From the West Coast, you can see the future
By Simen K. Frostad
Sometimes, you look back over a year, and you recall a number of things that seemed important or influential for your business and that would shape the coming years. And sometimes, you look back and realise that there was just one event that really made a difference to how you see your future.
For several years now, a very good friend of mine had been trying to induce me to attend the Satellite Innovation Symposium. For one reason or another, I'd always declined, though this year he was particularly persuasive - and so it was that I found myself in Mountain View, California, in the first half of October.
Before I continue, though, I should point out that satellite operators have, historically, been great customers of Bridge Technologies. Our monitoring and analysis solutions are widely deployed within their networks, in headends. But, over time, as headends have become both larger and fewer, we've seen a shift in the amount of business from those operators. Inevitably, we at Bridge lost track to a certain extent of what was going on in the satellite industry.
So to say that the Satellite Innovation Symposium was a revelation would perhaps be something of an understatement. It was pretty much an epiphany. There I was, among the good and great of the satellite industry, the majority of those present were C-level executives, from all parts of the satellite ecosystem - and the excitement and enthusiasm in the room were almost tangible.
Sheer Size
One of the things that particularly caught my attention was the sheer size of the industry. It's worth around $300 billion a year. By any standards, that's huge. No less interesting was that, of that $300 billion, only around $6 billion/year is spent on launches - which, to the outsider, is the most visible part of what the industry does. Approximately $130 billion is spent each year on the ground infrastructure that supports what's up in the air.
The other thing that particularly caught my attention is that this is an industry that is clearly in investment mode. Why the investment? Because, this is an industry that sees itself as fulfilling a new role in the future.
I was reminded that, at IBC 2017, I'd been somewhat aware of these stirrings in the industry. At IBC 2018, those stirrings had become even more visible, with at least one major operator talking about his company's need to reinvent itself - not thinking of itself as a satellite company, but as a communications company. Another talked about its ambition to become the Swiss Army knife of transmission.
I also heard one of those acronyms that the industry loves: ATAWADAC anytime, anywhere, any device, any content. That's defining the direction in which we're heading. Not only will OTT consumption overtake traditional content consumption within a couple of years but, because content is now more readily available, we're consuming more of it - and that's especially true for live events, with their unique demands in terms of peak loading, minimal latency and so on.
Innate strengths
And, judging by the mood at the symposium, that's music to the ears of satellite operators. It seemed clear to me that being instrumental - the preferred choice, in fact in delivering media is where the industry sees itself. The future will leverage the innate strength and competitive advantage that satellite networks enjoy in that they can truly offer wide area distribution in a way that traditional telcos can't. I also sensed a real appetite among those I spoke to for a future where satellite is only part of a solution that will get content and data to where it's needed - but a vital part - using whatever network technology is appropriate. I found the concept of a space-based network distribution company springs to mind.
And, if you add content distribution to the explosion in demand for network capacity when the IoT moves from its current nascent stage to becoming part of the fabric of everyday life - it's hard to be anything other than hugely positive about the satellite industry's future.
The reason that the Satellite Innovation Symposium left me as enthused and excited as the delegates obviously were is that, if I'm reading the runes correctly, the satellite industry has become extremely significant to us at Bridge Technologies - again. I'm sensing there will be a huge expansion in their networks - and with that expansion will come the need for the in-depth monitoring and analysis capabilities on which we've built our business.
Enthused
Our Satellite and IP probes are being widely deployed by customers around the world, with many broadcasters enthused by their unique capabilities that help them ensure optimum deliver of content from source to destination. We ve even had opportunities to specifically target other niche areas such as the offshore Maritime segment with VSAT carrier quality monitoring.
So: not so much a look backward at 2018 but more a look forward to 2019 - a year in which we're going to be fascinated to watch the satellite industry position itself as the network provider of choice for pretty much any organisation looking to move any kind of data. And: we at Bridge look forward to becoming their monitoring and analytics provider of choice.
With hindsight, I think that being at the Satellite Innovation Symposium was one of the most significant events of 2018 for me. It was a real eye-opener so far as the future of our industry is concerned. I'm so glad I finally accepted that invitation.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
From the West Coast, you can see the future
