TAKING IT TO THE EDGE A cleverer approach would be to shrink the SDI router, using compact units close to where signals need to be ingested or output. The entire fabric of IP-connected ‘routerlets’ acts as one giant router, with all the flexibility you can dream of. This once again smacks of endless configuration sessions, doesn’t it? Because migrating to IP is like giving birth, complete with the labour pain associated with delivering a baby that requires you to adapt – at least in part – to their way of seeing the world. But with .edge, Lawo has delivered an epoch-making alternative. Designed as an instant drop-in SDI router replacement, with up to 192 SDI inputs and outputs per 2RU unit, it can be networked at a moment’s notice, stationed close to the sources and destinations it serves – anywhere in the world – for remote, distributed and cloud production scenarios. With instant savings in rackspace, weight and power consumption. Users can ‘rent’ input and output capacity, paying only for the connectors they actually need in a given situation, from a combination of 16 SDI inputs and outputs up to several thousands.
FABRIC FOR YOUR FUTURE With .edge, operators and manufacturers no longer need to spend an undue amount of time finding IP equivalents for their trusted SDI tools. Once connected to a rear I/O plate of a .edge frame anywhere in the world, they become part of the global IP stream community. While the 2RU form factor stays the same, users are free to insert only one processing blade and rear I/O plate, and only use a fraction of the 48 connectors the rear plate provides – at a lower price than someone needing all connectors. Three more processing blades and rear I/O plates can be added. A practically endless number of .edge devices can be networked in a highly distributed fashion, while still being managed via a graphic UI that only reveals the details users require. Replacing a traditional SDI router with a .edge fabric is made easy, thanks to bundles that include all the licences and hardware operators need for drop-in router replacement. In line with your requirements, .edge can grow (and shrink). This is good news for your existing pool of SDI-based ingest devices. Behind the scenes, all is handled on the IP plane, complete with parameter-tweaking and secure admission routines. Thanks to its stunning hardware- and software-driven flexibility, this solution provides ‘hyper-density as a service,’ based on an OPEX scheme. With flexible sync features that will save you time and budget, .edge is the industry’s first piece of software- licensable infrastructure ever. Welcome to the bright side of life.
Thanks to its tight integration with HOME – Lawo’s intuitive management platform for IP-based media infrastructures – discovering and registering the various .edge frames becomes a piece of cake. HOME allows you to configure your set-up with unprecedented ease and speed. As far as routing is concerned, nothing changes for the user. Routings can be established either in a macro- like fashion (all video, audio and metadata streams belonging to a given SDI connector), or on an expert level (just one audio stream, for example) –without spending long hours in front of a computer screen. A number of industry-firsts come with .edge, like a CALL HOME button that flashes a banner on the HOME screen to help system operators find the right SDI connector to route. It also includes ‘3G UHD Gearboxing’ that combines quad-link 3G signals into a transparent single-raster stream, lowering the load on multicast addressing in the network. This works along with ‘UHD Link Rotate,’ which assists operators of quad-link 3G-SDI cameras, replay devices and switchers, by reshuffling the legs of a four-wire 3G-SDI link whose cables might have been connected in the wrong order.
WHAT YOU NEED The .edge adds flexibility to SDI workflows for operators
OPERATORS NO LONGER NEED TO SPEND AN UNDUE AMOUNT OF TIME FINDING IP EQUIVALENTS FOR THEIR TRUSTED SDI TOOLS
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