Lawo has recently unveiled its .edge IP video infrastructure platform at NAB Show in Las Vegas. .edge’s compact 2RU housing accommodates up to four 25/100 GbE .edge processing blades and rear I/O plates with best-in-class signal conversion density.

Each rear I/O blade provides 48 HD-BNC connectors for SD/HD/3G/UHD SDI interfacing, resulting in 192 SDI/IP conversions per 2RU. .edge provides support for the SMPTE ST2110 suite of standards with ST2022-7 redundancy built in, providing not only advanced essence-based handling but also ensuring seamless protection switching of audio, video and ancillary data streams in both local and wide-area network operations.

.edge’s design is unique. The solution does not have an audio TDM bus, nor a video matrix in the middle of its architecture. Video is switched on the IP packet level, in one of two ways: “make before break” (MBB) and “break before make” (BBM). Audio signals are switched in MBB mode using a V-fade curve for clean and quiet transitions. .edge’s local loop support allows users to route local inputs to local outputs while the packet replication capability allows a packet received once can be used many times without additional stream management or logic operations: packets in the packet buffer are available to any SDI output.

.edge can deliver OPEX flexibility for a hardware-based tool. Each .edge blade can be used in a variety of scenarios by unlocking the required feature sets, via a flexible licensing system. In addition to its base license for use of 16 BNC connectors, there are options to unlock additional I/O up to its full 48 BNCs. Additional feature licenses are available for Input Frame Synchronizers, 100GbE port activation and 3G UHD Gearboxing including Lawo’s “UHD Link Rotate” feature.

For drop-in SDI router replacement, all-in .edge bundles are available for 288 x 288, 576 x 576 and 1152 x 1152 matrix capacities, complete with customers’ choice of network switches and a fully-clustered HOME license. To broadcast control systems, the .edge/HOME bundle behaves like a traditional SDI router.

“With .edge you immediately benefit from an easy one-step migration to IP by saving rack space, weight and power consumption,” says Andreas Hilmer, Lawo’s Chief Marketing Officer. “After migrating to an .edge/HOME router replacement solution, you can do more: you then have an SDI router that can scale according to your needs. If your requirements grow you can just connect more .edge I/Os to your network switch. Since your core routing system is now based on IP, your router doesn’t have to stand like a monolith in one place. It can be distributed across the facility. Put I/Os where they are needed and save significant cabling costs. Users can distribute their .edge routing infrastructure across multiple facilities, across the country or even across continents.”