The Vizrt Group company NDI has announced a number of initiatives that the company hopes will make the NDI protocol even more widely used as universal technology for video connectivity.
The initiatives, which were laid out by NDI in an April 11 live YouTube webcast(opens in new tab), included plans to grow the use of NDI in devices from about 600,000 today to millions in the next few years and presentations from ecosystem partners like AMD, AVer, BirdDog, Mevo and Ross Video describing their support for the NDI protocol.
As part of NDI’s vision for the future of video, a universe where all hardware, software, and cloud become seamlessly interoperable, the company announced its investment in expanding its ecosystem while maintaining seamless interoperability across all products, platforms, and industries.
To help achieve those ambitious goals, NDI is making the NDI SDK, the company’s core technology, available to anyone in the hopes that this will spur new innovation and the spread of NDI-capable devices.
Currently, over six hundred thousand devices, from companies like Panasonic, Sony or BirdDog, are NDI-enabled and NDI technology is supported by the most widely used video-based software applications, like Microsoft Teams or Grass Valley, NDI reported.
“Video is no longer something traveling through the network,” explained Tarif Sayed, NDI president and general manager. “Instead, it is becoming the network itself: the videoverse. Thanks to the latest advancements in cloud computing, AI technology, and 5G networks, video is becoming truly ubiquitous and the main way in which humans and machines interact with each other.”
“Together with our growing ecosystem of adopters, we are developing the most efficient, easy-to-use, and interoperable technology for video connections everywhere – not just in the broadcast industry but also the broader video connectivity market, as well as specialized industries such as healthcare, education and security that are demanding more efficient video technologies,” Sayed added.
To help with that, NDI has developed NDI Advanced, the company’s most complete offering.
NDI Advanced, which can be requested through the NDI website, provides access to the most efficient NDI format, HX3 – which harnesses H.264 and HEVC codecs to ensure transmission of pristine, visually lossless video using just 50MBs of bandwidth – as well as providing additional APIs, dedicated customer support and more.
To ensure interoperability and consistent experiences for everyone using NDI, the company also announced two new certification programs: NDI Certified, for products integrating features of NDI Advanced, and Works with NDI, for devices that do not require a native NDI integration but want to guarantee full compatibility with the NDI ecosystem.
Finally, NDI laid out plans to build on the engagement with its loyal community of users, the key driver of growth for NDI.
It promised that community initiatives will be organized throughout the year, including the first-ever NDI Hackathon, and an NDI Beta program where selected community members will gain early hands-on access to updates to the core technology.
NDI will be showcasing its new business vision and brand identity at NAB 2023 at the Vizrt Group Booth W2821.
NDI connectivity technology will also be featured by more than 70 partners, licensees, and adopters at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
