VP of Product Management, NewTek

NAB Show 2017 will be an interesting show to attend. I don’t think I remember a year when there was so much uncertainty regarding business models for both end users and vendors. All of the rules are changing as traditional pathways of content delivery shift and the basic mechanisms of infrastructure are being rethought. I’ve always said that it isn’t “death and taxes” that are the great certainties of life but rather “change” itself. Those organizations and individuals that embrace change this year will be the survivors when the dust clears. Clinging to old paradigms, traditional workflows, tried and true procedures, and nostalgic patterns of operation will be the surest ways to not be around for NAB 2018. That said, I’m excited to see what new ideas and products will be in Las Vegas this year. I think we will see some things that we didn’t expect from companies that are taking advantage of this rare time in history to help an industry go through a wholesale revolution and enable smart companies to reinvent themselves in ways they never thought possible. While some people view this time with great trepidation, I’m extremely excited and hopeful for what lies ahead.  

President GEA & Associates LLC

Another NAB, and another week of technological excitement and amazement in Las Vegas. Every year our thirst for new product developments is satiated, as we wander the exhibit halls and take in all the latest innovations. IP infrastructure, virtualization, Cloud technology, 4K, it’s never ending. But through all the excitement of the technologies as they evolve, there is always the question of end user adoption. We tend to equate the rapid development of these technologies with a “California Gold Rush” mentality of demand for them. For example, 4K is not only exciting, the emphasis NHK is putting on 8K fuels our interest even further. “With these beautiful 4K pictures, it must be true that the world is dashing toward 4K.” Yet research shows that many end users extend their actual implementation of 4K infrastructures as far out as 9 years from now.        

I will be looking for a reality check on these new technologies, to determine, beyond the incredible speed of their development, what is the rate at which we can expect to convert these massive R&D investments into actual revenues and profits for us as suppliers. Or a worse fate yet, to quote Professor Bob Davis at Stanford decades ago, “The most exotic technology product that no one buys becomes a museum piece.” Are there any 3D technologies here that we’re currently getting excited about?

Chief Marketing Officer, Verizon Digital Media Services

Every day, we’re moving more and more towards a media consumption ecosystem that’s specifically built on 1 to 1 engagement. It’s an ecosystem where every touch or tap of the “play” button triggers delivery of a completely unique viewing experience — tailored to an individual viewer’s interests and preferences, viewing device, delivery network, throughput, and a host of other factors. 

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Fortunately for today’s broadcasters, content distributors and content creators, this shift towards data-driven, personalized experiences will open the door to far better and broader online content monetization opportunities. Whether it’s for live, linear and VOD — or virtual reality, augmented reality and 360 — this trend towards more personalized, engaging experiences and the monetization opportunities it will bring will be the catalyst for even more global content consumption in ways we haven’t previously seen. 

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For these reasons, the techniques and technologies essential to delivering a seamless multiscreen experience will be a popular topic at the 2017 NABShow. We’ll see solutions from a variety of companies that tackle all sides of providing a personalized experience — from programming to advertising — across all devices and all locations. We’re exhilarated about these developments and are looking forward to showcasing how our technology at Verizon Digital Media Services will support this exciting new world of increased content consumption.
 

Vice President, Video Clarity

The industry has reached a point where people will be making major decisions about which new entertainment delivery solutions to deploy, one option being channel/content distribution systems that use a combination of cloud and internal infrastructure. The cloud is very interesting as a fast deployment method for delivery. We anticipate seeing more and better ways to bring cloud delivery into the mainstream for both VOD and live channels/events, particularly as HD/4K/8K television distribution and OTT apply to every new large-audience entertainment experience. It’s important for content providers to test the encoding technology, various bit rates and brand quality for cloud-based solutions both before deployment and after, applying video quality testing routines during air time as a matter of course.

Regarding infrastructure, we’re seeing very large-scale adoption of IP, which will have facilities applying the new SMPTE 2022-6 standard and eventually the upcoming SMPTE 2110 standard. Video Clarity is supporting interoperability activities for these developments and sees testing for things such as picture quality, audio quality, lip sync, and loudness to be a very important component of the quality-assurance process for both operators and manufacturers. It’s the best way to assure deployable solutions worldwide. 

Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Wazee Digital

With the frenetic pace of technological change in the media and entertainment industry and OTT distribution becoming more dominant, some trends have emerged that greatly affect content owners and rights holders.

1. Cloud platforms are seeing continued adoption, thanks largely to their ability to reduce capital costs and increase scalability while enabling secure, multisite access. The days of proprietary hardware running behind a firewall are coming to an end. Instead, the industry is rapidly transitioning to software-defined services made possible by the cloud.
    

2. The popularity of OTT and the skyrocketing cost of high-quality productions are putting more pressure on rights holders to find new ways to monetize every asset. That makes the technological shift to the cloud an obvious choice for rights holders because it makes their content more easily searchable, discoverable, shareable, and monetizable.
    

3. Metadata goes hand in hand with monetization, so savvy content owners are putting greater emphasis on metadata to ensure people inside and outside the organization can find and use the content they produce.
    

4. Collecting viewer data is critical. Because rights holders are taking their content straight to the consumer through services such as Netflix and Amazon or their own self-branded OTT apps, they must understand their customers’ likes and viewing habits. 

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We expect these trends — and their implications for rights holders — to be hot topics at the 2017 NAB Show.

Marketing and Communications Manager, VITEC

The ubiquity of screens and mobile devices are driving the video evolution. Video has become such an intrinsic element to a broadening array of applications — be it sports arenas, houses of worship, corporate headquarters, and more — that end-users now expect a better viewing experience. They want more pristine, higher video quality that can be streamed seamlessly to all the screens around them, from digital signage to their own mobile devices. I anticipate the 2017 NAB Show will usher in video streaming technology that is no longer bound by traditional broadcast methods and enables reliable, unprecedented levels of access to high-resolution, flawless content. Facility operators are also picking up the digital signage baton, learning how integrating digital signage capabilities into their current platform can tap into new revenue opportunities. However, to be successful and profitable, they need solutions that are not only highly customizable and visually impressive, but also cost-effective and future-proof. Our customers are coming to VITEC with the primary goal of affordably enhancing the end-user experience by delivering live, HEVC-quality feeds and on-demand video with low-latency and synchronized playback over a new or existing IP infrastructure. During NAB, we expect customers will be evaluating how streaming solutions can seamlessly adapt to their workflows and help them engage with users from anywhere and on any device.

Qligent COO

As you would expect, there will be a lot of activity at this year’s NAB, but there are a specific few that we are tracking closer than others. We expect to see standards and/or collaborative groups catching up with the recent influx of technology, especially in the area of IP studios, OTT infrastructures, Cloud, Big Data, and ATSC 3.0. We see more and more interest and adoption in Cloud based workflows as technology, solutions, and virtualized functions are coming together. These technologies will allow people to fundamentally work differently, which is what is needed to navigate such a transitional period in our industry. We also expect to see broadcasters with their repack assignments, ready to get started, and shopping for vendor partners to provide an efficient and safe migration strategy. We expect to see more ATSC 3.0 demonstrations which promote the business possibilities for over the air broadcasters in additions to the technical standards update. Albeit much more subtle than the shiny new boxes introduced, we expect to see service offerings continue to grow driven by the recent M&A and consolidation activity in the industry. There will likely be a couple noteworthy M&A announcements around the show.

Marketing and Sales Manager, North America RIEDEL Communications Inc.

For NAB, Riedel is looking forward to seeing further evolution and clarification of the IP standards. We continue to support the various organizations and participate in plugfests to ensure that our work with our own FPGA core maintains the highest level of compatibility possible. When the standards are fixed, we will be well-positioned to take advantage of them. In the meantime, we’ll be scouring the show floor to see how other manufacturers and clients are rising to the IP challenges.

At Riedel, networking is in our DNA and the Riedel product line reflects many years of networking expertise. We continue to evolve our networked solutions to keep pace with the industry. 

We are also very aware that today’s clients are doing their homework in order to make smarter purchasing decisions, and one way to do that is by adopting hardware platforms with capabilities that can be expanded via software apps. They don’t want to pay for things that they don’t need so software provides the ability to get the perfect combination of features and lower cost over the lifespan of the hardware. NAB is a great opportunity to talk to clients to figure out what features they want and, more importantly, the ones they don’t.