Hard War

How long has it been since you last turned on the TV? At least, It's been quite a while for me. The image above holds a special significance for a lot of people; it reminds me of the excitement I used to feel just minutes before a TV show started when I was a child.

In the age dominated by analog signals, television media emerged as a dominant force, towering over other forms of media. However, with the advent of AVoverIP technology, the landscape is shifting. New media formats like streaming content and user-generated material are steadily gaining traction, chipping away at the market share once held by broadcast television. In response, professionals in the broadcast industry are recognizing the importance of embracing IP-based technologies.

The transition to IP in the broadcast television ecosystem encompasses two key areas: the production and broadcast systems of television stations and the transmission systems of network companies. In today's context, when we discuss the IP transition, it primarily pertains to the IP transformation of network transmission systems. This aspect has matured significantly over the past decade, thanks to the efforts of telecommunications companies in developing IPTV systems. However, the widespread use of IP in the production and broadcast systems of television stations, particularly in the realm of ultra-high definition, is still a work in progress.

To be precise, IP technology isn't entirely novel in the broadcast television industry. Its application began in the late 20th century, with technologies like CobraNet for real-time network audio transmission, IP-based program recording and storage, and comprehensive network solutions all leveraging IP. However, due to the distinct independence and closed nature of broadcast television, these earlier IP applications in these technology platforms were highly specialized.

Presently, the IP transition in broadcast television can be segmented into several stages. The first stage involves encapsulating SDI baseband signals into IP. The second stage deals with the fundamental flow of video, audio, and auxiliary data. The third stage centers on managing network resources, while the fourth stage entails the cloudification of devices. At the heart of these four stages is the selection of appropriate protocols to encapsulate audio, video, and auxiliary streams using IP.

Several standards have been introduced, including AVB, SMPTE 2022, and SMPTE 2110. AVB faced limited adoption due to its requirement for specialized, time-sensitive switches. SMPTE 2022 had its drawbacks, as it bundled audio, video, and auxiliary streams together, making it less suitable for separating audio and video signals during production and necessitating extensive audio encoding and decoding during processing. At present, leading broadcast equipment manufacturers have reached a consensus, with SMPTE 2110 emerging as the prevailing IP standard in use today.

Because the ST2110 protocol encompasses multiple sub-protocols and boasts a relatively intricate technical architecture, only a select few manufacturers worldwide have successfully mastered its core implementation technology. Notably, Matrox and Mellanox (now under Nvidia's umbrella) stand out as leaders in this regard, delivering top-tier product performance. Nevertheless, their approaches to product development roadmap diverge significantly. We will explore further in this article.

Matrox: The Perpetual Former Titleholder

While Matrox may not ring a bell for many today, taking a stroll back through the last century unveils its illustrious past. During a substantial portion of that era, Matrox graphics cards stood as unrivaled champions in 2D display performance, earning the coveted title of the gold standard by ZD Davis' PC graphics video testing software. Matrox's performance consistently garnered a perfect 100 rating, while competitors' graphics cards could only muster a meager score in the same tests.

Following the ascent of emerging players such as Nvidia and AMD, Matrox pivoted its attention toward the niche market for ProAV and broadcasting demands. Embracing ST2110 wasn't just a daring decision for Matrox; it was also an essential step in shaping its future path.

Let's shift our focus to the year 2018, which proved to be a pivotal year for the ST2110 standard. Matrox introduced a game-changing product, the X.mio5 series, featuring a deployable 2110 Network Interface Controller (NIC) card. Matrox's prominent position in the broadcast industry, coupled with the outstanding quality of their product, led to a domino effect, with major upstream and downstream manufacturers following suit. In that same year, thanks to the introduction of the Matrox NIC card, the missing piece of the puzzle， the ST2110 standard completed its journey from theory to tangible productization.

While the future looks quite promising, the period of prosperity is expected to be short-lived.

Nvidia: Unintentional Disruptor

Nvidia has never regarded Matrox as a contender, yet the aftermath of Nvidia's acquisition in 2019 has proven to be a substantial setback for Matrox.

