What We Saw at the 2024 NABShow

If you read our pre-NABShow show blog, you know we brought a “full house” to the 2024 NABShow in Las Vegas. Here’s a quick recap.

On display was the BOXX 3D Animation and Visual Effect Solution, APEXX S3, the world’s fastest (6.1GHz) Intel® Core® i9 workstation. Next was the Optimal Compositing Solution, APEXX T4, the rack mountable, blazing fast, liquid-cooled, Avid-qualified beast (5.3GHz) equipped with a 64-core, AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ 7000 Series processor and up to four GPUs. For the most demanding motion media, AI, rendering, and complex simulation, we brought the 96 CPU-core Virtual Studio Solution, APEXX T4PRO, equipped with the most powerful AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ PRO 7000 WX-Series processor and 2TB of memory. For all aspects of production, there was the Total Production Workhouse, RAXX T3 PRO, also powered by Threadripper PRO and up to four GPUs. For GPU rendering, feature film editing, and AI, the Slender Render Solution, RAXX P1G featuring an AMD EPYC 7003 CPU and up to four GPUs. For multi-displays, broadcast production, demanding rendering, fully virtualized streaming, and more, there was Broadcast in a BOXX, RAXX P2G, also powered by an AMD™ EPYC™ 7003 Series CPU and support for up to five GPUs.

Lastly, we displayed FLEXX, the groundbreaking data center platform (and hardware foundation of BOXX Cloud) purpose-built to accelerate 3D content and motion media workflows. FLEXX houses multiple BOXX workstations condensed into high density modules for on premise or remote installations. For visitors to the BOXX booth, FLEXX was the talk of the show, particularly regarding its density and flexibility. Resolving issues supporting a remote creative workforce was a hot topic in general, which made the interest in FLEXX so acute. In fact, much more than prior NABShows, remote workstation discussions were decidedly more common, as we heard many successful application stories—including remote video content production.

As expected, production and post production were the basis of many conversations with the operative phrase being “real-time.” The vast new world of virtual sets and virtual production (using Unreal Engine and similar products) was also a popular topic among NABShow attendees, as was SMPTE 2110, the suite of standards for transporting uncompressed and compressed video, audio and data over IP networks. That was a conversation we loved having since our RAXX P2G (equipped with NVIDIA Rivermax) offers a fully virtualized streaming solution that complies with SMPTE ST 2110-21’s stringent timing and traffic flow requirements.

We also enjoyed visits from independents, those who create video, indie films, visual effects, animation, and sometimes, all-of-the-above. These creators are in search of a versatile workstation that can do it all. Once again, BOXX has them covered with machines like APEXX S3, APEXX T3, or the APEXX T4 which are devoid of useless bloatware and purpose-built for their specific workflow.

So what of AI? Although it was not "everywhere" as was predicted, there was discussion around the critical role of the GPU to optimize the AI embedded in Adobe Creative Cloud.

Closer to home, many of our booth visitors declared their undying love of BOXX, told tales of a trusty old BOXX workstation they miss, or (good news for our sales team) the fact that they needed to upgrade to a new BOXX. Speaking of our sales team, experienced performance specialist Rich Petit noted, “One thing I enjoyed was recognizing customers and them recognizing me, as well as hearing things like, ‘I've been a BOXX customer since 2005."

At BOXX, we have a lot of those customers, and many have been relying on our systems even longer than that. If you’re an M&E content creator (or architect, engineer, product designer, AI scientist, etc.) there’s a BOXX to remove your workflow bottlenecks and accelerate your applications. Call us at 877.877.BOXX or inquire via online chat from our homepage. If you were at NAB, we hope you enjoyed the show.