naxtlab

2023.05.04

Hey everyone! NEXTLab attended an overseas exhibition for the second time! The event is the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Show 2023, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. This time, the NAB Show celebrated its centennial, and was even bigger than before.

There were 4 major themes - “Create, Connect, Capitalize, Intelligent Content” on the show floor. Over 1,200 exhibitors from the broadcasting and communication industry attended from around the world, and the number of attendees was 65,013! It doesn’t stop there. The number of potential buyers was 39,053! Isn’t that surprising? There’s a reason the NAB Show is considered as one of the most famous exhibitions in the field.

NEXTLab looked forward to showcasing the ‘Intelligent Monkey Test’ solution at the event, as it innovates the test automation sector by combining the strengths of both conventional testing methods, which are script-based testing and random-based testing. It allows the QA (quality assurance) engineers to designate certain areas, such as apps, UI, or menus for testing, and they can also specify the test ratio for each region.

So, without further ado, let’s hear what it was like to actually BE at the NAB Show from our engineer, Junhan Kim!

Q. Hi! This April, the NAB Show was held in the lively city of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Please tell me your first impression of the city and how you felt.

Engineer Junhan Kim(hereafter J): As soon as I landed at the airport, I could already feel “Wow, I’m in Vegas!” because there were slot machines and roulettes everywhere. Every hotel I visited owned a casino, which was very surprising to me. When I walked down the street, I noticed large LED monitors everywhere, and everything was so expensive! I really felt that there were lots of rich people in Vegas. I even tried some slot machines, but personally, playing games at the game centers in Korea was more fun for me. Maybe Las Vegas is not living up to its fame, since there are lots of cities in the world that have a night life and flamboyant signs.

Q. How did you feel throughout the entire show period?

J: Well, this was my second overseas business trip. My first one was when I visited a broadcasting and telecommunication exhibition in Indonesia, but back then, I was just a visitor and not an exhibitor. So actually, you can say that this is my first time attending such a large event as an exhibitor. Naturally, I was very nervous. Most of the visitors attended the show on the first two days, Sunday and Monday, so I was too busy and wasn’t myself. However, on the third day, I got to my senses and visited other companies’ booths and took a look at their solutions as well. Also, since the two colleagues that accompanied me were in charge of business development and sales, talking with them opened my eyes to the business aspect of our solution. Plus, it was refreshing to take a break from developing.

Q. This time, NEXTLab exhibited at the Korean pavilion with the help of KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) and KICTA (Korea Information and Communication Technology Industry Association). In your opinion, what are the good points of exhibiting at the Korean pavilion compared to exhibiting on our own?

J: Definitely, there was a lot of help from KOTRA and KICTA before the show, and my favorite part was that they aided us financially with the booth rent fee and introduced a translator. Also, I felt more relieved to hear Korean nearby, toning down the feeling of isolation that I might have felt if we had exhibited alone. In addition, it was easier to compare other Korean companies’ booth design for future reference. However, when I visited the French pavilion that was also exhibiting at the West Hall, I was envious of their stand design, because they set up a big rooster which represents France and made it their theme. Perhaps it would’ve been better to grab visitors’ attention if we had a trademark like that as our theme at the Korean pavilion, too.

Q. Which booth and solution was the most impressive at the NAB Show 2023?

J: The most impressive booth would be undisputedly the AWS (Amazon Web Services) booth. They had a ‘Soccer Free Kick Challenge’ event, and since it was a chance for the visitors to move their body, it quickly gathered attention. The most intriguing solution was a camera editing tool. Normally, when K-pop shows are recorded, it’s up to the camera crew to input zoom in/zoom out video effects. But with this solution, anyone can input the same types of video effects easily on a pre-recorded video. Although the solution was not relevant to NEXTLab, I was personally very interested in it.

Q. Were there many companies that provided test and measurement automation solutions at the show? How competitive are NEXTLab’s solutions in the global market?

J: Personally, I think NEXTLab’s solutions are very competitive in the global market. At the show, I saw many solutions that monitor the current status of VODs and live streaming. It was a little difficult to find a solution like ours that integrates so many features, such as LKFS (loudness) measurement, UI reaction time measurement, and macro block/screen freeze detection. Our solution runs tests automatically, recording all the logs and video if an issue occurs, and visualizes them so that our clients can find errors and their causes quickly. I believe that we can effectively reduce the time and labor cost in the QA process, and pinpoint the exact cause of issues to the appropriate development teams. Since we always think about making our clients’ workflow more comfortable, and customize our solutions to best fit their needs, we can surely compete in the global market if we overcome the first-to-market effect of our competitors.

Q. Thank you for taking valuable time for this interview. Last but not least, could you share an entertaining anecdote about your experience at the show?

J: Oh, actually, Jaehyun left his bag at the monorail, and we thought that we were doomed because it contained all the cash and credit cards for the business trip. But to my surprise, an anonymous angel brought it back to the NAB Show information desk, and we recovered it within an hour! I would be forever grateful to the mysterious person who saved us.

I was delighted to listen to the story of NEXTLab’s engineer, Junhan Kim, throughout the interview. Thanks to him, I was able to draw a picture of what the exhibition was like although I didn’t attend it in person. The NAB Show 2023 was a great opportunity to showcase NEXTLab’s newest solution, and as there were so many exhibitors from around the world, we could gauge the strengths of our solution objectively.

NEXTLab will continue to exhibit in broadcasting & telecommunication exhibitions in the future. May we increase our brand awareness with relentless effort!