In broadcast and production, true innovation rarely comes from a single breakthrough. It emerges when multiple vendors, disciplines, and technologies align around a shared vision. For Telos Alliance, that vision has always centered on open standards, interoperability, and empowering broadcasters with tools that let them focus on creativity rather than complexity. That’s exactly why we’ve committed ourselves to the MXL initiative.

MXL can help complex systems become truly interoperable.

As an audio processing provider, we believe that great audio should be deployable anywhere: on‑prem, in the cloud, or at the edge. Engineers shouldn’t have to reinvent their integration strategy every time they adopt a new platform! MXL directly supports this philosophy, especially in Dynamic Media Facilities. It provides a unified way to deploy our technology across virtualized environments with the same integration effort, dramatically reducing friction for both vendors and customers. Our history with Livewire, AES67, and other open‑standards work reflects a simple truth: audio never exists in isolation. It’s part of a larger ecosystem, and open standards allow each vendor to excel at what they do best while still playing well with others.

Why MXL Matters Now

The industry has been inching toward cloud‑native production for years, but the transition has been slowed by one persistent challenge: applications still behave like they’re living in the SDI era. They package and ship data around the system, whether as 2110, SRT, NDI, or something else, like parcels that need to be wrapped, labeled, and routed. That model isn’t efficient anymore, and it certainly isn’t built for the elasticity that modern production demands.

MXL changes the paradigm. Instead of moving data between applications, it allows them to share audio, video, and metadata instantly within the same memory workspace. The result is ultra‑low latency, smoother interoperability across vendors, and far more efficient use of compute resources. It’s a cleaner, more modern way to build scalable, cloud‑native workflows  - without the overhead and configuration burden that has slowed adoption in the past.

Does MXL Require a Full Infrastructure Overhaul?

Short answer: it depends on where a broadcaster is in their IP journey.

For organizations that have already embraced virtualization and containerized workflows, the shift is relatively light. Most of the work happens at the application layer, updating containerized services to support MXL. There’s no need to rip out infrastructure or redesign the entire plant.

MXL can help eliminate costly infrastructure changes.

For SDI‑centric facilities, the leap is larger. The challenge isn’t just infrastructure; it’s workflow design, staff training, and organizational readiness. Those who have already transitioned to SMPTE 2110 will find the path much smoother.

Streamlining Production Through Shared Context

The real power of MXL lies in its ability to simplify operations. Eliminating the need for every tool to package and move data through complex pipelines removes tremendous friction; teams can scale up or down more easily, integrate new services faster, and focus on creative output rather than technical bottlenecks. For audio specifically, it means our processing tools can interact with other applications in real time, without the latency or overhead of traditional transport layers.

Will this also impact the latency of live broadcasts? Yes, but only to a point. MXL minimizes latency inside the production environment, but the biggest contributors to end‑to‑end delay remain encoders, GOP structures, bitrates, and CDNs. MXL optimizes the production side; delivery still depends on the broader distribution chain.

The Open‑Source Challenge

Making MXL open source is a strategic decision that requires vendors to examine their internal architectures. Every company has its own recipe of core technologies, transport layers, platform designs, and shared‑memory models. MXL disrupts parts of that foundation, forcing each vendor to choose between building a fully native implementation or creating a bridge that connects their existing stack to MXL. Both approaches are valid, and many vendors will pursue hybrid strategies. Whatever path they choose, the important thing is that the ecosystem remains open, transparent, and collaborative.

A Foundation for the Future

For Telos Alliance, MXL represents more than a technical milestone. It’s a commitment to a future where media workflows are open, efficient, and built for the realities of cloud‑native production. It aligns perfectly with our belief that interoperability isn’t just a feature, but the very foundation of innovation. And with MXL, that foundation just got a whole lot stronger.