At ST Engineering iDirect, our partners are fundamental to our success, working with us to push boundaries and develop new technology that makes satellite connectivity more accessible than ever. Paradigm has been an iDirect partner for decades, and is enjoying great success, rising to the demands of a challenging and highly competitive environment.
We spoke to Emma Snowdon, Business Development at Paradigm about the company from her perspective and discussed a host of topics from the continued success of the company, its game changing solutions and the way it interacts with its customers.
Let’s begin by talking about the company. It’s been established for over 25 years and is really gaining prominence with its technology. What is behind the company’s longevity and success? We see you’ve also been named in the top 100 tech companies by the Sunday Times.
Yes! That was a great surprise as we didn’t even put ourselves forward. It was an amazing recognition.
We think the key to our longevity and success is the fact that we keep on adding value for our customers. Over last 25 years, we formed a deep commitment and partnership with our customers and our partners, such as ST Engineering iDirect. We always try to be a step ahead of the technology and what’s upcoming, and to do that we engage and listen to our customers as much as possible.
We’re a medium sized business based in Alton UK, and we do everything in-house and we pride ourselves on that. The design, development, manufacturing of all our products happens here in Alton. This means that our team can quickly respond to the requirements of our customers.
User feedback is critical to us, and it informs how we develop our products so that when our solutions hit the market, they are what the market needs.
You’re serving users that operate in hostile and challenging environments. Can you tell us about your customers and the challenges that they face daily in terms of communications and what they expect from remote connectivity today?
The most challenging situation for our end users, both commercial and government, is the ability to move around and to do that efficiently as well as safely. We design products that are rugged, practical, easy to transport in single cases/backpacks, with integrated technology that works across all our different terminals. We understand that a lot of our end users do work in challenging environments, so the key is providing terminals that are easy to use and reliable. This enables them to do their job efficiently, with solutions that have common interfaces simplifying training and operations, that you know you can trust and will get the job done.
When we ask our end users what is important to them when they are going on a mission, they often say that they don’t want to sacrifice any of the essentials in terms of connectivity.
Can you tell us more about the RAGNO terminal and how you worked together with ST Engineering iDirect, and the benefits this has brought to the overall product?
Yeah, so the Ragno is our next generation satellite terminal. This was originally developed with and for a specific end user and their mission requirements. For this customer, jumping and flying was a big requirement and that’s why it’s such a covert, compact solution that weighs under 7.5 kilograms.
We do see that this as a huge step forward in terminal capability because it’s so small but still features all the advanced technology of the PIM with the benefit of ST Engineering iDirect as partner and the integration of the iDirect 950mp modem within the PIM.
It is up in just 30 seconds and on satellite in under 2 minutes. It’s a single design solution that you assemble, flip open, and just connect with. You can literally just jump out of a plane with it. Our end users have put this to the test in the field, so it also proven. The RAGNO also operates across multiple frequency bands including Mil-Ka/Ka and Ku, using swappable RF.
How important are the partnerships that you’ve developed with companies such as ST Engineering iDirect and what do they bring to the company?
Our partners are key to our success because they support us in focusing on the design and development of our products. We have worked very closely with ST Engineering iDirect and other partners on the deep integration of their technology into the PIM. This means it’s just simplified and easy to use for all, and that is the focus of all our terminal solutions, advanced technology without compromise.
The strength of the 950mp modem integrated in the PIM, the intelligent terminal controller and user interface, means that there’s no laptop that’s needed for an end user to make downloads, configurations or any changes, which is a big advantage. There is no back and forth between the laptop and the terminal because the iDirect technology is already embedded in the advanced capability of the PIM.
With ST Engineering iDirect we have provided an overall solution for our end users that is complete simplicity, providing the seamless switchover between the different networks.
The government and defense market is currently very fast growing against a fragile geopolitical backdrop. How do you see this part of the market evolving and how will you be meeting its needs in the future?
This is such a key time for us, because the RAGNO terminal solution is so highly tuned to the evolving government and defense market. What we have designed and produced is the result of feedback from the end user. We believe that our approach must be to keep listening and engaging with our end users as well as with the government and the direction they’re moving in.
We are taking a very modular approach. Think Lego bricks. Our customers can add to their solutions as and when they need to. We can provide for the future demands of the market by working with our partners and continuing to add new capabilities to our products. This gives our solutions ultimate flexibility, with possibility to add functions making it future proof. We don’t present our customers with a terminal that has fixed features. It’s about customization and finding out what works best for the individual application.
We can’t avoid the fact that this is an incredibly challenging time for the satellite industry with a lot of upheaval and transition. How will Paradigm stay ahead of this curve and remain competitive?
We embrace change. It’s going to happen, but we really love it, and we take it on because it means that we can keep developing, keep designing, keep going, engaging with these new product features and offerings that are exciting amidst all the change. Flexibility and listening are our biggest tactics to ensure that we stay with this curve and remain competitive and engaged with the end users.
We go to a lot of events so that we can be face to face with our customers and communicate with them to see what they want. For instance, AI, seamless networking switching and multi-orbit has been emerging over the last few years, and we have been able to incorporate and integrate these features into our PIM.
How you see the company evolving in in the coming years?
We’ll continue to develop and engage with our customers and partners. We’ll continue to embrace the changes, take on the challenges and continue to add value for our End Users. We want to make their lives easier and safer, to provide simplicity of advanced technology without compromise.