Colt picks Rivada to drive speed of fibre with reach of satellite

Colt Technology Services, a global digital infrastructure company, is partnering with Rivada Space Networks to provide a unique next generation connectivity network with the necessary speed, security and performance to drive digital innovation and transformation. The first satellite launch is planned for 2025, with services targeted to start in 2026.

Established in 1992, Colt is a global business spanning 40+ countries, with over 6,000 employees and more than 80 offices around the world. Colt’s customers benefit from expansive digital infrastructure connecting 32,000 buildings across 230 cities, more than 50 Metropolitan Area Networks and 250+ Points of Presence across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America’s largest business hubs.

Enterprises’ increasing demand to move large quantities of data securely and quickly around the world is placing existing digital infrastructure under greater pressure than ever, requiring organisations to look for new networking technologies.

Rivada’s global low-latency point-to-point connectivity network of 600 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, the “Outernet,” is a unique next-generation architecture combing inter-satellite laser links with advanced onboard processing that provide unique routing and switching capabilities to create an optical mesh network in space.

This approach to “orbital networking,” in which data stays in space from origin to destination, creates an ultra-secure satellite network with pole-to-pole coverage, offering end-to-end latencies much lower than terrestrial fiber over similar long distances. And by routing traffic on a physically separated network, it provides a layer of defence for any organisation that needs to securely share data between widely distributed sites.

Colt Technology Services will harness Rivada’s Outernet to provide resiliency for high quality voice, video and data solutions and a new level of cybersecurity to enterprises that require secure infrastructure, such as banking and financial services. The Outernet’s fast, seamless and secure connectivity will ramp up network performance and enable true digital transformation and new business opportunities through multi-gigabit bi-directional performance, combined with worldwide reach.

Buddy Bayer, chief operating officer, Colt Technology Services said, “Our goal is to provide agile, secure, high-performance solutions powered by our resilient, sustainable digital infrastructure with Colt’s industry-leading customer experience. Rivada’s Outernet will offer a new alternative access option for us to deliver the robust, secure, and scalable solutions that our customers expect from us. The opportunities for leveraging this global B2B access solution are vast, and we’re incredibly excited about the partnership.” He continued,“ By partnering with Rivada, Colt’s powerful global digital infrastructure expands across the terrestrial, subsea, and now low earth orbit domains. We can truly provide our valued customers with extraordinary connections.”

Declan Ganley, CEO, Rivada Space Networks, said: “We are delighted to be working with a dynamic company like Colt Technology Services to develop space-based solutions to power digital transformation.” Ganley added: “In the digital economy, the security and resilience of communications is becoming increasingly important. The Outernet allows satellites to go beyond their traditional role of ‘gap-filler’ and as a fully inter-connected orbital network which delivers highly secure connectivity anywhere on the planet, it is rapidly becoming the infrastructure of choice for secure data communications.”

Colt Technology Services will join Rivada’s Customer Advisory Board and conduct a series of technical workshops to structure the collaboration and exchange information on the Outernet’s capabilities.