“Software-defined hardware” essentially means that the same piece of hardware can be used for different applications and that adding new functionality is a simple matter of uploading a new software release to an existing device. Lawo’s audio production solutions (A__UHD Core, Power Core, mc² mixing consoles, A__line and A__stage audio stageboxes, etc.), the .edge video gateway, and the V__matrix platform have thrived on this approach. With the exception of V__matrix, they will remain good choices for years to come.

Some users may have noticed that some functionality is currently available in duplicate from Lawo. For audio, engineers can choose between the A__UHD Core hardware DSP processor and the HOME mc² DSP app, between the Power Core DSP mixing engine & modular I/O device for radio and TV applications and the HOME Power Core app introduced at NAB 2025, color correction provided by .edge or the HOME Color Corrector app, and so on.

Why is this? The most obvious difference is that most software-defined hardware tools developed by Lawo provide audio or video processing in addition to I/O functionality, which makes them suitable for smaller setups. The A__UHD Core still is a formidable audio DSP solution for live performances, for recording applications, and increasingly also for TV and radio stations that regularly cover live performances. Similar to the Power Core for radio and TV, which can be shared by up to four on-air studios, the A__UHD Core is capable of independently processing audio controlled by up to 32 mixing consoles of different sizes or even “headless” systems.

A sound rule of thumb (no pun intended) may therefore be that, for “straightforward” occasions such as opera performances, live concerts, entertainment in sports venues, house-of-worship applications, radio, corporate installs, etc., a hardware device may be easier to get your head around than an IT server running the near-equivalent HOME App. It essentially comes down to the complexity of your infrastructure and to the next steps your outfit may be planning further down the line.

Triple Mixing & Matching

In larger production hubs and broadcast facilities, on the other hand, purchasing hardware devices for each and every processing application has resulted in a large number of devices in the datacenter, most of which run idle most of the time. Of course, a powerful control system in charge of the entire facility, and some clever programming, has allowed users to purchase fewer units, because the underlying IP network makes it easy to access the remaining processors from various locations, so that they can be easily allocated to the control room or studio that requires their functionality at any given time.

More energy, cooling and real estate can be saved by using generic IT servers, however. The power consumption of a sever indeed depends on how many of its cores are solicited. In combination with the possibility for users to start and stop HOME Apps as required, a server’s energy consumption is close to zero when all apps are inactive. Hardware processors, on the other hand, always require the same amount of power and cooling, irrespective of whether or not they are actually in use.

Moving processing to the cloud may look like a solution to the environmental considerations, even though most of us will admit that doing so essentially shifts the energy consumption and cooling aspects to a different part of the world. And we haven’t even touched on unexpected budget issues that may turn out to be a far cry from plain sailing.

This is why Lawo initially developed its HOME Apps for IT servers running on-prem or in a private cloud (a networked datacenter controlled by the broadcaster or service provider), whose benefits are similar to those offered by a public cloud, except that a private cloud is closed to the outside world and thus no unforeseen expenses need to be taken into account.

The architecture of HOME Apps is such that it makes no difference where they run—they are hardware-agnostic. A hybrid private/public cloud approach to better suit the requirements at hand is therefore possible at all times. As stated earlier, certain HOME Apps are functional equivalents to readily available Lawo hardware solutions. Mixing and matching both public and private servers with dedicated hardware on prem can provide users with highly effective workflows.

In other words, while their entire infrastructure is based on a SMPTE ST2110 IP backbone, users are free to keep using their existing SDI devices alongside IT servers in their data center as well as in the public cloud, for two-pronged mix-and-match workflows. With the help of a powerful Broadcast Controller system such as VSM, such a hardware-private-public workflow is able to provide highly effective workflows.

Beyond The Network As We Know It

Lawo’s HOME Apps are hardware-agnostic processing apps for video, audio and ancillary services required in the broadcast, live entertainment and corporate install spaces. Where applicable, the user experience is very similar to the one offered by a Lawo hardware device that provides a comparable feature set. On an mc² console, for instance, it will be impossible for users to tell whether they are controlling an A__UHD Core hardware processor or its HOME mc² DSP app equivalent.

