AJA KONA IP25 integrates with Colorfront for uncompressed ST 2110 workflows
AJA Video Systems has integrated its KONA IP25 PCIe card with Colorfront's Transkoder and On-Set Dailies software on Windows. This integration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O, allowing professionals in post-production and on-set workflows to leverage high data throughput for dailies, transcoding, and streaming.
Key Takeaways
- KONA IP25 features dual SFP cages for 10/25 GigE connectivity and onboard PTP/NMOS control.
- Integrated software supports bit depths up to 12-bit 4:4:4 in both RGB and YUV formats.
- The 8-lane PCIe Gen 4.0 card offloads IP stack processing from the host PC to maintain 4K throughput.
- Colorfront software automatically detects the card to provide immediate access to hardware settings.
Why It Matters
This integration solidifies the move toward software-defined, IP-based post-production by removing the hardware bottlenecks associated with uncompressed 4K workflows. For facilities, it provides a standardized bridge between high-quality camera ingest and remote mastering pipelines through SMPTE ST 2110. As a matured standard, ST 2110 is no longer a niche trial; it is becoming the necessary infrastructure for handling modern 4:4:4 12-bit deliverable requirements. Watch for increased adoption metrics as legacy SDI facilities cycle out hardware in favor of 25GbE-capable IP cards within the next fiscal year.
Additional Context
The integration arrives as SMPTE ST 2110 adoption steadily climbs within the broadcast and post-production sectors. According to a March 2026 Haivision report, ST 2110 usage rose to 30% among industry professionals, up from 26% in 2025. While SDI remains a baseline for 82% of respondents, the shift toward 25GbE connectivity reflects a growing need for uncompressed 4K and UltraHD signal management that legacy 12G-SDI struggles to scale across distributed environments. Colorfront has aggressively updated its 2025 and 2026 software versions to include AI-driven features like automated quality control, subtitle validation, and Dolby Vision 2 metadata management. In April 2026, Colorfront introduced agentic AI-orchestrated production pipelines to further automate routine mastering tasks. By pairing this intelligence with AJA hardware, facilities can leverage high-throughput IP I/O to support labor-intensive AI processes, such as super-resolution upscaling and real-time SDR-to-HDR conversion. AJA Video Systems continues to expand its IP ecosystem following the 2024 launch of the KONA IP25, which was initially introduced at a $6,995 MSRP. Industry analyst data from April 2025 estimated AJA's annual revenue at $51.6 million, supported by a strategic focus on conversion and capture hardware. Per ProVideo Coalition in April 2026, AJA has further signaled its commitment to the IP transition by integrating its BRIDGE LIVE platform with ST 2110, aiming to unify local production with global streaming delivery.
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