The story so far...
Several years ago Ross Video made a Standard Definition gear frame and line of terminal equipment products. We called this frame our 8000 Series and it was (is, we still make it) compatible with other industry products from companies like Harris (Leitch), Cobalt Digital and AJA. Given that the 8000 Series rear connector structure was fine for SD but not suitable for HD, we needed a new frame.
Rather than reinvent the wheel and design a new Ross frame, we thought that it would be best for us and our customers to find another company in the industry that was willing to let us develop cards that would be compatible with their existing frames. Making a gear frame is a surprising amount of work and effort and we thought if we could simply use an existing one it would be faster and simpler for us and our customers would have a range of choices available to them. We approached most of the major industry players to discuss this idea explaining that the advantage to them would be that by offering competition within their frame they would be able to win a larger share of the market.