How Carbonite HyperMax solves the problem of underutilized production equipment  

With yesterday’s production technology, a three hundred thousand dollar switcher might have idled for over half of the day. Today, that same silicon can drive three concurrent shows, across multiple studios.

What changed? Forward-thinking engineers stopped locking capacity inside single-purpose hardware and started treating MEs, keyers, and scene engines as portable software licenses that can be assigned to flexible hardware solutions. 

Below, we’ll unpack the hidden costs of purpose-built gear, show how dynamic licensing flips budget drains into productivity gains, prove the impact through Ross Video’s Carbonite HyperMax platform, and leave you with a clear ROI checklist and next-step playbook. 

A traditional switcher or effects engine looks busy when its fans spin and LEDs glow, but diagnostics tell a different story. High-end engines inside newsrooms can often sit idle for 50-75% of the day. 

That under-use can impact virtually every department within the organization, including: 

• Finance – Every component continues to depreciate whether its generating revenue or gathering dust.
• Production – Since single-function hardware can’t “flex” when more inputs or effects resources are needed, the creative team is often forced to make unnecessary compromises.
• Engineering – In order to meet the demands of News or Production, Engineering must design, purchase, install, and maintain duplicate hardware to cover peak periods.  

Additionally, the entire organization feels the impact of “hidden” operating expenses like power consumption, cooling costs, and increased space requirements. 

Fixed-function boxes worked well when each show was linear and all were produced in the same format and sent to the same transmission point. But in the 24/7, multi-format, multi-destination world that broadcasters live in today, capacity has to move at the speed of the schedule, not the limitations of purpose-built hardware. The answer is to treat processing power as a shared pool, not a stack of siloed frames. 

This is where software-defined hardware and dynamic licensing dramatically changes the game. 

Picture a switcher that behaves less like a monolithic appliance and more like a shared pool of resources. That’s the essence of dynamic licensing.  

Dynamic licensing, like that offered through the Carbonite HyperMax system, treats advanced switcher effects modes as portable software based modules that can be assigned wherever they’re needed—on-prem, in an OB van, or halfway across the world. 

At the heart of the system sits Ross Platform Manager (RPM), a control layer that assigns and reassigns features across multiple hardware platforms and can transfer resources in real-time without rewiring or major system downtime. 

RPM allows engineers to drag-and-drop processing capacity across all connected frames as demand or needs change. For example, if Control Room A is off-air after the morning show, its ME licenses can be reassigned to the REMI hub for an afternoon soccer match, then reclaimed for prime-time news.  

Operationally, HyperMax licenses are assigned to Software-Defined Production Engine (SDPE) hardware blades, which are mounted in an Ultrix advanced routing and processing platform. Each blade can be licensed as a MaxME (a full-featured ME), a group of MiniMEs (each with its own transition effects), or a MaxScene for scene-based compositing. Multiple blades can also be pooled together to build larger switcher configurations. 

Nigel Spratling, VP of Production Switchers at Ross, sums it up by saying that:  

For organizations the payoff is immediate: 

• CapEx flattening. Buy capability once and maximize its efficiency by dynamically assigning it wherever its needed.   
• Lean studios. Fewer chasses mean lighter racks, lower power draw, and reduced maitenance time. 

Dynamic licensing turns processing power into shared resources, freeing broadcasters to focus on creativity, not installation. Let’s dig more into how HyperMax works and how it helps to solve the underutilization problem in newsrooms.  

It all starts with a Ross Video FR5 or FR12 advanced routing and processing chassis. Certain slots can accept Software-Defined Production Engine (SDPE) blades – identical hardware boards whose function is determined by the software that is loaded. Each SDPE is discrete and can be loaded with different software, including HyperMax licenses, to suit the production requirements.   

A single HyperMax license can be used to flip any SDPE into one of three powerful processing platforms, including:

• MaxME – Fully-functional Mix/Effects bank with multiple keyers, independent transition engines, 2D and 3D DVEs, and more.
• MaxMini – Three independent transition and layering engines (per SDPE) separate from the full MEs. 
• MaxScene – Additional multi-layer scene-based compositing resources. 

Because each HyperMax mode is software-based, the SDPE hardware itself never has to sit idle. One blade that powered an election night control room at dawn can be reassigned to the REMI hub by lunch and come back as a scene engine for prime-time entertainment. No additional chassis, no new cabling or re-patching, and most importantly, no downtime required.   

The “traffic cop” that makes this juggling act invisible, as mentioned earlier, is Ross Platform Manager (RPM). From a browser dashboard, operators can allocate blades to be MEs, MiniMEs, and MaxScenes across every HyperMax in the facility—or across the country—without patch-bay gymnastics. Think of it as resource sharing. 

Keep Reading: Carbonite HyperMax: Smarter, More Efficient Production with Ross Platform Manager

Why does all this matter? Fewer boxes mean lower power and cooling bills, less maintenance, and control rooms that aren’t hemmed in by yesterday’s peak-day calculations. Most importantly, creative teams stop worrying about resource ceilings.  

Need extra MEs for election night visuals or a pop-up stream? Assign an open license to an available blade, then reallocate it elsewhere when the buzz dies down. HyperMax turns processing capacity into shared resources, so broadcasters can invest in storytelling, not spare hardware. 

Broadcasters often run premium switchers at a fraction of their potential, with daily utilization dipping as low as 25%. HyperMax helps unlock that latent capacity. By allowing single pieces of equipment to be dynamically reassigned across shows and teams, utilization can climb significantly. 

Instead of planning CapEx around peak events, HyperMax lets you maximize the equipment already in your racks. That means fewer idle systems, greater productivity from existing investments, and less pressure to over-purchase hardware that sits unused for most of the year. 

With dynamic licensing and centralized management, HyperMax shifts the ROI conversation from “how much hardware can we afford?” to “how much more can we do with what we already own? 

Purpose-built hardware switchers were built for yesterday’s linear schedule. HyperMax is built for the non-stop, multi-platform reality of today—turning every ME, MiniME, and scene engine into a portable license you can deploy for the next show, truck or remote feed in seconds. By treating processing power as shared resources, broadcasters avoid expensive hardware duplication, trim ongoing power and maintenance costs. And provide more opportunities for creative teams to attract and maintain viewers.   

If you’re ready to see how software-defined hardware and dynamic licensing can lift utilization, and how that translates into stronger production teams and better ROI from your equipment investments, schedule a conversation with the Ross Video sales team. We’ll map your current load, run the ROI numbers, and show HyperMax in action.