1. What are the unique requirements of government satellite activities that necessitated forming a separate group for iDirect Government? 

The stakes are high for government and military communications. Therefore, the protection of technology that is vital to national security is crucial.

To support the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) critical communications assets, iDirectGov was formed in 2007 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of VT iDirect. iDirect Government focuses on products and solutions that are sold entirely to the U.S. DOD, U.S. government and Allies.

iDirectGov has a proxy agreement with the U.S. government and a Top-Secret Facility Clearance. This enables iDirectGov to develop specialized technologies to fortify military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) and specific commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) at the tactical edge anywhere in the world.

Additionally, we have subject matter experts on-site at secure government locations. These experts support and ensure satellite network efficiency. This is possible because of our special proxy agreement and Top-Secret Facility Clearance.

When you are building hardware and software for the U.S. military, you must be able to design solutions with security and defense in mind and protect the intellectual properties—keeping sensitive proprietary information out of the wrong hands. As an independent subsidiary, we are able to protect all intellectual and propriety information and best support military and government agencies.

Furthermore, we know there are a variety of military standards that must be met, such as Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2, which applies to any cryptographic product used by a U.S. government agency network for encrypting and decrypting data. Because we operate as an independent subsidiary focused on DOD needs, we see meeting those standards as an innate part of our development process. Hubs, satellite routers, line cards and network management software are among our product offerings that incorporate stringent standards such as Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP), MIL-STD 810G, DO-160G, transmission security (TRANSEC) and others.

We engineer our myriad solutions to control and protect sensitive information and safeguard critical technology.

2. What is your vision for the company? What, if anything, will be changing?

I look forward to building upon the strong legacy of iDirect Government. My vision is to lead our team with continued dedication and service to the most important customers in the world. This vision is anchored in pioneering global secure connectivity that transcends all boundaries on land, at sea and in the air.

My pledge is to create a secure and resilient SATCOM ecosystem with seamless connectivity that is not only a service but is an enabler of progress and modernization for our military and government customers.

In the dynamic MILSATCOM landscape, change is integral to progress. We strive to keep ahead of bad actors with our solutions and position our offerings to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers.

As we navigate this evolving environment, continuous innovation will be the driving force behind my vision. We will focus on our core product portfolio and grow advancements in multi-orbit and multi-waveform capabilities. Additionally, iDirectGov will intensify our electronic warfare (EW) focus, helping to combat communication EW vulnerabilities with our Communication Signal Interference Removal (CSIRTM) countermeasure application and associated family of products and services.

We are looking to other areas and emerging technologies to enhance our offerings. To cater to a diverse range of applications, we will look to incorporate artificial intelligence in our portfolio as it makes sense to do so. We are eyeing machine learning as a next-gen application to bolster the efficiency and reliability of our SATCOM solutions. We will prove our new technology and focus on scaling it further for broad military use.

By staying ahead on our engineering acuity, we empower our customers to thrive in their missions in an increasingly connected world.

I intend for iDirect Government to be the leading architect of high-performance, reliable, resilient and secure SATCOM solutions, to advance global connectivity and to champion ingenuity.

3. Can you describe the iDirect Government product portfolio and how all the different aspects fit together for our readers?

iDirect Government’s product portfolio represents a diverse range of solutions and services that support government and military mission-critical communications, including at the tactical edge. We bring advanced satellite communications used for voice, video, Internet, imagery and data to military, homeland security, first responders and other government users.

Our components include satellite routers, security software, hubs, line cards, network management software, signal management and monitoring, training, on-site experts and more. These offerings synergistically bring flexibility, agility, TRANSEC and efficiency to warfighters, first responders, disaster recovery personnel and field operators.

iDirectGov’s specialized solutions revolve around mission-critical communications, and cybersecurity. Our solutions facilitate seamless connectivity for voice and data communications anywhere and anytime, including robust security solutions that safeguard voice and data communications and protect sensitive data.

The synergy among our offerings is evident in the effective and efficient MILSATCOM capability experienced by our customers.

4. Can you describe any “metrics” of iDirect Government (number of facilities, number of employees, square footage of facilities, etc.) that would give our readers a better sense of your company?

