This expansion provides near-unlimited capacity and scalability
Press Release
OSLO, Norway — 2nd September 2026
Bridge Technologies will use the upcoming IBC Show (Booth 1.A71) to announce a significant expansion in how its flagship VB440 production probe can be deployed. The VB440 – already the industry’s most comprehensive suite of production tools within a single appliance – is now available as a software-based solution, deployable on shared commercial off-the-shelf compute and within cloud-native orchestration and application environments. Visitors to the show will be able to see the software-based VB440 in action across multiple platforms.
The VB440 has always been defined by its software, even though until now it has only been available as a pre-installed appliance. The decision to offer it as a dedicated 1RU appliance was originally a clear and straightforward way of allowing users to deploy the tool with ease – effectively on a plug and play basis – providing a reliable, high-density hardware platform that could deliver a wide range of monitoring and production tools for camera painters, audio engineers and network specialists, without the complexity of full server configuration. In this way, it has provided efficiency in production environments where space is at a premium.
Now, the underlying software capabilities that have always been at the heart of the VB440 can be deployed independently of the hardware upon which it has traditionally been hosted. Whether purchased as an entire software unit in itself to run on-prem and on existing hardware, or accessed on a function-by-function basis through third-party services such as NEP Platform or Grass Valley’s AMPP (which allows it to leverage both cloud and on-prem – or owned and rented – processing), users are now granted a more flexible way to deploy the VB440’s functions.
The software-based offering is particularly significant for major sports events where production teams need to scale up rapidly and then scale down just as quickly. Instead of deploying dedicated hardware for every monitoring function, engineers can spin up additional VB440 instances on demand, leveraging the capacity of larger server architectures when the production demands it, and retiring them when the event concludes. The same deep analysis and best-in-class production tools that broadcasters have relied upon through the dedicated VB440 are thus now expanded to a virtually unlimited number of users (through the deployment of virtually unlimited ‘engines’ in parallel).
This expansion reflects Bridge’s broader philosophy of offering maximum flexibility in how its tools are deployed. The same software that powers the VB440 can now run on a dedicated appliance in an OB truck, on a server in a data centre, or in the cloud through orchestration platforms – all while maintaining the same depth of analysis, the same customisable Canvas interface, and the same multi-user accessibility. For broadcasters, this means the VB440 can adapt to the operational context, rather than the other way around.
Commenting on the announcement, Bridge Technologies Chairman Simen Frostad said: “The VB440 has always been about the software. The appliance was a great way to deliver it – simple, reliable, and incredibly capable in a compact form factor. But the underlying capabilities have always had the potential to scale further, and now there are convenient ways to access that scalability through platforms like NEP and Grass Valley. For broadcasters covering events of any size, this means they can deploy the VB440’s tools exactly when and where they need them, without being constrained by hardware”.
More information about Bridge Technologies and its products is available at www.bridgetech.tv or by phone at +47 22 38 51 00.
