Defense tech startup Reticulate Micro is developing scalable communications technologies designed to combat rising network security threats, which could impact both the military and commercial satcom markets.
The national security market is growing. The U.S. Department of Defense in March requested $134 million to spend on commercial satcom technologies and services compared to a commercial satcom budget of $71 million this year in response to evolving security needs.
Reticulate Micro is expanding its technology portfolio to address the evolution of networks and their security requirements. The Palm Bay, Fla.-based company recently launched its Valor product line of electronically steered antennas, which can be controlled remotely with its Vesper terminal management system, Joshua Cryer, chief executive at Reticulate Micro, tells Connectivity Business News in this episode of “The Dish” podcast.
While Reticulate Micro has military vehicles in mind for the primary Valor use case, the antennas have a scalability and price point that makes them suitable for commercial applications, Cryer says. “The beauty of our approach is that we’re all using commercial off-the-shelf technologies, which allows us to rapidly integrate new capabilities in response to growing threats from the bad guys,” he says.
Reticulate Micro’s Valor smaller, electronically steered, IoT antennas are about the size of a laptop and designed to operate with minimal power, Cryer tells CBN.
“It can run off a cigarette lighter in a car. It’s designed to be expeditionary: Pull it out of a backpack, pop it on top of your vehicle.”
The company’s portfolio also includes antennas up to 3 feet long for very large military vehicles that need stronger connectivity, Cryer says.
The company’s VAST (Video Assured Secure Transmission) video encoders are also dual use for both defense and commercial applications, which are increasingly vulnerable to quantum attacks.
“We say [current security] is like the dead man walking. We don’t know it yet, but it’s already broken,” he says, adding that quantum is the path forward.
Reticulate Micro and Canadian cybersecurity company Quantropi are combining technologies to shield communications in national security applications from quantum computing and AI as well as protect intellectual property, Cryer says.
Security threats are only part of the problem on the commercial side; there’s also an economic impact.
“Piracy is really the No. 1 [threat to data],” Cryer says.
Using pay-per-view as an example of satcom-enabled, exclusive content, Cryer says a bad actor can steal the premium content and share it with the world. “That’s money out of the pocket of those organizations,” he says.
Hear more on how Reticulate Micro aims to secure military satcom and protect valuable data in this episode of “The Dish.”
