This Whisper Report investigates how will robotics in packaging reshape enterprise ops? It explores how flexibility, efficiency, and human–machine collaboration are quietly redefining operations on modern packaging floors, based on firsthand industry perspectives from the field. Cited experts: Mike DeGrace, Universal Robots; Mike Wolf, Signode; Rich Parkhurst, KUKA; Mike Renzetti, Robotunits Inc.; Brett Olson, SICK Sensor Intelligence; Brand Winer, Cognex.
The event featured over 12,000 transportation stakeholders, 2400 fleet operators and over 400 exhibits.
Cautions
Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.
Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.
Just because a technology can do something in general doesn’t mean it will work in your environment or in a governed fashion. It is critical to validate a technology including its false positive and error rates.
Voltra enables end-to-end energy management via a software solution. This solution integrates into your charging infrastructure, cellular connectivity, battery storage, and solar generation. The data from this integration is leveraged for advanced diagnostics and streamlined deployment.
FractalEV charges and optimizes your fleet. You no longer have to use an unintelligent charging station for your fleet. FractalEV integrates asset management tooling directly into the charging hardware station. This integration enables management of power loads and data across multiple units. As a Level 2 hardware manufacturer, your fleets will be fully charged overnight as is required at the enterprise level.
If you are moving to electrification, it is not just your fleet that needs updating. You must update your facilities. That update will require the assistance of a professional engineer. Fortunately, ACT Expo had professional engineering firms on hand such as Colliers Engineers. Colliers Engineering specializes in local coordination including the critical steps of coordination with the local municipalities and jurisdictions, an often-forgotten step.
Total cost of ownership of your fleet weighing you down? Burns & McDonnell would like to help you through any power transition to maintain business advantages. With 130 years as an engineering construction firm, they are a top power contender across the USA. From coast-to-coast they have worked with utilities leveraging offices in all 50 states and across Canada.
Triz Engineering is offering what they call, “Engineering Certainty” through an OEM vehicle designed for you from the ground up. This customized commercial vehicle is designed to fit your needs and processes. The resulting product is designed to meet your requirements as opposed to imposed requirements. This enables the vehicle to simply slip into your fleet issue-free.
If you are a smaller to mid-size OEM or even a start-up and in search of an electrification control unit, Ecutron was in Expo Hall. Ecutron was excited to share that their flexibility in terms of cost and timelines enables them to even serve the start-up market. To top it off, their support assists customers in successfully moving through the entire process.
In need of a natural gas fuel system? Hexagon was excited to share their system for heavy-duty trucks. Specifically, the range enables most sleeper cab use cases with travel up to 1200 miles or 1900 kilometers on a single fill. With flexible installation, Hexagon can go behind the cab OR on the rails depending on the exact truck leveraged. We were also able to capture an exclusive summary of when Hexagon discussed leveraging the right fuel for the right applications.
After 40 videos including a livestream and over a dozen fact checks, our coverage of ACT Expo 2026 closes. ACT Expo featured over 12,000 transportation stakeholders including 2400 fleet operators and over 400 exhibits. Registration and badge pick-up was quite efficient even as Expo Hall was ready to open. The event was hosted in West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Enjoy the walkabout to and through expo hall. ACT Expo made the choice to allow one of the few rooms with an overhead view of the entire expo hall to be used as the press room. Enjoy the View!
Those at the booth excitedly shared, there was no fluff at the event. Everyone who they met and spoke with was there to do business. While no details specific attendance numbers were shared at press time, the hosting organization excitedly shared there were a lot of people. The body language seemed to indicate a lot more than expected. Perhaps, recent historical events creating a surge in demand for fleets to consider advanced clean technologies. One of the more interesting features was the ride and drives. Located around the LVCC West Hall Vegas Loop Drive, it was fascinating to watch with all the huge truck cabs driving around in circles.
We always try to bring you fresh vendors in our coverage. Given we always lean towards the enterprise, you will recognize many brands in the walkabout from our coverage of other events that had some related technology such as the Manifest 2026, SEMA AAPEX, and even CES. For research on really-large vehicles, we recommend our coverage of CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026.
We once again live streamed from on site. On Tuesday requesting those attending to find me to answer future Whisper Report Questions, to introduce all to TBW Advisors LLC, and requesting assistance. Specifically, I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my syndicated segment on the May 9th nationally broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.
We conducted research for four additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available with the video version to be distributed via YouTube Whisper Club upper tier membership area on our YouTube Channel.
Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: ACT Expo 2026 Playlist in its entirety. The playlist will be sited in the end screen, description, and as a pinned comment of the video edition.
The video edition will conclude with gratitude towards those that contributed and a montage of responses to Bonus Question, “What’s the best part about attending the ACT Expo live in Las Vegas?”.
