SDVoE: It's Time for a Standard

By Maurice Nagle
Web Editor

As a tool for industries across the board video is earning its place at the table. From education and religion, to hospitality, government and security; video is opening opportunities abound. As we are in the midst of a digital transformation, the AV industry’s transition to IP-based solutions being a key piece, allows for new and innovative architectures and end user experiences utilizing multi-gigabit Ethernet.  However, with this opportunity, comes a cornucopia of confusion in terms of setting a standard for AV over Ethernet.

It is for this reason the SDVoE Alliance was created. The six founding members – AptoVision, Aquantia, Christie Digital, NETGEAR, Sony and ZeeVee – are promoting a standardized software-defined video over Ethernet (SDVoE) platform for interoperable AV-over IP applications. The platform is a vital component to reaching the alliance’s end goals of enabling more pocket-friendly architectures utilizing Ethernet switches, improve reliability and versatility, increased flexibility to support application performance needs, create an ecosystem of partners and assist in true AV/IT convergence.

“For years we have lived with the idea that ‘AV/IT convergence is coming’,” explained Justin Kennington, president of the SDVoE Alliance. “The SDVoE Alliance and its technology finally provide the platform that is necessary to enable it. Using 10 Gb Ethernet hardware to move video with flawless quality and zero latency is only the beginning. The creation of a software platform enables the development of whole new classes of applications not yet conceived. True convergence is finally here.”

The Alliance invites more to join its already well-rounded ecosystem. With founding members representing AV endpoints, switches and storage, and chipset experts; the group already touts a portfolio of more than 35 products available as well as a number of implementations across a wide spectrum of verticals.

Amir Bar-Niv, VP of marketing, Aquantia explained “10 Gigabit Ethernet over twisted-pair copper cabling, 10GBASE-T, is now a mature and rapidly growing technology in IT environments. Its bandwidth, cost and ease-of-use make it the ideal solution for the transport of uncompressed UHD video in pro AV applications targeted by the SDVoE Alliance. As the leading company in the 10GBASE-T market, we are excited to be part of this new alliance and look forward to promote the deployment of the technology in the market.”

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2017 will serve as the stage for the SDVoE’s official public unveiling, as a series of demonstrations will take place. In specific, a full stack solution for AV over IP, zero-latency 4K60 over standard Ethernet, a complete application development platform, AV processing and 4K60 with HDR (News - Alert) will highlight the capabilities of the Alliance’s Architecture.

Multi-gigabit Ethernet powers more than many realize, and in today’s digital era delivering video should be high on the priority list. And, as the transition from AV to IP-based video continues Multi-gigabit Ethernet will be more important than ever.