But looks are deceptive—a key feature, as it turns out—because, under the hood, the software building blocks of the two offerings are rather different animals. This is based on a deliberate choice: lifting and shifting the software originally developed for an FPGA device would make it difficult to leverage the benefits of a CPU- or GPU-based architecture that precisely allow the apps to exceed the feature set offered by the A__UHD Core, Power Core, or .edge (in terms of processing), while steering clear of inducing more latency. HOME Apps’ entirely different, “server-ready” architecture debunks the surprisingly persistent myth that CPU-based processing apps are inherently slower than FPGA-based ones.

The containerized approach has furthermore allowed Lawo to introduce its first batch of HOME Apps with an integrated Workspace user interface. Thanks to their Workspace UI, the HOME Commentary, HOME Video Monitor and HOME mc² crystal Controller apps can be controlled from any mobile device (smartphone, tablet or laptop) with an HTML5-based browser.

Thanks to the web protocol employed, there is no limit to the physical separation between the user interface and the server where the associated HOME App is running, allowing commentators, sports celebrities and contributors, for instance, to provide on- or off-tube commentary from their favorite locations. The result of working with this HTML5-based approach is much snappier than any setup used in the past for multilingual commentary. And it requires little or no hardware in addition to a pair of headphones, a microphone (for commentary), or just an AR headset.

Taking Credit For Provisioning

HOME Apps can be used with a mix of perpetual licenses and subscription credits. The latter refer to a payment system that is available for any and all apps, plus optional licenses for .edge and the HOME management platform. As long as none of these are used, all credits reside in your virtual wallet. Spinning up a HOME App will block the required number of credits until you stop the app again, after which those credits are released and can be allocated to different apps users may need for different workflows.

The ability to start and stop HOME Apps and to run them on credits that do not burn down makes it easy to prepare workflows for recurring as well as one-off productions using VSM. In collaboration with Skyline Communications/DataMiner, Lawo has initiated the development of a resource scheduling solution that will allow users to provision the required HOME Apps along with the credits they require for upcoming productions. The scheduling software keeps track of how many credits and CPU cores will be needed for future productions and warns operators if an insufficient number of either will be available at any given time. This is much faster and probably more efficient than using a spreadsheet.

This provisioning service was the missing link for a Dynamic Media Facility based on hardware-agnostic apps that run on generic IT servers and the Lawo FLEX Subscription Credit system. While the VSM control system will remain a cornerstone of any live production infrastructure, it currently lacks the ability to look into the future. With DataMiner, operators now have all the building blocks they need to change their virtualized infrastructure by allocating the required processing resources ahead of time, secure in the knowledge that all elements required to keep their production setup humming will be available.

Time To Get Your Apps In A Row

Announced a little over two years ago, the true agility and elasticity of a Lawo-based technology stack is unfolding before your very eyes: users are free to keep using processing hardware that still does the job, adding server-based solutions as certain parts of their infrastructure are retired. What’s more, several HOME Apps can run on a single generic server. Eventually, this will lead to an all-software infrastructure that consumes a fraction of the energy and cooling needed for bespoke hardware, takes up less space on prem and in OB trucks, and can run in private and public clouds as required.

Coupled with a credit-based Lawo FLEX Subscription system for the “modular part” of their infrastructure—in addition to perpetual licenses for processing capability that is required 24/7—and the ability to schedule the availability of processing stacks in terms of CPU and GPU core usage and credits, this app-based approach is beginning to make bespoke hardware with a limited number of tricks up its sleeve look slightly dated.

As we saw, existing FPGA hardware is still a viable alternative, especially if it provides a shared credit system for optional add-on licenses for edge processing and audio matrix purposes. But given the leaps and bounds by which the number crunching heft of generic IT servers is advancing, broadcast and pro AV vendors need to focus on what really adds value to just about any machine: the software that performs the processing magic.

Now would be a good time to take a fresh look at your infrastructure.