleased to move the GDTF website under the roof of the VPLT, an independent association,” said Gerhard Krude, managing director of MA Lighting Technology. “This step is actually underlining what was always the intention of the original website, which is a barrier-free entity for serving the entire lighting industry community of end users, as well as manufacturers regardless of products, brands and boundaries.”

Learn more about GDTF, here.