Harmonic bets on hybrid, SSAI, and AI orchestration at NAB
Harmonic announced it will debut upgrades to its video appliances and SaaS offerings at the 2026 NAB Show, including a next-generation Spectrum X media server and enhancements to its XOS Advanced Media Processor for playout, encoding, and ATSC 3.0/DTV+ delivery. The company also highlighted hybrid streaming advances such as a production deployment of VOS Media Software on Red Hat OpenShift, plus new server-side in-stream advertising and configurable server-side multiview within VOS360 Media SaaS. Harmonic will introduce an AI overlay service for orchestrating AI functions across its platform, including GPU-accelerated HD-to-UHD upscaling powered by NVIDIA.
Key Takeaways
- Next-generation Spectrum X targets lower total cost per channel by simplifying ingest + playout.
- XOS Advanced Media Processor consolidates playout, premium encoding, and ATSC 3.0/DTV+ delivery on a single appliance for headends and affiliates.
- VOS Media Software is now shown in a large production deployment on Red Hat OpenShift, signaling deeper commitment to hybrid cloud operations and centralized management.
- Harmonic highlights production server-side in-stream ads for live sports (automatic triggers during games) to lift monetization without client-side disruption.
- VOS360 adds configurable server-side multiview—positioned as both an engagement and monetization lever when paired with in-stream ads.
Why It Matters
Harmonic is framing the next phase of video infrastructure as “control-plane first”: hybrid deployment (OpenShift), server-side monetization (SSAI + multiview), and AI as an orchestrated service rather than a one-off feature. That’s a direct response to operator pain: too many point tools, too much integration tax, and ad revenue pressure—especially in live sports where outages and latency cost real money. The meme to watch: AI isn’t replacing encoders; it’s becoming the workflow supervisor, coordinating quality boosts (HD→UHD) and automation across broadcast-grade, resilient delivery stacks.
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