Evertz debuts X-CALIBER 1RU platform handling 128 JPEG XS paths

Evertz unveiled X-CALIBER at NAB 2026 on the opening floor day, a 1RU encoding and decoding platform capable of running up to 128 JPEG XS paths or up to 64 HEVC or H.264 paths per unit. The hardware uses eight hot-swappable XIO processing blades, allowing failed blades to be replaced without taking the unit offline. Evertz is showing the platform at North Hall booth N817.

X-CALIBER integrates with MAGNUM-OS for network orchestration and with evertz.io XChange for cloud stream management. Those two integration points position it as a component in a broader software-defined infrastructure stack rather than a standalone encoder box. The platform scales from single-channel deployments up to over 100 channels within a single rack unit, a density ratio that is relevant for facilities managing large channel counts in limited physical space.

The target markets Evertz cites are live sports production, remote production, and large-scale distribution — environments where minimizing rack space while maximizing redundancy is a persistent operational constraint. The hot-swap blade design directly addresses one of the practical objections to high-density 1RU deployments: that a single hardware failure takes down a disproportionate number of channels.