IABM becomes IAMT at NAB Show, launches AI platform and expanded member ecosystem

The International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers, known for five decades as IABM, arrived at the 2026 NAB Show with a new name, a new AI-powered platform and a restructured member services model, changes its leadership said reflect a market that has moved well beyond traditional broadcasting.

The organization is now operating as IAMT, the International Association of MediaTech.

Alongside the name change, IAMT launched MAI, an agentic AI discovery platform built in partnership with member company Alpha Cogs, along with a new digital marketplace and a global alliance program connecting technology suppliers with buyers, educators and industry groups.

“This is so much more than a rebrand,” said Saleha Williams, CEO at IAMT. “The industry is changing, and as a result of that, we are changing and evolving alongside what the industry now needs.”

“We’re not a news outlet. We’re not looking to be a journalist. We’re looking to be a trusted platform, given our not-for-profit neutral status from an analyst technology viewpoint,” Williams said.

Why the name changed

The rebrand reflects a customer base that has grown well beyond traditional broadcasters.

Williams said IAMT members are already supplying technology to banks, retailers, educational institutions and government agencies — organizations that want broadcast-quality production capabilities without the infrastructure complexity that has historically come with them.

“What they are hearing is: make me look like CNN, but without the complexity, without the cost,” Williams said. “Often in a very simple infrastructure that is a media tech stack that can stand alone.”

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That shift mirrors trends playing out across the vendor community.

Technology suppliers that once focused exclusively on traditional broadcast clients are now fielding requests from corporate communications departments, university campuses and retail chains looking to operate their own content production workflows.

The new name is intended to remove any ambiguity about who IAMT represents and serves.

What MAI does

MAI — short for MediaTech Agentic AI — is trained on IAMT’s archive of research reports, journal articles, working group findings, webinars and business intelligence updates.

The platform is designed to respond to user queries by generating direct answers drawn from member-contributed content, citing those members as sources in its responses.

The system was developed with Alpha Cogs, an IAMT member company. Alpha Cogs founder and CTO Nicola Cogotti said the platform draws on an architecture originally developed for a product called Cogi.

“We are moving beyond traditional AI integration into systems capable of interpreting intent and contextual signals,” Cogotti said. “MAI applies that same human-centric architecture to information discovery — helping people access insights in a way that feels natural, adaptive, and deeply intelligent.”

The technical approach IAMT describes as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) positions member content as the authoritative source behind MAI’s responses, rather than surfacing a general web search result. The organization said the goal is to increase member visibility within a platform buyers are actively using to research purchasing decisions.

“MAI is a game-changer for member industry amplification,” Williams said. “It moves us from a static repository of information to a 24/7 global advocate for our members.”

MAI is integrated into IAMT’s redesigned website, TheIAMT.org, alongside the new IAMT Marketplace, a member-facing product and profile directory that Williams compared to an Amazon-style listings page, where members can upload content, promote services and surface through MAI’s query responses.

Membership value in a tighter marketing environment

The launch comes as technology vendors across the industry are reassessing how they allocate marketing budgets. Williams acknowledged the pressure, framing IAMT’s not-for-profit editorial model as a differentiator from paid placements.

“Your membership value is in being part of an IAMT digital asset or our journal,” she said. “You are positioning yourselves with a trusted entity. So it is helping to position you… without it costing you huge marketing dollars to do that.”

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 Williams said digital engagement across its platforms increased by more than 2,000% in the past year, a period that coincides with her first year as CEO.

The global alliance and buyer access

The third element announced at NAB is the IAMT Global Alliance, a program designed to connect IAMT members with buyers, academic institutions and industry organizations including standards bodies and sustainability groups.

The alliance also includes a visual podcast series, recorded at broadcast quality and distributed across streaming platforms, hosted by Matt Stagg of Neutral Wireless, who holds the title of IAMT Global Alliance Ambassador.

“We’re creating a direct connection between those building MediaTech and those buying it and those using it,” Stagg said. “By bringing senior MediaTech buyers into the conversation — through research, roundtables, and real-world dialogue — we can ensure innovation is aligned with actual industry needs, not assumptions.”

Williams said IAMT has already held panels with executives from NBC, the BBC and Sky as part of efforts to help members understand how large media organizations are currently approaching purchasing decisions — a process she described as having changed significantly from traditional RFI-driven procurement cycles.

Sky’s director of creative output was scheduled to speak at the 2026 NAB Show as part of IAMT programming.

State of media tech findings

At a Sunday morning session at the show, IAMT presented findings from its annual “State of Media Tech” report. Williams identified trust, agility and the ability to demonstrate return on investment quickly as the three themes running through this year’s data.

She said the report found revenue growth opportunities of 45% to 50% in what she called parallel markets — corporate, retail and education — compared to traditional broadcast. A separate report focused on the content creator sector was also released at the show.

“How those types of organizations buy is very different to the traditional engineering broadcast mentality,” Williams said.

She noted that the sales environment has also shifted for traditional broadcast clients, where consolidation has reduced the number of people with authority to make technology purchasing decisions, while budgets have tightened across the sector.

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“ROI has taken over as the key innovation driver,” Williams said. “It is the ability not just to make more with less, but to actually be even more innovative and more interoperable with less.”

IAMT said it plans to increase its focus on startup companies following the NAB Show.