Las Vegas, NV, NAB Conference, Stand SL2505 (April 18, 2016)—AJA Video Systems today announced KONA IP, its first desktop video and audio I/O product for professional IP-based workflows. KONA IP is the next generation of AJA’s industry-leading KONA line of PCIe capture cards and works with AJA Control Room and Control Panel software and SDK tools along with leading third-party content creation applications. 

KONA IP is designed as a flexible platform that supports today’s SMPTE 2022-6 IP-encapsulated uncompressed 3G-SDI, HD-SDI and SD-SDI video, audio and VANC data, and via future firmware updates and codec package offerings, will also support compressed codecs like J2K and advanced IP protocols including VSF TR-04, VSF TR-03 and more. KONA IP has already been adopted by many of the industry’s leading software and solutions companies.

KONA IP Features:

• SMPTE 2022-6 support, offering uncompressed video and audio, with future support for other IP standards. 
• HDMI output for local monitoring.
• Multi-channel input and/or output to read or send multiple IP-based encapsulated 3G-SDI, HD-SDI and SD-SDI video streams to and from software applications.
• Two 10GigE SFP cages for easy routing of video over IP and 10GigE networks.
• Support for major third-party NLE, compositing and streaming applications. 
• Software compatibility with AJA Control Room and Control Panel software.
• Compatible with AJA’s widely adopted NTV2 SDK, for easy integration by AJA Developer Partners.
• 8-lane PCIe 2.0 video and audio desktop I/O card.

“Video pros using the latest Adobe tools have been able to count on AJA technology for years,” said Sue Skidmore, head of partner relations for professional video at Adobe. “With the KONA IP technology, AJA is pushing the industry forward today, and helping to build the platform for IP connected workflows in the future.”

“IP is a very exciting development for all of our customers, and offers an array of options for simplifying workflows,” said David Colantuoni, Sr. Director of Product Management at Avid. “AJA’s KONA capture cards have been a reliable solution for video and audio I/O for many years for Avid Media Composer^® and Pro Tools^®, and we look forward to continued support of KONA IP as those customers migrate to IP-based workflows.” 

“We look forward to supporting KONA IP as an output card with our EDIUS nonlinear real time editing system,” said Mike Cronk, Senior VP of Strategic Marketing, Grass Valley. “IP-based workflows promise some very interesting developments for the editing world, and we’re pleased to support AJA in their move into this space.”

AJA has joined Sony’s IP Live Alliance, and Nextera Video will be demonstrating their FPGA IP core at the Sony stand during NAB, showcasing playout of an UltraHD 59.94p Networked Media Interface stream of Sony IP Live Production System over KONA IP. “Our customers are increasingly looking to IP as an efficient, cost-effective way to achieve consistent, pristine video streams throughout the entire live production chain,” said Ryosuke Hayashi, Deputy Senior General Manager, Sony. “As the migration from SDI to IP continues to gain momentum, we welcome AJA into our IP Live Alliance and will work with them to make KONA IP support Sony IP Live.”

Ventuz will be demonstrating their real time graphics, authoring and playout control software at the AJA booth during NAB. “Real-time 3D content for broadcast demands the highest bandwidth infrastructure available, and for that reason, many of our customers working in HD are looking towards migrating to IP-based ways of working,” said Erik Beaumont, CEO, Ventuz Technology. “We’re pleased to support KONA IP capture cards for clients who want to go the IP route, and need reliable hardware to help get them there.”

“With KONA IP we’re delivering a seamless and cost-effective transition path to IP-based workflows for people working in professional video. Our customers have relied on our KONA family of capture cards to deliver reliable and flexible video and audio I/O and now have a familiar interface to take them into the IP world,” said Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. “We are committed to supporting industry standards in the transition from SDI to IP-based workflows, and as such, we are a founding member of the AIMS Alliance. Also, as an Aspen Community member and member of Sony’s IP Live Alliance, we offer support for popular early adopter approaches to IP. We’re pleased to be announcing our next generation KONA for IP workflows.” 

Pricing and Availability

KONA IP will be available next month through AJA’s worldwide reseller network at a US MSRP of $2495.00. For more information about this product, visit: https://www.aja.com/en/products/kona-ip. 

About AJA Video Systems, Inc.

Since 1993, AJA Video has been a leading manufacturer of video interface technologies, converters, digital video recording solutions and professional cameras, bringing high-quality, cost-effective products to the professional broadcast, video and post production markets. AJA products are designed and manufactured at our facilities in Grass Valley, California, and sold through an extensive sales channel of resellers and systems integrators around the world. For further information, please see our website at www.aja.com.