Tektronix which provides test, measurement and monitoring instrumentation has announced an agreement with Vqual a UK-based video software developer.

The companies will develop and market software solutions that enable consumer electronics manufacturers, professional video equipment manufacturers, and mobile phone manufacturers to more rapidly bring to market devices, equipment and services that implement next generation video standards.

Next generation video compression standards provide significant bandwidth advantages over traditional broadcast compression standards and offer additional services at a reduced cost with no compromise in video quality. In order to effectively capitalise on the new standards, engineers need ways to verify standards compliance as well as analyse and compare the performance of various video compression/decompression (codec) algorithms.

The partnership will deliver new capabilities to Tektronix customers that enable developers, manufacturers and users of these technologies to competently and confidently design and test new devices, products and services.

Tektronix issued a release stating that it anticipates the partnership to accelerate the delivery of products and solutions for network operators and equipment manufacturers seeking to implement next-generation technologies such as DVB-H and 3G mobile phones and services, high definition DVD players and IP TV infrastructure, set top boxes and services.

All these technologies use next generation video compression standards such as H.264, Windows Media 9, MPEG-4 and 3GPP. The codec test and analysis software supplied by Vqual will be incorporated into various Tektronix components to facilitate these next generation technologies by our customers.

Tektronix added that its partnership with Vqual will give its customers access to the best software technology available for testing next generation video standards today. The combined solutions will enable customers to quickly realise revenue streams now and allow for easy updates as standards evolve.