Ross Video

Ross Video

Rosslogo
Industry	ICT - Broadcast and Media segment
Founded	1974
Founder	John Ross
Headquarters	Iroquois, Ontario, Canada
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	David Ross (CEO) George Angus (CFO) Jeff Moore (Senior VP & CMO) Troy English (CTO)
Number of employees	500
Website	http://www.rossvideo.com/

Ross Video Ltd is a privately held Canadian company that designs and manufactures equipment for live event and video production. The company's signature product line is production switchers, or vision mixers, which were the basis for the founding of the company. The company’s products are used daily in over 100 countries by broadcast television networks, cable TV networks, sports stadiums, live production companies, government agencies and houses of worship. Ross Video's headquarters and manufacturing operations are located in Iroquois, Ontario, Canada, while their R&D labs are in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

History

Ross Video was founded in 1974 by John Ross, who provided the initial seed money by selling his refurbished World War II trainer aircraft. From the basement of his house, John developed the 16-4 analog switcher that would be a commercial success for the company – as well as a groundbreaking technology for that time. Hailed a pioneer in Canadian broadcast technology development, John Ross launched his next series of switchers in 1978, which introduced the now industry standard "Next Transition Operation" concepts, including the first patent for "Transition Preview" now used by almost all higher end switchers made in the industry. Ross Video continued to grow from the success of various switchers that include the RVS-210A, which sold for 25 years and the CDK-104, which became a fixture in most telecine suites around the world.

In 1998, Ross Video made the leap from composite analog switchers to component digital switchers. Their first digital switcher, called Synergy, sold over 3000 units by being smaller than traditional switchers, doubling the available inputs and increasing the amount of effects that operators could add to their programs. In 2004, Ross Video entered the HD market and introduced OverDrive, a product designed to automate live video production environments. During this process, Ross Video needed to redesign their gear frame racks to accommodate HD. This led to their creation of the openGear terminal equipment standard, a standard terminal equipment platform for broadcast and production distribution and conversion equipment.

In 1991 John's son, David, began working full-time at Ross Video, managing all switcher product development and working closely with the sales and marketing team. David was promoted to director, Product Development, and later to executive vice president, followed by a promotion to president, and finally to CEO in 2006. In 2005, David assumed the position of chairman of the board and became the majority shareholder of Ross Video, owning 90 per cent of shares with employees of the company owning the remaining 10 per cent.

In 2010, Ross Video completed its acquisition of Norpak Corporation and in September of the same year acquired Codan Broadcast, leading to the company broadening its influence in the Asia-Pacific region with the establishment of Ross Video Australia.

In December 2011, Ross Video acquired FX-Motion Robotic Camera Systems, a Belgian company founded by entrepreneur Stijn Vanorbeek. FX-Motion was best known for its Furio product line, which had an absolute positioning system and rail-based tracking. As a result of the acquisition, Vanorbeek was named the head of Ross Robotics and Furio was incorporated into Ross Video's product line.

In 2012, continuing their foray into robotic camera systems, Ross Video acquired a San Diego-based company, Cambotics, and launched Ross Robotic Camera Systems as a division to their lineup of products and solutions. Cambotics products then became the CamBot series within Ross Robotics, and Cambotics co-founders Bob Scotto and Miles Spellman joined Ross Robotics as Chief Hardware Architect and Chief Software Architect respectively.

In 2013, Ross Video acquired Montalto, a research and development company with experience in broadcast routing systems. The focus of the acquisition was to advance Ross Video’s routing systems line, and contribute technology and products to the openGear product portfolio. In the same year, Ross Video also acquired Mobile Content Providers (MCP), a full-service mobile sports production packager that delivers content to major sports networks, universities and international organizations. This led to the creation of Ross Mobile Productions (RMP), in order to help Ross become a national mobile production company and offer full-service production packages and rental services that deliver network-quality production.

