Axon To Demo Live IP Interoperability At IBC

With IP now a reality, there are still challenges to overcome, such as fast and seamless switching, network management and IP control and monitoring. At IBC2017, Axon Digital Design will demonstrate interoperable IP workflows to address these hurdles.

On the company's stand (10.A21), three Arista IP switches (7050SX2-128 and 2x 7050SX-72Q) will provide the IP backbone for the live demonstration. One of the switches serves as the spine; the other two are leaves, enabling leaf/leaf configurations as well as leaf/spine/leaf setups. Through SDNsquare's GRID software, Axon will demonstrate fast seamless IP video switching as well as salvo switching with guaranteed quality of service. The Arista spine-leaf IP network is managed by SDNsquare GRID and scaled up to more than 80 HD video sources.

Visitors to Axon's booth will also see a live hybrid Ethernet-SDI demo. SDI sources will be converted to IP through Axon's Synapse NIO440 module, an 8-channel bi-directional Ethernet/SDI bridge, from 3G/HD-SDI to uncompressed Ethernet video transport with de-centralized routing or via Embrionix' SFP SDI to IP gateways. Hooked up to the IP infrastructure is a Utah Scientific Series 2 hybrid router which generates IP streams and routes streams into a sonoVTS hd2Line Pro Series FHD IP-display.

Part of this hybrid IP environment is an Axon SynView IP multiviewer which receives the IP streams from the Arista backbone. The SynView SDI multiviewer is also hooked up and it receives its SDI input from an NIO440 which converts the IP stream into SDI. The whole system gets its timing from a Meinberg LANTIME M1000 through the Precision Timing Protocol (PTP). PTP allows precise synchronization in networks like e.g. Ethernet. By using hardware generated time stamps in the data packets an accuracy within the nanosecond range can be achieved.

At the core of its IBC IP interoperability demonstration, Axon's Cerebrum is used to enable the NMOS IS-04 / 05 Discovery, Registration and control protocols required to control a distributed IP routing system within Cerebrum. Future options in Cerebrum will enable easy configuration and setup, management and control of the network switches used in the system, provide Network Advanced Monitoring of the network switch performance and enable the automatic configuration of known IP devices and switch infrastructure.

Jan Eveleens, CEO, Axon, said: "This year Axon is celebrating 30 years of service to the broadcast industry. Our continued success is based on our clear focus on clients' challenges and delivering solutions they can rely upon. As IP becomes a reality, Axon's excellence in broadcast infrastructure combined with solid IT expertise and collaboration with key partners will help those moving to IP overcome the technical issues that emerge in multi-vendor environments as well as pragmatically address the inevitable operational and cultural hurdles. We're excited to be able to demonstrate this at IBC and help visitors navigate their chosen path."

www.axon.tv

(JP/MH)