The NAB Show is only a couple of weeks away, and Radio World is asking exhibitors about their plans and expectations. Mike Pappas is the VP of business development for Orban.
Radio World: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend(s) that radio professionals should be watching for at the 2022 NAB Show?
Mike Pappas: The larger players in the industry are making a strong move toward virtualization, where operations are server-based or even cloud-based. This provides some key advantages including centralized control and reduced hardware costs for broadcast groups. And anyone who isn’t adding internet broadcasting to their operations is missing out on a very large audience.
RW: What will be your most important product news or exhibit theme?
Pappas: We are showing our Optimod XPN-Enterprise, a Linux-based processing platform. This system uses enterprise quality, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Dell hardware. Over a hundred channels are on-the-air today with hundreds more coming in 2022.
The XPN-AM has been updated to also use this robust COTS Dell hardware. Over the last 12 months the XPN-AM has become the most popular AM processor in Orban history. It’s on the air everywhere in markets big and small. Additionally Burk is introducing API control of the XPN-AM at the NAB Show allowing preset and transmission recall.
And there might be a couple of surprises at the show.
[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]
RW: If you are introducing a new product or feature, how is it different from what’s available on the market?
Pappas: We have the only Linux-based processing platform with hundreds of channels already delivered.
RW: How has the lack of physical trade shows for the past three years affected your company’s clients or your own business?
Pappas: Besides my wife packing my suitcase and leaving it by the front door? But seriously, the lack of one-on-one direct contact with customers has been challenging. This in-person contact is not only highly fulfilling, it drives the expansion of product concepts and ideas. I personally miss it a lot — I drove more than 9,000 miles in 2020 during our Nielsen PPM field trials alone.
While we’ve been waiting for the return to in-person contact, we really focused on new product development and with the supply chain issues we worked hard to make sure we could deliver the product our customers want when they need it.
RW: Anything else we should know?
Pappas: We are looking forward to seeing our customers at the NAB Show and showing them all of the new Orban technology we have been working on. We’re in the West Hall, booth W7826. And for those customers who can’t attend this year or are still uncomfortable with in-person gatherings, we’re available via phone.
Orban Booth: W7826