“Future datacenters of all kinds will be built like high performance computers,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a phone briefing after Nvidia revealed scooping up the networking company Mellanox for $6.9 billion. That's an excellent justification for acquiring one of the foremost HPC interconnect companies globally. Naturally, there are additional motives, such as the strategic goal of keep-Intel-away-from-Mellanox. However, the notion of contending with Matrox is not even a visionary consideration.

Nvidia sees itself as a different style of company from other vertically integrated vendors. “We create the entire architecture, but we componentize it in such a way that we can partner with the entire IT ecosystem. We componentize our technology by thinking about scalability from one GPU to thousands of GPUs and in the future millions of GPUs. We think about it from a scalability perspective and from a compatibility perspective, so as a result we can offer our components to the entire IT industry, so that everybody can build computers and configurations that pleases them, and that solves their problems,” Huang said.

With ambitious goals and leveraging Mellanox's technology, Nvidia rapidly expanded its presence into numerous previously unexplored sectors, such as IP-based applications within the broadcasting and television industry.

Nvidia entered the market with a bold and disruptive move, introducing the Rivermax SDK—a groundbreaking solution that seamlessly combines both hardware and software. By harnessing the power of NVIDIA's ConnectX NIC (from Mellanox) and BlueField Data Processing Unit (DPU) hardware-streaming acceleration technology, Rivermax enables direct, high-speed data transfers to and from the GPU. This results in remarkable throughput and low latency, all while minimizing CPU usage for streaming workloads. Rivermax not only boasts full compatibility with the SMPTE ST 2110 protocol but also provides a plethora of developer-friendly features. These include the augmentation of GPU capabilities through GPUDirect, effortless integration into the CUDA ecosystem, and a comprehensive PTP solution.

Round 1, Both Sides Had Their Moments

Unlike Nvidia, which maintains a transparent approach to its products, Matrox's ST2110 series products and ecosystem are veiled in a degree of secrecy. The available public information allows us to make only a basic comparison: Nvidia's latest ConnectX-7 series NICs can achieve an impressive data bandwidth of up to 400Gb/s, offering single, dual, and quad-port configurations. In contrast, Matrox's X.MIO and DSX NICs support a maximum bandwidth of 100Gb/s and are exclusively available in dual or quad-port options. However, Matrox's extensive experience in the broadcasting industry equips their NICs with industry-specific features sought after by broadcasting professionals.

For Nvidia, the broadcasting sector represents a relatively niche market, and they primarily offer standard development interfaces with limited deeper involvement. Nevertheless, Nvidia's rapid pace of product development may eventually widen the gap between Matrox and Nvidia if Nvidia decides to expand further into this field. This could potentially diminish Matrox's competitiveness over time.

The upcoming chapter: Empowering the Appropriate Individuals to Execute Their Respective Tasks

While the SMPTE ST 2110 protocol's significant potential and established trend are acknowledged by most industry professionals, each company has its own distinct focus. Nvidia and Matrox exemplify divergent approaches employed by large and medium-to-small enterprises when addressing a common industry standard:

Nvidia, leveraging its dominant position in its lucrative niche and market influence, has embraced a "breadth-first" approach. This strategy involves creating unparalleled products and expansive development ecosystems, extending their reach into numerous related industries. The ultimate objective is to trade spatial expansion for accelerated progress.

While Matrox, a representative of SME, holds the advantage of being an early entrant, they encounter formidable challenges when directly competing with industry giants such as Nvidia, primarily stemming from limitations in scale and available capital. In Matrox‘s unique approach, aligns itself against convention by steadfastly preserving its inherent strengths while actively pursuing innovation at strategic junctures, thereby enhancing its competitive edge within specific niche vertical markets.

Commencing in 2022, Matrox has embarked on an exciting journey into the realm of the emerging open standard ecosystem known as IPMX. We are eagerly anticipating the opportunities and challenges that the future is sure to bring.