Comtech<\/b> leadership says the company\u2019s transformation and focus on opportunities like virtualization and the convergence of satellite and terrestrial technologies does not change as the company looks for a new CEO. <\/p>\n
The long-standing satcom ground technology provider has been going through a \u201cOne Comtech\u201d initiative to unify the company and its capabilities. During the past year and half, Comtech brought together its siloed businesses toward common tools and processes, and demonstrated consecutive quarters of revenue growth. <\/p>\n
The company\u2019s former CEO Ken Peterman was the face of the company\u2019s refresh after longtime CEO Fred Kornberg\u2019s retirement. But in March, Comtech fired Peterman days before the SATELLITE trade show, saying it was for \u201cconduct unrelated to business strategy, financial results or previously filed financial statements.\u201d <\/p>\n
Via Satellite<\/i> spoke with Daniel Gizinski, Comtech chief strategy officer; Nicole Robinson, chief growth officer; and CTO Anirban Chakraborty last month about the company\u2019s ongoing evolution. <\/p>\n
Robinson emphasized that the changes at Comtech are greater than any one individual, and customers can be assured the company\u2019s strategy isn\u2019t changing. <\/p>\n
\u201c[We\u2019re] sitting face to face with our customers and reminding them that our course doesn\u2019t change, our strategy doesn\u2019t change,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited about where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former iDirect Government executive John Ratigan is now leading the company as interim CEO while Comtech searches for its next leader. Ratigan joined the company in December 2023 as chief corporate development officer. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s \u201ca lot of trust in John Ratigan as the interim CEO and a long-term industry veteran,\u201d Gizinski said. \u201cI think he has a really clear understanding of what the market demands are, where we\u2019re headed as an organization.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the company\u2019s recent second quarter financial results for fiscal year 2024, Comtech reported roughly flat year-over-year sales of $134.2 million. Sales were down 12% quarter-on-quarter. However, adjusted EBITDA grew 33% year-over-year to an 11.3% adjusted EBITDA margin. The company said the bottom line performance is due to the One Comtech operational improvements. <\/p>\n
Gizinski pointed to a number of trends impacting Comtech\u2019s strategy: digitization and ready access to data, a move toward virtualization and cloud-native designs, and the \u2018as a service\u2019 model. <\/p>\n
He said that part of the One Comtech initiative was unlocking capabilities that were already in existence, and bringing them to bear for new customers as part of an end-to-end solution. <\/p>\n
As the satellite industry is going through a period of change with Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) players, Gizinski says there is an opportunity to evolve as a ground tech provider to serve customers better. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s the immediate assumption that NGSOs are disruptive. That\u2019s often a good thing. There\u2019s a large number of ground stations that need to be built out to support those Non-Geostationary operators,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re also seeing a recapitalization with several of the Geostationary operators that are looking to build out and kind of bring the next generation ground infrastructure in place to support their missions.\u201d <\/p>\n
Comtech recently worked with Eutelsat OneWeb to configure and install the company\u2019s Elevate ground system for Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) services in multiple locations in Antarctica. <\/p>\n
On the government side, Gizinski pointed to the company\u2019s $48.6 million contract to provide the U.S. Army satellite communications digitization and modernization programs with Enterprise Digital Intermediate Frequency Multi-Carrier (EDIM) modems. It\u2019s a contract that people may not have thought Comtech would win, he said. Comtech is preparing to deliver final acceptance testing ready prototypes in the fourth quarter of this year.<\/p>\n
Robinson sees the potential for synergy between the satellite and terrestrial sides of the company. Comtech also has a large business in public safety and emergency call routing apart from its satcom business that routes 60% of all 911 calls in the U.S. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn many cases, these terrestrial wireless networks that are powering emergency services in certain rural locations drop calls and drop texts. There needs to be a resilient comms backup,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether that\u2019s provided, via satellite, it could be provided by a troposcatter in a point-to-multipoint capacity, something that we\u2019re looking at in the near-term. It\u2019s a really interesting moment to see these two domains coming together and the value of the two working in tandem.\u201d <\/p>\n
Comtech is also taking a role in standards discussions. CTO Chakraborty is chair of the new WAVE Consortium to advance waveform virtualization for satellite gateway and terminals. WAVE\u2019s mission is to move toward a fully interoperable ecosystem by using intelligent, open, and virtualized networks and providing standardized architectures and specifications.<\/p>\n
Chakraborty told Via Satellite<\/i> this standard will increase the speed of innovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis consortium lays a foundation towards creating something which hasn\u2019t happened in the satellite industry \u2014 an ecosystem where people who compete can come together and decide on a set of ground rules on which product solutions can be implemented,\u201d Chakraborty said. \u201cIt challenges and disrupts our own business models and the way we approach solutions to be implemented.\u201d <\/p>\n
Along with the discussions on open standards like WAVE and DIFI, Robinson said she is seeing a greater willingness for industry collaboration. Technology based on open standards allows different owner-operators to make choices about how to deliver a holistic service to the customer, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t really care which orbit, which frequency, which constellation they\u2019re riding on. They just want always on access to connectivity for where and when they need it most,\u201d Robinson said. \u201cI am starting to detect that energy, there\u2019s a little bit more of a collaborative spirit coming from industry players.\u201d <\/p>\n
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