230 - Which System Wins, When Comparing Virtual Ground With Traditional Hardware ROI?
episode
Constellations - Explore Space Network Technologies with Industry Leaders
21 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 28 days ago
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is virtual ground and why are satellite operators adopting it?
Welcome to Constellations, the podcast from Kratos. My name is John Gilroy and I'll be your moderator. Our guest today is Grace Canusha, manager at Nova Space. And we're going to talk about virtual ground and traditional hard-based systems. Let me set the stage. Satellite operators embracing virtual ground systems aren't simply trying to reduce their hardware footprints, but also integrate with telecom networks, maximize capacity, and move customers to an operational expenditure or OpEx model to compete with megaconstellations such as Starlink. Everyone knows Starlink. Nova Space laid out the business case for virtualized ground in a February white paper, even comparing the financial models for a virtualized versus traditional hardware-based over five years.
Here today to talk with us as a result of this exercise and the ROI of Virtualized Ground more broadly is Grace Kanuja, manager at Nova Space. Are you all ready, Grace?
Yes, thank you so much for having me uh back on the Constellations Podcast. It's always fun to talk to you. So I'm ready.
Good, good, good. Fortunately for the SATCOM market, the Earth observation and remote sensing markets already paved the way in adopting virtualized ground. What would you say are the biggest lessons learned from their efforts in terms of adaptability and profitability?
Right, so this is a good question to start with as well, because Earth Observation and Remote Singing Market has been serving as a proving ground for virtualization and virtualized software ground techniques. And it's not just about a technical upgrade, it's also about a business model transformation that we see when we bring about virtual ground systems in practice. And like you rightly said, There are two big lessons: adaptability and profitability. Talking out about adaptability, EO and remote sensing markets were hit by a large volume of data and complex networks, and they had to keep pace from a ground perspective as well, and that's where software ground virtualization comes in, where you move to a more elastic, software-centric system and you can move away from traditional CapEx.
Heavy uh hardware systems and you can uh you know, pace up faster, you can uh beef up faster your systems, you can provide capacity more flexibly as the demand grows. So there's that adaptability concept that SATCOM can also take a learning from. The other aspect is the economics or the profitability. So we did model those scenarios for earth observation and uh we got like double digit savings for earth observation operators and cost reductions even exceeding 50% in some cases. So it's not just uh the adaptability or the cost part, there's another aspect which is uh more revenue being generated by using virtualized uh systems because the faster you go to market, the fa the quicker you reach market, the more revenue you can capture.
How did Earth Observation and remote‑sensing markets prove the ROI of virtualized ground?
So all in all, it's not just a cost efficiency story. It's uh it's you know, a tech upgrade story as well. It's how quickly you monetize your infrastructure. So these are the some these are some learnings that SATCOM can take from Earth observation as well.
With all the innovation just on the show floor here, you have to be ready to adapt to new things coming at you. We can just walk around the floor and see all kinds of innovation taking place in front of us. Let's go back to this EO concept here. Um is the EO and remote sensing market success with virtualized ground is it easy replicable for the satcom market? And if so how?
Well, the short answer is yes, it is replicable, but we have to keep in mind that both these markets are different. They have a different sort of ramp up as well. The underlying drivers still remain the same: increasing demand, more complex networks, need for flexibility. But SATCOM, like you said in your introduction as well, has been hit by the trend of mega constellations and pricing disruptions which actually which actually make virtualization Even more crucial now. So that so it's even more critical to implement that in the SATCO market.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is virtual ground and why are satellite operators adopting it?
0:02–3:14
2
How did Earth Observation and remote‑sensing markets prove the ROI of virtualized ground?
3:14–5:47
3
What cost‑savings and CapEx/OpEx reductions does the NovaSpace white paper show?
5:47–8:33
4
Why does a software‑defined ground system generate higher revenue faster than traditional hardware?
8:33–10:50
5
How can virtual ground enable seamless integration with terrestrial 5G/NTN networks?
10:50–13:14
6
What is Ground‑Segment‑as‑a‑Service (GSaaS) and why is it attractive to new operators?
13:14–15:48
7
How does virtualization accelerate time‑to‑market and improve competitive advantage for SATCOM providers?
15:48–19:06
8
What hiring and reskilling trends are emerging as virtual ground becomes mainstream?
19:06–21:40
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Constellations - Explore Space Network Technologies with Industry Leaders
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232 - How Is 5G NTN Shaping Long-Term Strategy Across the Satellite Industry?
231 - What Will Define Operator Advantage in Asia's Satellite Market?