Two big wins and three key takeaways: LucidLink at NAB 2026

That’s a wrap on NAB 2026. And what a show it was.

Hundreds of demos, tens of partner sessions, three happy hours and more conversations about files, workflows and AI than even we anticipated. Not to mention a couple of major industry awards.

By the numbers

58,000 NAB attendees
487 demos delivered
1 NAB Product of the Year
1 TV Tech Best of Show
18 live partner & workflow sessions
3 happy hours with Projective, TPN and Varnish (drinks consumed: inconclusive)

Beyond the awards and the busy booth, NAB gave us some insights into where the industry is heading. Here are our highlights and what we learned.

NAB Product of the Year winners, five years running

We had to start here. 

LucidLink won NAB Product of the Year for the fifth consecutive year, this time for LucidLink Connect, which also picked up TV Tech’s Best of Show on its debut NAB.

Both mean a lot. They're validation that the problems we're solving are the right ones, and that the way we're solving them is resonating with the people who do the most demanding work in the industry. 

LucidLink Connect helps teams close the gap between their production data and workflows. It provides instant streaming access to data stored in S3, cloud drives and workflow tools in LucidLink, without moving, copying or re-ingesting any of it.

And with our Emmy sitting at the booth this year, we also had a pretty good conversation starter. 

Beyond one big launch

In the past, LucidLink has used NAB to spotlight a single new product launched at the show. This year was different, with a number of recent launches coming together to show how far the LucidLink Platform has come.

The main message? Instead of being somewhere files sit, storage is becoming where workflows start.

We showed that in practice across the full platform: our filespace for instant cloud collaboration, LucidLink Connect for activating existing drives and tools without migration, TeamCache for local speed at on-site locations with limited bandwidth, web and mobile for every role and our new Developer Platform for teams who want to automate operations, integrate systems and build workflows in code.

For partners, we also launched the LucidLink Management Platform, a single place to register deals, manage customers, track renewals and support upgrades.

This led to deeper conversations, with teams and partners considering new ways that LucidLink can fit into their whole stack.

What NAB told us about where things are heading

Every year NAB surfaces something useful about where the industry actually is versus where the conversation says it is. This year, a few things stood out.

Files are having a moment

As expected, there was plenty of AI buzz. But the mood had shifted noticeably from last year. 

Anxiety about what AI means for jobs has evolved into curiosity and enthusiasm about what it can automate. Media teams are running AI workflows that handle busywork like tagging so they can focus on the work that they enjoy.

Less "what do we do with this?", and more "how do we actually build it?". 

The thread running through a lot of these conversations: file systems are emerging as central to AI workflows.

It makes sense. Files are the most practical common interface between humans, tools and AI agents: context, memory and access control all map naturally to a file-based model. 

When AI is embedded in your production workflow, the question isn't whether you need files. It's more around whether your storage infrastructure can handle them at scale, in real time, across a distributed team.

And that's exactly the problem LucidLink has been solving for media teams for years. Watch this space.

The single source of truth is becoming real

One of the most consistent themes across booth conversations and partner sessions was the cost and complexity of moving data between tools. Copy it for editing. Copy it again for review. Stage it before ingest and duplicate it for backup. Rinse and repeat.

LucidLink Connect was built to fix this. The idea is simple: your data stays where it is, and LucidLink Connect surfaces it in your filespace — from S3, Frame.io, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint and more — without migration or re-ingestion. 

AWS showed this in action at NAB, bridging S3 assets directly into Premiere Pro without duplication. Your data remains in-place and accessible across every tool in your stack (not just the ones inside one ecosystem).

It's a different way of thinking about storage infrastructure. And Connect’s awards confirmed the industry is ready for it.

Programmability is becoming a requirement

This year, enterprise and technical teams at NAB weren't asking for a better UI, or faster performance. 

They wanted to build on LucidLink and automate ingest, trigger workflows, connect systems that weren't designed to talk to each other.

The Developer Platform’s APIs and SDK (beta) exist for exactly that. And the conversations at NAB confirmed it's where a lot of teams are headed. 

On the show floor: sessions and partners

Alongside our partners, we ran three days of back-to-back sessions, covering everything from MAM workflows and live sports production to AI-powered video intelligence and tiered object storage.

Highlights included AWS showing how LucidLink Connect bridges S3 assets directly into Premiere Pro without duplication, Backlight and Iconik on smarter media management and Chris Swan from AWS EMEA on how TAMS is transforming fast-turnaround workflows.

Experts from Twelve Labs, Hiscale, Codemill, XenData, Dalet, Mimir, MASV, Embrace and Projective all ran brilliant sessions that showed what better together really looks like in practice. A huge thank you to every partner who joined us.

Happy hours

Every evening we handed over the booth to our partners. Drinks with Projective on Sunday, TPN on Monday and Varnish on Tuesday. The feet may have been tired, but the drinks were cold and the conversations were a highlight.

What's next

The show is done but the conversation isn't. 

Over the coming weeks we'll be sharing a deeper look at everything we launched for NAB and where we’re heading next. Keep your eyes peeled for our upcoming webinars.

If you didn't make it to the booth, we'd love to show you what you missed.