91快活林

If there鈥檚 anything this industry loves, it鈥檚 abbreviations and acronyms. From the obvious to the obscure, there鈥檚 an endless array of initialisms describing everything from signal standards to chassis height. To an outsider, conversations among the initiated might sound like a foreign language except for the occasional sprinkling of 鈥渞eal鈥� words 鈥� 鈥淏oot up in HD-SRC mode, then use an FS/FC to lock the incoming SDI without stripping the ANC data鈥︹�� Vraiment?

To be sure, we do sound cool when we rattle off those incomprehensible all-caps names 鈥� after all, doesn鈥檛 鈥淛AY-san鈥� sound so much hipper than 鈥淛avaScript Object Notation?鈥� (Yes, I did have to look it up鈥�I mean, Google it鈥�) But here鈥檚 one you may not have heard: SDPE. And before your thumbs do the walking, I鈥檒l tell you that SDPE stands for 鈥淪oftware-Defined Production Engine.鈥� Thirty-two letters, nine syllables; all in all, quite a mouthful. And frankly, 鈥淪DPE鈥� probably gives you about as much information as 鈥淪oftware-Defined Production Engine鈥� anyway.

Software-Defined Production Engine Explained

So, what is an 鈥淪DPE鈥� and what is it used for? The answer is pretty simple: It鈥檚 a piece of hardware whose function is defined by the software that is loaded and running.

But wait, that doesn鈥檛 tell us much at all! And besides, isn鈥檛 every device these days 鈥渄efined鈥� by the software it runs? After all, your laptop or mobile device wouldn鈥檛 be much good without the operating system and applications that it uses, so aren鈥檛 all devices 鈥渟oftware-defined?鈥�

That鈥檚 true enough, but in the case of the Ross Software-Defined Production Engine, we鈥檙e talking about something much more interesting and exciting. But before jumping into that, let鈥檚 take a step back to ancient times; specifically, AD 2015.

It was April of that year when Ross introduced the Carbonite Black 2RU (initialism alert!) production switcher chassis. It featured a larger I/O matrix (another IA!), larger M/E count (and another!) and was paired with the beautiful new Carbonite Black series of control panels. But even as Carbonite Black was beginning to ship, the development team was asking a question: Was it possible to create an entirely different product using the Carbonite Black chassis by simply writing new software code? This idea became known internally as the 鈥淪oftware-Defined Production Engine,鈥� but because we love initials as much as the next person, it was quickly shortened to SDPE.

In 2016, Ross introduced UltrachromeHR, a standalone chroma-key engine that could provide up to four high-quality keys each with additional layers and transitions. It was followed by Mosaic, a multi-channel image processing engine specially designed to help manage signals to large-scale displays such as LED walls. Both products had one thing in common: each used a standard Carbonite Black chassis. In other words, the exact same hardware was used to create three different products, each with its own unique capabilities. That was the start鈥�

Introducing Ultrix Acuity

Fast-forward to early 2021 and the introduction of Ultrix Acuity, a powerful merger of two flagship Ross products based on the next step in the evolution of SDPE. Ultrix Acuity is, essentially, a standard Ultrix router frame that, in addition to input/output cards, is also fitted with specially designed SDPE switcher blades to produce a completely unique hybrid product. But that鈥檚 just the beginning…

The SDPE blade gives us a platform to develop completely new products with different features and capabilities. And because they share the same base hardware, a whole new world of possibilities opens up as well.

I鈥檇 love to give you a peek behind the curtain to show you what鈥檚 next for that same SDPE blade, but that would just spoil all the fun. But I can tell you that the roadmap for the SDPE blade is extensive and we鈥檙e going to have lots more to talk about in the coming weeks and months. So, as the saying goes, 鈥渟tay tuned鈥�. I can鈥檛 guarantee any new initialisms, but I can promise we鈥檒l have more exciting news.

Learn More

For more information on Ultrix Acuity, visit our product page.