FOR-A hires Ross and Sony veterans to drive IP production sales

The recruitment of veterans from Ross and Sony underscores the industry-wide pivot from hardware-centric SDI plants to flexible, software-defined IP environments. By hiring specialists in ST 2110 and IPMX, FOR-A is positioning itself to capture the 'hybrid' middle market—broadcasters who need to integrate IP efficiency without a total forklift upgrade. This move reflects a broader ecosystem shift where specialized networking expertise is becoming the primary differentiator for production hardware vendors. Watch for FOR-A's market share growth in regional news and corporate studios, where IPMX offers a lower-cost entry point into IP production compared to full ST 2110 deployments.

The transition to IP-based production has reached a critical inflection point in 2026. Per the Haivision 2026 Broadcast Transformation Report, while 82% of broadcasters still maintain SDI backbones, 39% identify the transition to IP as a top priority for the next year. This shift is increasingly driven by the maturation of the SMPTE ST 2110 suite, which is now considered the default for greenfield facility builds. However, the high technical demand of ST 2110 has opened a market for the IP Media Experience (IPMX) standard, which provides a more accessible gateway for smaller operators by supporting asynchronous sources and 1 GbE infrastructure.

At the 2026 NAB Show, industry-wide focus shifted toward 'truly hybrid' production models. Per TV Technology (March 2026), vendors like Sony and Ross Video are emphasizing software-defined production (SDP) that can bridge on-prem processing with cloud-based workflows. This movement is part of a larger trend where broadcast capability is increasingly decoupled from proprietary hardware and delivered via software licenses on COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) equipment. Research from Caretta Research (June 2026) suggests broadcasters are doubling down on live infrastructure investment to reduce long-term operational costs and enable remote production.

AI integration is also emerging as a necessary component of these new IP stacks. According to industry surveys, 34% of broadcast professionals are actively implementing AI in their workflows as of 2026, up from 28% in 2025. These tools are no longer experimental; solutions like viztrick AiDi, marketed by FOR-A, are now used for automated 9:16 autocropping and tracking in live feeds. As hardware vendors like FOR-A retool their sales teams with SaaS and IP specialists, the competitive landscape is moving away from selling boxes and toward delivering integrated, software-first media fabrics.