What drives the switch
KVM API Automation: Beyond Manual Matrix Switching
Traditional KVM matrix switching relies on manual operator intervention—a workflow that breaks down when production demands exceed human response time. In fast-paced broadcast and live event environments, waiting for keystroke commands creates bottlenecks that delay source changes, desynchronize multi-system cues, and compromise show quality.
KVM API automation eliminates these delays by enabling programmatic control of video switching through APIs and scheduled commands. Multiple systems can now switch simultaneously on a single cue, rundown automation synchronizes source changes with production timelines, and your infrastructure responds at machine speed rather than operator speed.
A KVM matrix has always waited for a hand. An operator presses a hotkey, a preset, a button, and the source on screen changes.
That model holds until the production moves faster than the operator. In a live show, a source change that should follow the rundown waits for someone to make it. When several systems need to switch on the same cue, they go one keystroke at a time. The hand becomes the bottleneck.
What is a KVM API? A KVM API is a programming interface that lets external software control a KVM matrix directly, rather than waiting for an operator to press a key. A newsroom system, automation platform, or video wall controller sends a command, and the matrix switches sources in response. The KVM stops being a manual island and becomes a layer that other production systems can script.
What drives the switch
The Adder API changes what triggers a switch. Instead of a keystroke at the desk, an external system sends the command. The newsroom rundown advances and the matrix follows. The automation server calls a preset and the video wall redraws. The same switching that an operator could do by hand now runs from software, on cue.
Adder built this into the ADDERView Matrix range, and the Adder API for that range won TV Tech Best of Show at the 2026 NAB Show. The same API model also runs on the ADDERLink INFINITY range, ADDERLink XDIP, and ARDx, Adder’s out-of-band KVM over IP. An integration built for one platform carries across the others.
Built on protocols developers already use
The calls are RESTful over HTTPS and follow the OpenAPI Specification. Developers work with documented, familiar formats rather than a proprietary control language, so the matrix slots into the same tooling used for the rest of the stack.
From there, the API connects the matrix to newsroom systems, automation platforms, video walls, HMI automation tools, security systems, and IT service management. Commands run without anyone at the desk, which fits production control rooms, outside broadcast trucks, and multi-site facilities where the operator and the equipment are rarely in the same room.
The expansion of our API support across the ADDERView Matrix range is about putting control directly into our customers’ hands. Adder APIs enable intelligent, scalable, and responsive control right across your operations.
John Halksworth, Senior Product Manager, Adder Technology
What the API adds
Where the operator still fits
The API does not retire the desk. Operators still switch by hand when a show calls for a manual decision, and the on-screen control stays exactly as it was. What changes is that routine, cue-driven switching no longer needs a person to execute it. The two paths run side by side: the hand for judgement, the script for everything that follows a known sequence.
Frequently asked questions
What is a KVM API?
A KVM API is a programming interface that lets external software control a KVM matrix directly, rather than waiting for an operator to press a key. With the Adder API, a newsroom system, automation platform, or video wall controller can send a command and the matrix switches sources in response.
What protocols does the Adder API use?
The Adder API uses RESTful calls over HTTPS and follows the OpenAPI Specification. Developers integrate with documented, familiar formats rather than a proprietary control language.
Which Adder products support the API?
The same API model runs on the ADDERView Matrix range, the ADDERLink INFINITY range, ADDERLink XDIP, and ARDx, Adder’s out-of-band KVM over IP. An integration built once can be applied across the estate.
What can the Adder API integrate with?
The API connects the matrix to newsroom systems, automation platforms, video walls, HMI automation tools, security systems, and IT service management platforms, so the KVM becomes part of the wider production and IT orchestration.
Does the API replace operator switching at the desk?
No. Operators still switch by hand when they need to. The API adds a second path so that switching can also follow a rundown or an automation cue, and can run without anyone at the console.
What recognition has the Adder API received?
The Adder API for the ADDERView Matrix range won TV Tech Best of Show at the 2026 NAB Show. The ADDERView Matrix range and the API have also been recognised at NAB 2025 and IBC 2025.
Enova is an authorised Adder partner in Singapore. If your control room still switches every source by hand, we can scope an ADDERView Matrix deployment and map the API to your automation.
Ask about the Adder API →
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eNOVA Technologies is Singapore's specialist distributor for data centre IT management solutions, representing Adder, Guntermann & Drunck, Raritan, Sunbird, ZPE Systems, and VuWall across Singapore and Southeast Asia. Our technical content is produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our in-house team before publication.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by the eNOVA Technologies team. All technical claims are verified against manufacturer documentation.
