In Broadcast - June 2016 - 37


37

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 6 - Issue 6 | June 2016

InMedia

KVM 2016 - A Very Different Proposition
of the main areas where demand
is coming from in the industry.
First, in production and post where
there is a desire to get the noise and
the heat of computer systems out of
the creative areas and look after them
centrally, as well as creating greater
workflow flexibility via the means of
matrix routing.
Secondly,
acknowledging
the
benefits of KVM from the ground up
allows workflow designers to come up
with wholly new types of installation
and design physical spaces that work
in a far more flexible manner, such as
in the confined space of an OB truck.
NAB Activity
Unsurprisingly, there was a fair
amount of activity in the field out in
Vegas at NAB 2016.
Adder launched its AdderLink C-USB
LAN network extender to deliver
high-speed USB2.0 extension at 480
megabits per second, making it a
good fit for file ingest from cameras
or other USB devices, while also
adding a professional grade VGA to
DVI converter to its range, ensuring
analogue kit doesn't get left
behind.
Avocent's
new
LV5000 provides
a
full-function
connection
that
enables up to six
USB 2.0 devices,
including
mice,
keyboards,
graphics
tablets,
jog
shuttles,
joysticks, and 3D explorers,
while also supporting up to
3840x2160 (single monitor) video or
1920x1200 dual display.
While not strictly speaking KVM,
Norwegian fibre specialist Barnfind
had a host of new products on offer,
expanding its BarnMini range of
device connections and introducing its
new HiLo SFP system for 36-Channel
CWDM. Black Box meanwhile, had
a new 4K extender on display and
the development team from newly
acquired Irish startup Cloudium
Systems in tow.
One year after setting up its
dedicated North American office, G&D
was celebrating several high-profile
completed projects for customers
such as the Golf Channel, as well as
showcasing its new DP1.2-VisionXG
for transparent KVM transmission
up to 4K@60 Hz. And Thinklogical
released its new uncompressed TLX

cont'd...

Thinklogical's new TLX Catx range supports standard CATx copper network cabling and fibre

CATx product line, including video and
KVM extenders and a range of matrix
switches from 12 to 640 ports.
The company made much of price
comparison with IP-based KVM and
video signal management solutions
from other vendors, and somewhat
inevitably
given
the
industry
preoccupation with all things IP, the
tech is having its impact on the KVM
field too. Jamie Shepperd,
Group
Marketing
Manager
at

Adder
Technology,
is one that states
that IP-based KVM has
lifted the benchmark in terms of
accessibility and integration.
"Your IP network is likely to exceed
the reach compared to that of a
traditional KVM system, meaning
you can have the option of extending
the function and benefit of your
IP-based KVM system further
across your facility or local
area," he says. "IP-based KVM
has other benefits too, including
pixel perfect image quality,
zero latency, redundancy, as
well as accessing disparate
systems. IP helps enable the
Internet of Things and will
open up many commercial
opportunities and business
solutions. Business solutions
could
include
information
gathering in the broadest sense.

This could include actively monitoring
hardware use and location, as well as
facilitating customer engagement and
feedback."
There are however complexities to
this. As G&D's Bauer points out it is
rather easy to conflate KVM-over-IP
and IP workflows despite the fact that
there is no direct relationship between
the two of them.
"The latter is about the actual
broadcast business and the
way assets are handled and
exchanged, whilst KVMover-IP just describes
how the operating
signals in between
c o m p u t e r
and user are
exchanged,"
he
explains.
"There's
even
some danger in that,
Black Box's as when you misuse
latest 4k extenders your
productive
network for further transmission
of
keyboard-video-mouse-signals
from a central server room to all the
connected workplaces, it may cause
bandwidth limitations. So the best way
is to keep productive network strictly
separated from the operations side
- though that end again may use IP
structures or likewise dedicated signal
transmission then.

KVM in the Future
The immediate challenge for the
KVM manufacturers lies in being
able to handle the challenge in the
immediate future of 4K, and perhaps
in the not so distant one, of 8K. For
4K there are solutions already on
the market, such as IHSE's Draco
ultra DisplayPort extender that was
such a hit at NAB which incorporates
compression algorithms developed in
partnership with Fraunhofer IIS - the
Lightweight Image (Lici) codec - and
delivers visually lossless video at 4K,
4:4:4, 60Hz.
But while the frontiers are pointing
towards the future and increased
resolution, there is also the issue of
backwards compatibility on the one
hand, and acknowledging that big
Capex-driven projects are perhaps
less common than they used to
be. "We must keep our systems
compatible," says Bauer. "We feel
a big responsibility that we have to
deliver future-proof systems. This not
only means that future signals have to
be supported, but also that we give the
best possible ROI to our customers.
For example, in a way that even older
systems can be fully integrated into
recent matrix installations. This not
only ensures a longer life-time but also
enables [them] to keep installations
running untouched."

IHSE's new Draco ultra
DisplayPort utilises Fraunhofer IIS's Lici codec
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.thinklogical.com/tlx-video-kvm-extension/tlx-video-extenders https://www.blackbox.com/en-us/solutions/technology-solutions/4k http://www.ihse.com/products/digital-kvm-extenders/draco-ultra-displayport.html
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