The ACT Expo will once again return to Las Vegas and will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center on May 17-20, 2027.
*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.
This Whisper Report investigates What Fintech problems are you solving in 2026? Drawing insight from on-the-ground conversations at Fintech Meetup 2026, it surfaces the pressures shaping next‑gen financial platforms and the bets leaders are quietly making. It previews how scale, trust, and automation collide before outcomes are obvious. Cited experts: Peter Daunton (Sokin), Kunal Datta (Unit21.ai), Jack Chawla (interface.ai), Liam Reaume (Sardine).
This Whisper Report investigates the question, “What’s your biggest access control challenge?” Researched at ISC West in Las Vegas, the report analyzes challenges driven by fragmented systems, persistent legacy technologies, and incomplete integrations. It finds that access control risk increasingly stems from interoperability gaps and response readiness rather than tool availability alone. Insights are drawn from Ed Hendricks of Keri Systems, Joshua Hartman of Hartman, and Peter Evans of Xtract One.
“NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas convened over 58,000 media and broadcast professionals across production, distribution, and operations. On the show floor, conversations centered on evolving broadcast stacks, asset management realities, creation workflows, and physical infrastructure. Examples on display reflected shifts toward flexibility, scalability, and integration without consensus on where standardization ultimately settles across the industry today.”
The Conference
A community of over 58,000 media and broadcast professionals gathered at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
70% of the attendees were buyers with 48% were first-time registered attendees.
Cautions
Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.
Just because a technology can do something in general doesn’t mean it will work in your environment. It is critical to validate a technology including its false positive and error rates.
The Lexi Language Layer by AI Media acts as a secure regulated gateway for major broadcasters ensuring captioning and language services meet strict broadcast standards. With an incredible 80% market share, this platform enables AI native tool integration at the final point of broadcast distribution. This in turn enables the capture of valuable viewer and content insights. All of this capability has been moved from a traditional Capex model to an Opex model enabling broadcasters to quickly update their equipment.
Brightcove is all about scale achieved through strategic innovation and investment. In fact, Brightcove was acquired by Bending Spoons resulting in over 20 new major features and capabilities since the closing a year ago. Brightcove brings their end-to-end solution to Broadcasters, Media Networks, Sports Networks, and Publishers.
Moving coverage from the platform to networks, one of the longest desires in broadcasting is the ability to leverage Internet-based flexible workflows. Zixi started with this goal in mind and delivers a dynamic protocol translation including IP. They are excited about the ease with which they enable their customers to create regional variants for thousands of events at once. This enablement spans language, cultural, and local requirements without physical hardware in every market.
WOWZA provides media infrastructure that can run on your laptop, avoiding monthly cloud fees. Their claim to fame is the ability to connect users to live video feeds. Since it can run on a laptop, they are able to operate behind firewalls to provide a video intelligence framework or the plumbing to apply AI. This AI can be applied to live video in real-time. Furthermore, this solution runs on a Java stack enabling portability across Linux, Windows, macOS, and containerized laptops.
Many in media have mountains and mountains of data but have no idea what they have or more importantly cannot find what they want on demand. Axle AI enables semantics search over all your videos. Thanks to an acquisition since we last covered them, they now feature extensive capabilities for photographs as well. If your organization insists data must remain localized for security and data control reasons, Axle AI has you covered. Finally, the solution runs in a browser.
One of the more difficult tasks in media workflows is how to ensure everyone has access to what they need without extensive delays. The IT team worries about the network costs of constantly moving massive amounts of data. In the meantime, legal is terribly worried about having the organization’s IP spread everywhere. Lucidlink prides itself on enabling global instant access to media teams from centralized storage without massive, constant file movement.
Planetcast provides an end-to-end broadcast ecosystem powered by 100% Planetcast intellectual property and code. This ownership enables full control over the infrastructure enabling flexible, hybrid, workflow operations. A key focus today is empowering customers with searchability and meta indexing for asset management.
Endless sessions run throughout the event. For example, here is a quick peek at, “How fortune brands are betting on Creatives”. In this session, it was emphasized that organizations should develop ecosystems and relationships as opposed to strictly transactional. The best relationships have the most impact over time, not just a one-off advertisement hit piece.
So how can one create these wonderful assets? Coming soon to a Library, Media Room, or Shared office space near you is Studiomatics’ One-button Studio Go recording kiosk. Enjoy the demo to understand how easy this sophisticated system is to operate. From auto user detection to integrated digital lightboard, whiteboard, and easy content sharing, everything is automated right to the delivery of the created video.
A software solution that aggregates asset libraries, collaboration tools, enterprise features, Freepik enables IT and security over all AI models. Furthermore, their complete creative studio enables real-time collaboration and offers support and training.
