IBC 2024 once again demonstrated the rapid pace of technological change in the broadcast industry. This year’s event was marked by the introduction of the AI Tech Zone and the expansion of the Content Everywhere area, showcasing a wide range of innovative products and solutions.
AI Adoption Gains Momentum
Artificial intelligence was a major theme at IBC 2024. Numerous companies, such as Blackmagic, Ross Video and Zixi demonstrated AI-integrated solutions. From content creation to distribution and analysis, AI is becoming an increasingly integral part of the broadcast industry.
The Shift to IP and Software-Defined Environments
Another significant trend at IBC was the transition to IP-based infrastructures and software-defined environments as showcased by companies like Lawo, Rohde & Schwarz Media and Avid. As the demand for traditional hardware diminishes, IP-based solutions are becoming the norm as companies recognise the benefits of increased efficiency and flexibility that IP technology offers
Cutting-Edge Innovations
IBC also provided a platform for companies to showcase their latest innovations. Broadpeak’s Click2 interactive targeted ads, 24i’s video cloud platform, and Telestream’s VLS-300 Lightspeed server were just a few examples of the exciting new technologies on display.
Looking Ahead
As we move forward, we can expect to see continued growth in AI, IP, and software-defined technologies. Additionally, wireless technology for live streaming and remote production is gaining traction, and sustainability remains a key focus for many organizations.
Cyber Security is a growing sector, with plenty of startups evolving in the space to meet the need for unique solutions. On Episode 35 of The Cyber Security Matters Podcast we were joined by Alexandre Sieira, the Co-Founder and CTO of Tenchi Security, to talk about his experiences of startups and entrepreneurship within the sector. Alexandre is an executive with over two decades of experience in cyber security who is currently focused on helping companies leverage the benefits of cloud computing with security compliance through his startup, giving him some great insights into the topic. Here are the highlights of our conversation.
What’s it like running a security startup?
It seems so glamorous – like it’s all staying in swanky hotels and talking to high-flying financiers in the VC world. Actually, it’s a lot of hard work. It’s it’s long hours. There’s no limit to the work you have to do – you can’t just say, ‘This is not my job description’ because, as an entrepreneur, your job description is infinite. When you’re an early-stage employee or a founder, you have to do everything from carrying boxes to making customers their coffee. You’re writing proposals, paying the accountant, double-checking the tax calculations, interviewing, hiring and leading people. It’s super hard to find people that are decent at all of those things or that enjoy doing all of those things, so at least 40-50% of the time, you’re doing stuff you’re not very good at or that you don’t enjoy until the company becomes big enough to hire people who are specialised in that task. You have to have a lot of energy to keep working, and you need a high tolerance for doing things you don’t enjoy. But the upside is getting to build something from scratch, and that’s super amazing.
You’ve been involved in several startups. Can you pinpoint any key themes that have made them successful?
It seems obvious when you say it, but you need to be doing something that people need. In technical startup terms, that’s called product market fit. You need to be building a product or service that people actually need and are willing to pay good money for. Then you need to execute it well because even if you are building something that people are willing to pay for, if you don’t make them aware that you exist, or you’re spending more than you’re earning on marketing, you’ll go broke. It all comes down to ideas and execution.
What do you think are the key ingredients you need to get investment?
I’ve been involved with three companies, one of which we started bootstrapped, then raised private equity for very late in the game. That was CIPHER. With a services company, it’s super easy for you to finance yourself, and you typically don’t need a lot of investment at the beginning like you do when you’re building a product. It’s very easy to get started and generate cash flow if you’re in the services business and you know what you’re doing. We wanted to do international expansion, so that’s when we raised private equity, which is a whole different ballgame from venture capital.
Then with Niddel, we were a product company, but we weren’t bootstrapped. We could afford it because we had sold CIPHER, so we were using our own money to work for a year without getting paid because we had our savings. With Tenchi, this is our first VC-backed company, which is a completely different experience. It’s a different kind of sale. But, if you know how to run a company and you know how to sell, you just need to figure out what the buyer wants. You need to find the right buyers for what you’re selling and figure out the best way to communicate what you’re offering to them. Fundraising is no different. You need to be able to describe what you’re doing and why it’s interesting, and you need to find the right VCs who are active in your industry or sector but don’t have a conflict.
The biggest difference is that when you’re talking to a customer, you’re saying, ‘Hey, this is the product, these are the technical features, these are the benefits of using the product’. Whereas with VCs, they’re looking for different things. They’re trying to assess the team background, dynamics, founders etc, especially if you’re an early-stage startup. The thing you need to think always when you’re talking to VCs is that much like security people, they’re trying to mitigate their risks. They’re so interested in founders because a lot of companies and founders fight amongst themselves and split up. Venture capital is a high-risk investment strategy, so you need to try to mitigate your risk for them as much as possible.
What makes a good entrepreneur?
You need to have a high tolerance for pressure, handling setbacks and adjusting to doing everything yourself. There are a lot of people who flourish in the large enterprise environment where your job is narrow, and they get super specialised in what they do. They get to know everyone, work the political channels inside the company to get things done and they get joy out of it. One of my startups was acquired by a large company, and we were able to deliver amazing results there, but I did not enjoy the process of working there as much as doing entrepreneurship.
