SDVoE Alliance will showcase its first HDMI cable incorporated with an Ethernet switch. HDMI input and output modules that plug directly into a NETGEAR M4300-96X 10G Modular Managed Switch eliminate the need for standalone encoders and decoders to support in-rack video sources and destinations, simplifying design and installation and reducing overall system cost.

SDVoE Alliance president Justin Kennington says that SDVoE is making a more efficient matrix by adding in the Ethernet switch.

“The last advantage for the traditional matrix switch was its ability to support native HDMI for in-rack sources. This new class of product, leveraging NETGEAR’s unique modular Ethernet switch, eliminates any benefit to the old matrix switch. And now let’s talk about density – 48 to 96 ports, with any mix of inputs and outputs in 2RU. Your inflexible 32×32 matrix is at least five times that size,” he says

NETGEAR has created the SDVoE-ready M4300-96X Modular Managed Switch that is preconfigured for true AV and multicast Zero Touch network configuration. Users simply select the combination of HDMI, copper, PoE+ and fibre M4300-96X port expansion cards that fit requirements, insert the cards, connect SDVoE encoders and decoders, and power on the switch. SDVoE systems with symmetric input-output configurations are supported such as 48×48, but asymmetric solutions such as 24×72 are just as easily accommodated.

SDVoE stands for ‘Software Defined Video over Ethernet’. The SDVoE Alliance is a non-profit consortium of technology providers collaborating to standardise the adoption of Ethernet to transport AV signals in professional AV environments, and to create an ecosystem around SDVoE technology allowing software to define AV applications.

The SDVoE Alliance founding members are Aquantia, Christie Digital, NETGEAR, Semtech, Sony and ZeeVee.