Backpacks are an asset in any industry, but in media many carry sensitive, heavy equipment, particularly cameras and related gear. The Wandrd backpack shared their solution that provides 3 different sizes and 7 colors portfolio. Each pack works with a series of modular interior camera cubes. This flexibility alongside their designs with zippers anywhere you might need one, it’s a fun product to evaluate for your needs if you’re in media or simply want a highly useful, flexible, backpack system.
A common required asset in the media, commercial, LED displays, unlike those of consumers’, are specifically designed for long, often continuous operations. GCL was excited to share that they have a warehouse full of inventory in Dallas, Texas. Their inventory is ready to go them with 3-year local support. GCL has been manufacturing LED displays for 27 years.
After over 50 videos including two livestreams and over a dozen fact checks, our coverage of NAB Show 2026 closes. Registration was quite efficient and was available at every hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center sans South Hall that hosted another event – Wrestle Mania Fan Fest. West Hall featured the AI Innovation Pavilion, Start-Up Pavilion, and Sports Theater. Central Hall hosted the Creator Center, TV and Radio Headquarters as well as a massive networking lounge. North Hall hosted the Main Stage and vendors related to production workflows. The standard transportation options were available at the Las Vegas Convention Center be it the Vegas Loop or taking the West to North Hall connector bridge. Likewise, the standard eateries across West Hall and Central and North Halls including their shared food court.
We always try to bring you fresh vendors in our coverage, but you will recognize many brands in the walkabout from our coverage of prior NAB Shows in 2025 and 2024, as well as InfoComm.
We once again live streamed from on site. On Sunday from North Hall and Monday from West Hall. Specifically, we request those attending to find me to answer Questions 1-6, to introduce all to TBW Advisors LLC, and request assistance. Specifically, I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my syndicated segment on the April 25th nationally broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.
We conducted research for six additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available with the video version to be distributed via YouTube Whisper Club upper tier membership area on our YouTube Channel.
Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: NAB Show 2026 Las Vegas Playlist in its entirety. The playlist will be sited in the end screen, description, and as a pinned comment of the video edition.
The video edition will conclude with gratitude towards those that contributed and a montage of responses to Bonus Question, “What’s the best part about attending the NAB Show live in Las Vegas?”.
The 2026 Vegas NAB Show will once again return to Las Vegas Convention Center on April 4-7, 2027.
*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples of products in the same category may have also been on display.
Published to Whisper Club: April 21, 2026 ID: TBW2142
Published to Readers: April 21, 2026
Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli
ABSTRACT
“This Whisper Report investigates what’s the hardest problem in robotics no one solved. It follows the technologists who reveal why extreme environments, continuous learning during operation, and the elusive quest for a universal foundational model still defy today’s best systems. The full story hints at breakthroughs but leaves the biggest twist ahead. Cited experts: Dr. Yuxin Zhang, Widemount Dynamics Tech Limited; Pai-Heng Hsiao, “Memorence “AI; Anson Yuen, Scanbotics.”
“This Whisper Report investigates when clinical artificial intelligence becomes unsafe, signaling where scrutiny, safeguards, and infrastructure begin slipping across clinical environments. Readers will discover the pivotal checkpoints leaders watch to protect patients, preserve trust, and steer responsible adoption without stalling innovation. Cited experts: Hal Wolf, HIMSS; Scott Francis, Ricoh Document Scanners; Joe Graw, ImageTrend; Braheem Santos, Schneider Electric.”
This Whisper Report investigates what jobsite tech boosts output most today? At CONEXPO‑CON/AGG, practitioners surface where productivity truly moves—beyond hype—highlighting overlooked levers shaping cycle time, safety, and uptime this year. Read on for the signals that matter now. Cited experts: Nate Jones (Weir–Esco Division), Christopher Sommer (MOBA Automation), Joel Honeyman (Doosan Bobcat), Nicolas Legrand (John Deere).
Fintech Meetup 2026 in Las Vegas filled the show floor with live discussions between banks, fintechs, and platform providers. Demonstrations clustered around fraud controls, identity and onboarding, data context, lending infrastructure, payments flow, and applied AI. Across booths, emphasis shifted from point tools toward systems designed for scale, speed, and operational continuity.
Fintech Meetup featured over 50,000 meetings, with over 1,000 CEO’s and Founders, and over 700 Financial institutions
Cautions
Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.
To fully enjoy this event, be sure to meet the deadlines for filling out your profile, requesting and accepting meetings. One should also pre-register for the table talks.
Fintech is not a simple space to secure. Security isn’t a single tool but rather it’s a system. That system starts before money moves and ensures the sender and the receiver of the transaction are known. Deploying separate technologies to manage fraud, compliance, and risk in your organization? Sardine AI likes to pack all that functionality into one tidy platform to stop fraud BEFORE the payment is made.
