Ross Video Brings Resource Pooling to Production Switchers at NAB 2026

HyperMax's resource pooling model means facilities no longer need dedicated switcher hardware per production — processing blades can serve a large Monday Night Football broadcast one day and multiple smaller shows the next, with multiple control surfaces running off shared core hardware. The launch fits a broader NAB 2026 pattern: Sony introduced flexible weekly licensing for its M2LX software switcher (per SVG, April 2026), Grass Valley pushed its AMPP cloud platform and software-defined workflows, and Blackmagic shipped SMPTE-2110-native ATEM Constellation IP switchers from $7,995 (per RedShark News, April 2026). Watch how quickly existing Carbonite and Ultrix facilities adopt HyperMax licensing, and whether Sony or Grass Valley introduce comparable multi-switcher pooling features.

Ross Video's HyperMax and TDx 5L were part of a broader Day 1 showcase at NAB Show 2026 (April 19, 2026) that also included Carbonite Code Solo, a software-based NDI-native switcher, and updates to the TouchDrive 5 control surface line, per TV Tech. Ross Video's product documentation indicates that HyperMax V12.0 expanded the resource pool to access up to four Carbonite switcher instances — including HyperMax, Ultrix Carbonite, Ultra, and Mosaic — from a single TouchDrive panel, with Ross Platform Manager (RPM) providing browser-based drag-and-drop license management across connected frames. The company's blog notes that broadcasters often run premium switchers at as little as 25% daily utilization, which HyperMax's dynamic licensing model is designed to address.

The competitive landscape at NAB 2026 reinforced the software-defined trend from multiple angles. Sony introduced v2 firmware for its M2LX software-based production switcher with a lower-cost 12-input starter model, instant replay for live sports, and flexible weekly licenses for short-term productions, per Sports Video Group (April 16, 2026). Sony's MLS-X1 multi-format switcher also gained multi-frame signal sharing, allowing input and output exchange across logical switcher instances. Grass Valley emphasized its AMPP cloud-native production platform alongside GV Orbit orchestration at its Central Hall booth, with the company stating that software-defined production had reached 'a real inflection point' in market adoption over the prior 12 to 18 months (per TV Tech, April 2026).

Blackmagic Design took a different approach to the same market segment, announcing SMPTE-2110-native ATEM 4 M/E Constellation IP switchers starting at $7,995 (per RedShark News, April 2026), attacking from a price-disruption angle rather than resource-sharing flexibility. The Constellation IP offers 32 standards-converted inputs with full SMPTE-2022-7 redundancy across four dual-redundant 100G Ethernet connections. Meanwhile, the MXL (Media eXchange Layer) open-source initiative from the EBU, North American Broadcasters Association, and Linux Foundation was expected to reach v1.0 SDK candidate status at the show, aiming to enable cross-vendor software-defined production processes to interoperate through shared compute memory.