Essential Install | Smart Thinking: SDVoE Alliance
The Rise Of
The SDVoE Alliance
One of the big stories to come out of this year’s ISE was the
progress made by a new industry body, the SDVoE Alliance.
Set up to promote the advantages of Ethernet and IP networks
for video transport without compromise and latency, the group
is looking to set a performance standard for AV over IP.
Aquantia offers its
chip sets as part
of the future of
AV distribution
Justin Kennington,
president, SDVoE
Alliance, says a no
compromise future is
possible
Justin Kennington, president, SDVoE Alliance, explains:
“The Software Defi ned Video over Ethernet Alliance
was formed around two central principles. It is now
possible to take advantage of Ethernet and IP networks
for video transport without the compromises to quality
and latency that used be required. For this reason, the
industry needs a performance standard for AV over IP.
Also, because the network lets us decouple application
from the infrastructure, the industry now needs a
platform for creating software that takes advantage
of this fl exibility with new approaches to applications,
as well as entirely new applications not previously
conceivable. The Alliance seeks to address both needs
by defi ning performance standards and offering a
development platform for AV applications.”
So far the Alliance includes AptoVision, Aquantia,
Christie Digital, NETGEAR, Sony, ZeeVee as founding
members. Contributing members are DVI Gear,
Grandbeing and IDK. Arista, Aurora Multimedia, Cleerline,
HDCVT, Techlogix, and Xilinx are adopting members.
So what benefi ts and advances is the group looking
to deliver? Justin explains: “Installers will benefi t from
our approach to make AV over IP devices interoperable
and to guarantee a performance standard without the
compromises to image quality traditionally associated
with AV over IP. Further, training is a central goal of the
alliance. There is a knowledge gap in our industry that
must be closed before AV installers and designers can
fully realise the gains that are possible with AV over IP.
The alliance’s goal is to close that gap.”
As one of the founding members and a technology
company that EI has followed the development
of closely, AptoVision, has a big part to play
in the group.
The company offers its BlueRiver
technology, designed to allow installers
and OEMs to replace proprietary
AV matrix switches with off-the-shelf
Ethernet networks that deliver better
price/performance, fl exibility and
scalability. BlueRiver technology
drives much of the uncompressed
4K streaming manufacturers are now
able to offer via its BlueRiver NT+
Series of chipsets.
Kamran Ahmed, CEO and co-
founder, AptoVision, sates:
“AptoVision’s BlueRiver NT+
chipset and BlueRiver
API underlie SDVoE
10th-11th May 2017, Sandown Park, Surrey. Sponsored by
technology, but that’s only one part of a total solution. The
pro AV community needs confi dence in the total system
and the SDVoE Alliance members bring all the necessary
expertise and products together, from chipsets
(AptoVision, Aquantia, Xilinx), switches and
storage (NETGEAR) to AV end points (Christie
Digital, Sony, ZeeVee, DVIGear, Grandbeing,
IDK, Arista, Aurora HDCVT and Techlogix).”
Kamran argues: “The main technical
advantages of SDVoE is that it addresses
the full 7-layer OSI stack. It offers
the simplicity of a complete top-to-
bottom solution, fully encompassing
infrastructure, transport, processing
and a simple control layer, while
delivering zero-latency, uncompromised
video over off-the-shelf Ethernet
switches. It ensures substantial cost
savings and greater system
fl exibility and scalability
over traditional
approaches.”
April 2017 | 53