Maybe it’s because he’s Canadian, but Dave Ross, CEO of Ottawa-based Ross Video, appears entirely immune from recession fear or NAB shrinkage concerns. In fact, his company’s busy booth (SU1807) is chock full of new product, expansion beyond the company’s core live broadcast production switchers, acquisition announcements, news of the hiring of additional sales staff, and, according to Ross, good profit estimates. He jokes that the company, started decades ago by his father, Canadian broadcast veteran John Ross, is “an overnight success after 35 years.”

But, more seriously, he suggests Ross has strategically tried to “grow ourselves out of the Recession,” and counsels that companies need to build “recession products before a recession hits—make a range of products, so that people will need something out of that range in both good times and lean times.”

Certainly, Ross’ NAB news appears to illustrate the company is practicing what its CEO is preaching. The company is touting its brand new leap into the character generator world with the Xpression technology it is selling this year for the first time—technology that results from a newly completed (two months ago) acquisition of a company called Media Refinery out of the Netherlands (the acquistion process took a year—discussions began on it last NAB, actually). New mid-range and low-end switchers are also now available, and so are two new lines of video servers for broadcasters and AV-style clients, as well as ergonomic design improvements and partnerships to improve ease of use of many of the company’s existing switcher units. Ross is also making a big deal out of it’s ongoing Open Gear initiative–offering open architecture, modular terminal gear that can be made fully inter-operable with media cards from various manufacturers around the industry.

Traffic was so busy at the Ross booth that Dave Ross told me there was no way to book a demo today (Wednesday). Then, he was off to another appointment, eager to prove that there is, in fact, what he calls “plenty of good news” at NAB. You just have to know where to look for it.

–MG