Imagine Communications is adding all-new capability and capacity to its Selenio Network Processor (SNP). At IBC2023, the company is introducing SNP-XL, which extends the SNP platform’s range of capabilities with a new double-density gateway personality and adds support for more SDI-intensive integration patterns.

SNP-XL supports all of the current SNP personalities, including UHD and HDR conversion, multiviewers, master control and JPEG XS; however, when the personalities are used in SNP-XL, customers see an increase in flexibility for SDI workflows, enabling SDI in+out, SDI in+out+IP out, and quad-link SDI-to-SDI processing for UHD use cases. In addition, an SNP-XL fully loaded with the new double-density gateway personality delivers twice the gateway capacity within the same unit footprint.

“The ability to scale and adopt new formats has made IP an appealing design pattern, but everybody will transition at a pace that’s driven by their own economics,” said John Mailhot, CTO of infrastructure, Imagine Communications. “SNP-XL recognises the longevity and criticality of SDI even during the 2110/IP transition, offering a high-density synchronising gateway that enables customers to migrate to IP at a pace that aligns with their overall system strategy.”

Delivering all the functionality of the SNP platform, SNP-XL adds further flexibility by fully supporting HD, 3G and 12G-SDI in and out in all combinations. This enables universal conversion at the front of a hybrid facility, sending the processed ingress signals out into the legacy SDI plant and simultaneously into the IP/2110 environment. When operating with the new double-density gateway personality, the SNP-XL can support 64 gateway channels of 1080p (32 in each direction) or 16 gateway channels of UHD (eight in each direction) — both directions fully synchronised and delivered within the same 100G network footprint.