ViaSat 

3/1/2008 

 

Headquarters: 6155 El Camino Real, Carlsbad, CA 92009

Subsidiaries: US Monolithics, Enerdyne, Efficient Channel Coding, Intelligent Compression Technologies, JAST Antenna Systems
Government Division field offices: Baltimore, Washington DC, Marlborough, MA

Founded: 1986
Sales (Fiscal year end 3/30/07): $517 million (est. $600M in current fiscal year)
Total employees: 1,600
Principal Officer: Mark Dankberg, Chairman & CEO
Ownership: Publicly traded on Nasdaq, ticker symbol VSAT.

Information is a force multiplier, making existing forces far more effective. With information being the key to anticipating, evaluating, and responding in real-time to an incredibly broad range of threats – both actual and potential – ViaSat is in the middle of helping connect and secure communications for the network centric military. The company focuses on emerging technology and market segments in data links, information assurance, antenna systems, military satcom, next generation satellite network development, and RF components and modules.

The challenge for the military is to transition to such a complex network infrastructure supporting remote, highly mobile forces in unpredictable environments, without undermining the existing links. ViaSat network centric products help upgrade existing systems to new communication technologies that create the force multiplier effect.

Tactical Data Links
MIDS LVT is part of a tactical radio system that collects data from many sources and displays an electronic overview of the battlefield using secure, high capacity, jam resistant, digital data and voice. The system is used on U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army platforms and military platforms of other nations. ViaSat is the only qualified manufacturer of the LVT(2) and LVT(11) ground-based terminals used by the Army.

In addition, the company is one of two co-developers of the MIDS JTRS (Joint Tactical Radio System), which is scheduled to replace the current MIDS terminal in 2011 or 2012. In contrast to other JTRS developments, the MIDS-J program has moved ahead successfully, including the first flight of a MIDS-J terminal late in 2007.

Information Assurance
HAIPE is the DoD version of the commercial IPSec standard for creating & managing virtual private networks. ViaSat is one of three defense contractors bringing HAIPE devices to market, including the AltaSec® KG-250 family of inline data encryptors. The foundation of the KG-250 is the Programmable Scaleable Information Assurance Model (PSIAM) architecture that can be embedded into a number of platforms, such as the new Boeing FAB-T increment 2 program. PSIAM is also being adapted for the emerging market for Digital Media Encryption for securing “data at rest”.
Accessing applications over wireless links (including satellite) that are bandwidth constricted or have inherent data delays (latency) can be made worse for secure private networks using IPSec or HAIPE. ViaSat has offers products to overcome this problem:

• xPEP Performance Enhancing Proxy appliance that speeds up internet TCP/IP connections over secure satellite links.
• Accelenet software client that speeds up a broad range of web, office, and secure VPN applications.

Military Satcom
In the 1990s ViaSat became the leader in supplying military standard modems for the UHF satcom system. More recently developments have expanded the company’s offerings for satcom:

• Antenna systems.
• Enhanced Bandwidth Efficient Modem (EBEM) for the Army, especially for application to the new Ka-band transponders on the forthcoming Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) system.
• Comm On The Move mobile broadband for aircraft (including helicopters) and ground vehicles.
• Blue Force Tracking for situational awareness intended for hundreds of thousands of mobile platforms.
• LinkWay® VSAT, a current force modem for the Joint Network Node program
• Forthcoming MUOS and TSAT satellite constellation terminal products and system development.

Ground warfighter using a psc-14 bgan terminal.

Video Data Links
Our Enerdyne subsidiary has added the EnerLinksII tactical data link product line for video connections to Tier II tactical UAVs. ViaSat brings other resources to tactical UAVs, including antennas, security, microwave chips & modules, and high speed modems. These technologies can augment an end-to-end video data control, transmission, management, and playback environment already adopted by several key user communities.

US Monolithics
US Monolithics specializes in millimeter wave integrated circuits (MMICs), packaged components, modules, and RF subsystems. These products help our military and space customers properly architect systems to cut product costs and optimize them based on the most important criteria in a number of areas:

• High frequency communication, antenna, and sensing technology
• High power amplifiers
• RF transceivers, upconverters, and downconverters.
• MMIC semiconductors
  
  

  Warfighters using flyaway terminal and linkway modem.