Yes. Here are some of our metrics to give readers an overview of iDirect Government:

  • 200+: We have more than 200 employees at our offices, as well as professional services engineers entrenched at military bases to support those operations.
  • 33 percent: One-third of our employees are military veterans and know first-hand what warfighters need in the field.
  • 24/7/365: Our Technical Assistance Center provides support to U.S. government customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
  • 10+: We have won more than 10 awards, including Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Innovation Award and the Distinguished Services Award for a veteran employee.
  • 10+: Our experts have presented at numerous industry conferences, including high-level conferences such as SATELLITE, MilSat Symposium, Satellite Innovation, HOC and other venues.
  • 10: We support 10 annual charity events, including the Wounded Warrior Project, which serves wounded warriors and their families and caregivers with its programs, and Wreaths Across America, where team members personally participate in wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to honor brave military members. iDirectGov teams strive to serve all those who have dedicated their lives to our nation.
  • 5: For five consecutive years, iDirect has been recognized as one of Washington Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” in the greater Washington, DC, area.
  • 5-star: We have a five-star Engineering Center of Excellence that is co-located with iDirect Government’s existing engineering team. This center enables the company to better respond to ever-evolving EW and cyber threats, and to meet defense and government requirements for faster-paced innovation to keep ahead of adversaries and bad actors that relentlessly target military satellite communications (MILSATCOM).

5. Satellite communication, both commercial and defense, is seeing a big uptick in activity and investment. What do you see as the biggest market opportunities for your business today and how do you see that changing in the future?

The current secure satellite communications expansion presents significant market opportunities for iDirect Government. These opportunities span defense and government markets. The key opportunities for us include:

  • MILSATCOM—Defense agencies increasingly rely on secure and resilient SATCOM, and iDirectGov can meet those needs by providing increasingly advanced MILSATCOM solutions incorporating our CSIRTM solution. The demand for secure, high-throughput and interoperable military communications is a robust market that will continue to grow. This growth, however, will require advanced security applications to meet the ever-evolving EW threats.
  • Government Agencies—Satellite-based connectivity helps governments address communications challenges in remote and disaster-stricken areas, where terrestrial systems may be unavailable.
  • Advanced Technology Integration—With the debut of new technologies comes opportunities for iDirect Government to integrate these advancements into our product portfolio. Technologies such as advanced Anti-Jam and Anti-Interference capabilities, 5G, artificial intelligence and machine learning can be leveraged to enhance satellite communications performance and open the door to other potential innovative applications. We expect to see additional expansion in 5G connectivity, cybersecurity and new technological avenues.

6. What is the focus of your current development efforts and how do you see those changing in the future?

Security and resiliency, multi-waveform and multi-orbit are the key focuses of our developments. Safeguarding critical communications signals is important. Any satellite remote attempting to operate in a congested environment, especially where adversaries may be intentionally jamming signals, needs to have signal excision, anti-jam technology in place. This is where our Communication Signal Interference Removal™ (CSIR™) technology comes into play. It’s effective against signal interferers and increases the resiliency of any SATCOM network.

Recently, we introduced the REVOLUTION 450mp (man-portable) software-defined radio (SDR) modem that extends satellite communications orbit and waveform choices for the warfighter regardless of location. The 450mp is the first 4-Series SDR, introduced with the new Evolution Defense 4.6 software. The Evolution Defense 4.6 platform incorporates improved security, including flexible key exchange for “crypto-agility,” strengthened TRANSEC and augmented CSIR technology.

The SDR offers a common compute platform that can host various waveforms, provide a digital interface to RF equipment and offer terminal integrators the ability to develop truly bespoke communication platforms backed by our engineering support. This is a game changer for military satellite modem integrators and their future terminals.

With the 450mp SDR, the DOD has options for satellite orbits and waveforms for its mission-critical operations, including secure satellite communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Additionally, our efforts will continue toward improving satellite resiliency against emerging threats, including cyber-attacks and EW. We established the iDirect Government Electronic Warfare Engineering Center of Excellence to harden SATCOM against the latest threats and to mitigate attacks. Security countermeasures are a crucial component of our future endeavors.

Ultimately, we aim to bolster the effectiveness, security and reliability of military communications now and in the future, to deliver innovative solutions for combating satellite interference and to improve the quality and integrity of satellite communications.

We are positioned not only to meet but to exceed military and government customer expectations and contribute to the ongoing transformation in the satellite industry.

7. Washington Business Journal recently named iDirect Government as one of its “Best Places to Work” for the fifth consecutive year. What can you tell us about the culture at iDirect Government and what makes it such a great place to work?

