The World Teleport Association (WTA) today released Serving the Software-Defined Satellite Market of the Future, a new research report that explores the coming technology and service requirements for serving SD satellites, the probable timeline for SD satellite expansion and the investment case for change.
“Software-defined satellites mark a fundamental shift in how space and ground systems must work together. This report shows that flexibility in orbit only delivers value when it is matched by virtualized, automated and interoperable ground infrastructure—an area where teleports and ground service providers will play a decisive role in enabling the SDS market of the future.” said WTA Executive Director Randall Barney.
The report is free for WTA Members and available for purchase by others. Members may directly download the report by following this link and logging in with their user name and password.
Quotes from the Report:
An industry executive noted: “Integration is another advantage, as SDS aligns with the network-as-a-product model, supporting unified service orchestration across both terrestrial and non-terrestrial domains.”
An executive with a teleport operator summed it up: “SDS payloads allow us to offer modular, policy-driven configurations tailored to specific customer needs. Customers can select attributes such as latency, observability, and security, and pay accordingly, this flexibility is foundational to our commercial model evolution.”
More on Serving the Software-Defined Satellite Market of the Future
Once upon a time, a satellite’s mission was manufactured into hardware before launch. Today, experts agree that software-defined satellites are the future. The success of NGSO services already rely on software definition aboard satellites moving across the sky. Though SD satellites have been painfully slow to reach GEO, their ability to adapt to changing market demand and track moving objects clearly makes them the better design choice. SD satellites in multiple orbits are already testing the ability of teleport operators to adapt their technology platforms and service delivery models to a new generation of assets in the sky. The drive to digitize, however, also brings opportunity: reducing the cost and challenge of future innovation and deepening integration with the vast market of terrestrial networks.
In this report, WTA interviewed technology and service providers to identify the coming technology and service requirements for serving SD satellites, the probable timeline for SD satellite expansion and the investment case for change.
About World Teleport Association
The World Teleport Association (www.worldteleport.org) has been helping its members aim higher since our founding in 1985. Today, WTA is the leading partner in growth for teleport operators, advocating for their commercial interests and promoting excellence in their business practices, technology and operations. The association publishes best-practice reports and presents webinars on technology changes and their business and market impacts. It also presents events and awards and provides global certification and assessment programs to validate excellence and drive improvement. Aiming higher creates opportunity. Aiming higher brings risk. WTA is dedicated to helping its members seize the opportunities and manage the risks to find the paths to growth in a massively changing