In 2014, Ross Video acquired Automated Data Systems (ADS), a company who creates solutions for data delivery, automation and broadcast production requirements. The company’s main product is EZNews, a newsroom editorial system used by television journalists to produce newscasts. Ross Video continues to support EZNews, alongside its own NRCS, Inception News. In April 2014, Ross Video acquired Unreel LLC, an augmented reality (AR) and virtual set (VS) solutions provider. This enabled Ross Video to become the only company in the broadcast industry able to offer a single-vendor turnkey AR/VS studio solution. Ross Video uses Unreel’s UX AR/VS control software and UX design services, alongside multiple Ross Video products to deliver AR/VS solutions.

In April 2014, Ross also introduced OpenTruck, a remote-production initiative that enables to cost-effective network-quality production.

Products and Solutions

Production Switchers

• Acuity
  • Introduced in April 2014, large, high performance switcher
• Vision
  • Versatile production switcher
• Vision Tritium
  • Mid-sized, high-end production power
• Carbonite
  • Mid-sized production switcher
• CrossOver
  • Low-budget professional-grade switcher

Control Systems

• OverDrive
  • Automated production control system
• DashBoard Facility Control and Monitoring
  • Open control platform that provides control to 50+ partners and most Ross Video products

Real Time Motion Graphics Systems

• XPression
  • 3D character generator and broadcast production graphics

Robotic Camera Systems

• Furio Robo [Full Robotics System]
  • Pan-Tilt-Zoom Head (PTZ), Rail Based Dolly System with telescopic lift and a sophisticated IP based control system
• Furio RC [Remote Control System]
  • Fully Remote and Motion Controllable robotic camera dolly with complete camera and lens control
• CamBot 500 Series - Pan / Tilt Head
  • 70lb load capacity, ideal for where space is constrained and no motorized elevation is needed
• CamBot 600 Series Pan / Tilt / Elevation
  • 125lb load capacity, available as standalone product for tripod/pedestal mounting, with robotic elevation column
• CamBot 700 Series [Studio Robotics System]
  • Fully remote, robust, durable and precise studio workhorses, distinguished by their ability to accept payloads up to 200 pounds

Routing Systems

• Ultrix
  • Compact routing systems up to 72x72 with 12Gbit/s UHD on every port, integrated audio processing and multiviewing
• NK Series
  • Routing system with various matrix sizes
• MC1 Master Control System
  • Built to meet the demands of the 24/7 operation

Video Servers

There are four different models of the BlackStorm Player Server:

• BVS-102P
  • Entry-level two channel playout server
• BVS-104P
  • Server with four independent playout channels
• BVS-102P-SSD
  • A powerful solid state two-channel playout server with four hours of internal HD storage
• BVS-104P-SSD
  • Four-channel playout with solid state drives

Terminal Equipment

• openGear
  • Open architecture platform designed to provide flexibility from a variety of manufacturers
• 7000/8000 Series
  • Analog/digital, audio/video distribution, converters, encoders, decoders, synchronization and keyers
• GearLite
  • Ross GearLite products are small portable modulus designed to adapt a piece of equipment to source or accept a signal of a different format,
• TES Series
  • TES Series in a platform for encoding, inserting, receiving, bridging and multiplexing digital data in [VBI] and [VANC] Television signal
• Nielsen Encoders
  • The Nielson product tracks the television and media-viewing habits of homes across the United States

Teleprompter Software

• EZPrompt Prompting System
  • Teleprompter software designed for Microsoft Windows with dual screen/multiple monitor support

Social Media Management

• Inception
  • Online social media management platform designed to enable efficient and controlled delivery of stories, promotions, messages and announcements through social media

Newsroom Computer System

• Inception News
  • Allows news production teams to collaborate with digital media and web groups to create and distribute content across multiple social media platforms
• EZNews
  • NRCS for multi-media news production and automation

Legislative Control System

This is a complete, automated production for legislatures, consisting of robotic cameras mounts, the Carbonite production switcher, and the XPression graphics system.

Locations

Ross Video has corporate offices in North America, Europe and Australia, and supporting sales and service operations located around the world. The company’s manufacturing operations and its headquarters for administration, finance and marketing are located in Iroquois, Canada. Ottawa, Canada, is home to the company’s research and development as well as its North American product training and demonstration center.

External links

• Ross Video
• openGear.tv
• OpenTruck