What a tribute it is to our great team members that we are recognized as a “best place to work” in the greater Washington, DC, area.

Washington Business Journal’s year-after-year recognition of us as a “Best Places to Work” is a special accomplishment. Our company recognizes that people are instrumental in helping our customers to meet mission success via our product engineering, on-site professional services engineers, Technical Assistance Center and customer service.

iDirectGov employees are all U.S. citizens, with a third being U.S. military veterans. We pride ourselves on hiring veterans, and they have contributed greatly to the building of exceptional, high-performance products that work effectively during missions.

We hire smart people who bring their unique talents to the team to drive excellence and create the most reliable SATCOM solutions for our military, homeland security, first responder and other government users.
 
Our healthy work-life balance enables us to obtain and retain the best employees, and the Washington Business Journal’s recognition is a testament to this balance. We have a second-to-none culture that promotes personal and professional growth for our employees and provides outstanding solutions and service to our customers.

Our team allows us to deliver software with the most advanced security features available to the government SATCOM market, including information assurance and signal excision technology. It’s exciting endeavors such as these that our dedicated team members thrive on and that make iDirectGov a great place to work.

I'm exhilarated to be working with the creative and effective iDirect Government team to help achieve our vision to deliver secure MILSATCOM advancements to our customers and to build on our strong momentum.

8. What else should our readers know about iDirect Government?

Our unparalleled success is attributable to our three pillars of operation. These include working with the end user, hiring military veterans and collaborating with the industry.

Working with the End User

We work directly with the end user to see what solutions are needed in the field. This has played into our stability and growth. iDirectGov has built security, power, speed and efficiency into our satellite communications portfolio of hubs, routers and network management software to support our troops wherever they are in the world. We are committed to playing a key part in keeping the military-connected as they defend our nation.

We handle product development with a different approach from other companies. We spend our own research and development (R&D) dollars to advance products based on customer feedback. This R&D approach facilitates a quick response to customer and market needs. Our customers have had a direct role in planning our products and new features.

We base many of our decisions on customer needs, requirements and input and develop features based on a common intersection of the needed features. Customers want to stay with us, which means providing them with specialized next-generation technology. Our development approach allows us to move a lot faster than waiting for a contract and beginning development.

iDirect Government engineers are perfectly aligned to what our military and government customers require. Our customer-centric approach has translated into a proven product portfolio that is used effectively on land, at sea and in the air.

We are pleased with both the platforms and software that we have developed, and we recognize that these innovations would not be possible without great customer feedback and input.

Adding Veterans to Our Team

A secret to our success comes from including engineering team experts who work with satellite operators. These experts bring direct experience in the U.S. military, special operations and Allied forces, offering us first-hand experience and “insider insights” to defense needs at the tactical edge.

Their field experience is vital to building effective solutions for the military sector and to keeping military satellite communications (MILSATCOM) operational. We understand that this is a hallmark of our operations.

Not all companies delivering to defense markets understand this practice. However, a first-person understanding of the defense sector is central to our mission. When it comes to designing solutions to work in the harshest environments anywhere and anytime, we believe this knowledge cannot be matched by non-military personnel.

Collaborating with Industry

Collaboration is a cornerstone of our evolving approach. We will continue to leverage existing partnerships and forge new ones with emerging leaders in SATCOM. This enables us to foster innovation and pool expert resources as we tackle complex engineering challenges. By building a collaborative ecosystem, we aim to accelerate advancements and enhance the overall capabilities of our satellite solutions.

We pride ourselves on being a true partner and collaborator. Our well-rounded approach to partnering internally and externally leads to growth through effective strategies. Our mantra is teamwork, bridge gaps where needed and support important initiatives to drive the company’s future success and deliver the best solution to the end user. This is where iDirect Government shines—moving the company’s mission forward.

Additionally, our in the field professional services engineers (PSEs) talk daily with people who are using our equipment. Our PSEs are security-cleared individuals with extensive experience implementing iDirectGov hubs at both secure and non-secure locations globally. This direct, on-site feedback provides our staff with a look into how an individual uses our systems today and what requirements SATCOM users will have 18 months to 24 months in the future.

Through these foundational elements, we aspire to innovate, enhance customer satisfaction and success and make SATCOM a force for positive change.