While most Financial Crime investigation tools only see and investigate the tip of the iceberg, Unit21.ai would like to change that. Garnering the most attention are high risk alerts which the most sophisticated criminal organizations know how to avoid triggering. This leaves many Financial Crimes such as human trafficking undetected. But what if you had unlimited trained agents to investigate? By leveraging agentic AI, Unit21.ai enables an organization to conduct an in-depth review of every single alert. No hiring backlogs. Just results.
Growth in Fintech often means getting additional clients. Such growth comes with risks. Is this new client really who they say they are? Getting this wrong is very, very, expensive. Sumsub would like to simplify this risky onboarding task. Their unified solution combines identity verification and fraud prevention. Enabling quicker decisions without increasing the risk profile. This opens the door to growth, in real-time.
Enabling frictionless, seamless access, Alcatraz is a vendor in the identity and access space and the physical cyber space. Knowing your customer and knowing your business or KYC and KYB are risk areas that get a lot of attention. To conquer this space, Alcatraz leverages facial authentication to ensure security without compromising privacy.
Banking and Fintech, like many industries, still suffer from siloed data. While identity creates signals, data gives those signals context for action. Real-time precision is a constant requirement. tacnode shared their unified data platform to provide a single source of truth. This next-generation data infrastructure platform provides a common context for your heterogeneous regulated data environment.
Effectively applying metacognition with a GPT over all customers channels for the benefit of the organization in a unified brain has arrived. Meet BankGPT by interface.ai. BankGPT enables lessons learned on customer voice interactions to improve interactions on chats or mobile applications. Whether you are seeking an employee co-pilot or a smart collections AI agent, interface.ai supports 148 languages.
The credit lifecycle is critical to Financial Institutions. From lead generation to evaluation and credit decisioning or simply educating lenders, CRS Credit API offers a comprehensive solution. Their platform covers the entire lifecycle for business-to-business or direct-to-consumer. They were also excited to share their new authentication and evaluation products with attendees.
LendAPI introduced their holistic ecosystem enabling comprehensive functionality spanning loan origination, loan management, and loan core. This compliance-ready solution provides all-in-one features enabling all the tools including consumer communication.
Placing its differentiation on its order of operations, World Connection Outsourcers focuses on using AI to ensure first contact resolution. They prioritize AI, then journey mapping, the outsourcing. From their perspective, this enables the right answers at the right time.
If your desired platform would be to unite the entire payment stack in one place, Sokin heard your request. Sokin handles cross-border payments, FX, treasury management, and checkout solutions. Not stopping there, on and off-ramps for Stablecoin to USDT and USDC are now also available.
After 48 videos and over a dozen and a half fact checks, our coverage of Fintech Meetup 2026 closes. Fintech Meetup featured over 50,000 meetings, with over 1,000 CEOs and founders, and over 700 Financial institutions.
Registration was quite efficient. Pastries and snacks were scattered throughout expo hall. Mandalay Bay Food Court was also open. Enjoy the walkabout to and through expo hall*. One of the most unique aspects of Fintech Meetup is the networking! Beyond the talks and expo hall, Fintech Meetup is known for their one-on-one meeting schedules. Attendees must be on the look out to fill out their profile, request meetings, and accept meetings in order to participate. In addition, this event holds round tables break out rooms ensuring a true capability to build your network while you are there.
We always try to bring you fresh vendors in our coverage but you will recognize many brands in the walkabout from our coverage of other Fintech events such as the Money 20/20 USA 2025, or our coverage of Fintech Meet-up both in 2025 and in 2024. Likewise in the cybersecurity and anti-fraud space you will recognize vendors from our coverage of ISC West, Identiverse, and Black Hat USA 2025.
We conducted research for six additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available with the video version to be distributed via YouTube Whisper Club upper tier membership area on our YouTube Channel.
Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: Fintech Meetup 2026 Playlist in its entirety. The playlist will be sited in the end screen, description, and as a pinned comment of the video edition. Be sure to monitor the syndicated broadcast of Computer Talk Radio for additional coverage of Fintech Meetup. All related syndicated links will be shared in the Whispers membership area of our channel.
The video edition will conclude with gratitude towards those that contributed and a montage of responses to Bonus Question “What’s the best part about attending the Fintech Meetup live in Las Vegas?”.
*When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.
“This Whisper Report investigates where AI most often fails in ones supply chain. It synthesizes expert perspectives gathered at Manifest 2026 on the recurring breakdown points. Areas affected span logistics and operations, including real‑time data limitations, challenges translating analytics into actionable decisions, and the need for measurable business value. The report incorporates insights from Asendia’s Michael Lorentzen, Rufus Lab’s Gabe Grifoni, and Aptean Supply Chain’s Allan Dow.”
