Macnica and Softron Media Services have brought to market what they call “a turnkey hardware and software bundle for high-performance SMPTE ST 2110 production.”
At IBC2026, Softron released the “M|8IP” — a bundle combines Macnica’s 100GbE MEP100 SmartNIC with eight licenses of Softron MovieRecorder 5. This, they say, offers broadcasters and media professionals a ready-to-deploy platform for moving real-time video, audio and metadata between macOS applications and standards-based IP networks.
Macnica and Softron note that the collaboration moves a joint technology demonstration introduced at the 2025 IBC conference into a complete commercial offering, reducing the integration work traditionally required to combine media I/O hardware, drivers and production software.
“Softron has built an elegant on-ramp to ST 2110 by pairing software that Mac-based production teams already know with the performance and deterministic transport of the MEP100,” said Nestor Amaya, VP of Engineering at Macnica. “This bundle turns our joint development work into something customers can purchase and deploy as a complete solution. It delivers the channel density required for demanding live workflows today while creating a foundation for the compressed and immersive formats that are quickly moving toward the mainstream.”
The MEP100 provides hardware-accelerated transport for SMPTE ST 2110 video, audio and ancillary data, helping offload real-time media movement from the host CPU while maintaining low-latency, frame-accurate performance. Its dual 100GbE interfaces support substantially higher channel density than competing Mac-compatible 100GbE media I/O options, with up to 32 uncompressed HD video streams in and 32 out, depending on format, when installed in a supported Mac Studio configuration.
Softron’s M|8IP bundle initially combines the MEP100 with eight MovieRecorder 5 licenses for multichannel ingest. Customers can select firmware for uncompressed ST 2110-20 operation or ST 2110-22 workflows that support Apple ProRes compression. The latter enables compressed and uncompressed video on the same platform and supports high-resolution formats including 8K live immersive video, subject to the selected Mac and connectivity configuration. That flexibility addresses both established broadcast applications and a new generation of experiential production, such as the live immersive sports broadcasts featured by Major League Baseball this fall.
The bundle also preserves a standards-based growth path. Broadcasters can begin with familiar Softron ingest tools and expand within an interoperable ST 2110 environment rather than committing to a closed, purpose-built appliance. Support for PTP timing, NMOS IS-04 discovery and IS-05 connection management, and SMPTE ST 2022-7 seamless protection switching helps the platform integrate into resilient professional IP facilities.
— Brian Galante, in Amsterdam
