Last month Avid Technology issued a press release stating that they will not be exhibiting at NAB 2008.

My initial reaction was, Oh no! What? No Avid display at NAB? That’s crazy!

I figured they must be in trouble. I mean, after all, Avid has been a big NAB exhibitor for years, setting up a huge display and occupying a very nice piece of the showroom floor real estate. It’s really quite impressive. And expensive, I’m sure.

All of my doubts come from many other factors, which include the layoffs, CEO changeover, and lack of new upgrades, updates, and tools. Also, I felt like Apple kicked Avid’s butt last year at NAB with introduction of Final Cut Pro’s ability to mix frame rates on a single timeline.

So what’s really going on? Is Avid in trouble? Have they stopped caring?

The press release indicates that the decision is strategic, not financial. They say they are listening to their customers and need to connect with them in new ways.

After taking some time to digest this news, I have come to the conclusion that it might actually be good news. Maybe they do have a plan and will actually benefit from removing themselves from the Expo.

Even though I’ve been angry with Avid lately, I have much more faith in Avid systems than any other NLE out there, despite all these issues going on with them right now, the biggest issue being the unknown future of the company.

Avid has said that they are going to reveal some kind of strategy plan to the public in February. I really hope they are working on getting their act together and will have something impressive to report come February and put Avid users minds at ease.

They’ve managed to create quite a buzz with the decision to not attend NAB; now let’s see if they have anything substantial to tell us. Overall I’m hoping to hear some kind of reassurance as to the future of the company. However, some of the more specific things I’m hoping for include an upgrade to allow mixed frame rates on a single timeline for all DNA systems, Nitris support for native DVCPRO-HD—which is currently very buggy—and finally, HD-SDI Output option for Media Composer’s software version. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.