If you get the right person in the wrong environment, they’re not going to succeed. There are people that would be amazing at an enterprise that would suck at being entrepreneurs. I’m the reverse; I think I’m good at entrepreneurship, but if you put me in a large political enterprise with lots of well-established processes and bureaucracy, I’ll slowly wither and die. It’s just I’m not going to enjoy myself and I’m not going to flourish. It’s all about matching the person with the environment.
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
On Episode 37 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, Pieter van Duijn, the CTO of Loft Orbital, joined us to talk about the company’s mission of making space accessible. Read on to find out how their innovative launch solutions are making a difference for smaller players in the field.
“What we’re doing is the technical angle to this. To be responsible, do what we do, and make it accessible, we have to be different in our technical approach. We’re enabling customers access to space by shifting the typical CapEx to OpEx. That means that you don’t pay all the money before you launch, which is how the space industry has always been. Instead, you only pay a portion before you launch. Loft operates as a service company which enables you to get your payload in orbit in a very flexible manner, where you basically pay as we are able to provide the surface, or as long as your payload is operational. That can be in a duty cycle, a geographical area, sunlight or an eclipse etc.
It was very difficult to figure out how to create a space service that doesn’t exist in a way that benefits the customer while allowing us to operate commercially. We’re taking a huge risk to some degree by saying, ‘We don’t know if the launch is going to be okay or if your payload will work as long as it should,’ but fronting the cost anyway.
Then you get all these technical things. How do you make certain that it does work? We have a principle that we call ‘do no harm’, and that goes everywhere in the technical sphere. If something’s wrong with your payload, it should not damage our spacecraft. We should not be propagating a failure to another payload, subsystem, and so on.
The technical solution for making that work is both complex and elegant. Our internal saying is that we have to make space simple for our customers, but our headaches are five times bigger. What people see from the outside is only the tip of the iceberg. But that’s part of the challenge of being innovative and doing something differently.
We also have a responsibility to make sure that certain assets last for a while in orbit. It’s very easy to say, ‘Oh, look, an iPhone works in space’, but that was shown by a mission where an iPhone switched on once and it worked for two weeks. That is awesome, and I applaud you, but when it comes to Loft’s business, having to survive five to seven years in space is a very, very different thing. We have a responsibility to provide a lifetime of reliability and accessibility. We can’t afford to make dumb systems or big satellites with a high redundancy like in the old days.
Another part of our responsibility is making certain that we don’t add to space debris. We are equipping our next generation of spacecraft with propulsion, and we make certain that we even comply with the five-year deorbiting rules in all our mission analyses and budgets. We make certain that even if a subsystem fails, we have access to backup communication. We also try to be responsible in the execution of a mission in orbit.
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
The general sentiment at this year’s IBC was markedly different from 2023—what a difference a year makes!
I think we can all agree that last year’s edition was probably one to forget. The buy side wasn’t buying, the sell side wasn’t selling, and everyone seemed to be on the hunt for a new job! Fast forward to this year, and the mood was noticeably more positive.
While it’s hard to say whether people have simply adjusted to a new normal where the industry isn’t quite as buoyant, or whether we’ve hit the bottom and are slowly beginning to climb back up, there was a noticeable sense of optimism across most areas of the market.
In conversations with those on the Operator and Platform owner side, it’s clear that while new projects and initiatives are in the works, there isn’t a distinct direction of travel just yet. Efficiency drives remain front and centre for many, and it feels like that chapter isn’t quite closed. This will inevitably impact their external investment in products, platforms, and services for the foreseeable future.
Broadly speaking, there’s also a feeling that there’s simply too much choice in the market, and many expect to see further vendor consolidation over the coming years.
For the vendors, the last 12 to 18 months have been challenging, but once again, optimism seemed to be the order of the day. Many are hard at work exploring new business cases, identifying new markets, and figuring out when they can truly say they have a bulletproof AI solution!
Speaking of AI, it wasn’t the hot topic some might have expected. In a market where cloud has been the buzzword for years but the majority still maintain on-prem solutions, I can’t help but wonder if the mass adoption of AI might be further off than many anticipate. But honestly, I don’t think anyone really knows for sure, which is both exciting and a little unnerving! For someone who’s been in this space for years, it feels like we’re all bracing for something big, but what exactly? Time will tell.
On the talent front, there’s some good news. Hiring is back on the agenda for more companies compared to 12 months ago. It’s been an incredibly tough period for a lot of people seeking new roles, and I genuinely hope the tide is beginning to turn.
All in all, IBC was a great show, and as always, it was fantastic to catch up with so many familiar faces. This industry really does have a love affair with IBC, even the cynics come around once they’re there!
Here’s to brighter times ahead—let’s keep the momentum going.
Significant advances in VR and XR have occurred in recent years. On Episode 30 of The Content & Media Matters Podcast, we were joined by Gianluca Meardi, the Co-founder and General Manager of V-Nova, to discuss how these advances will impact the industry. As this technology advances, the way we consume content will also change. Read on to find out more.
What innovations are you most excited about seeing in VR and XR?
I’m really excited about the possibility of transforming the movie entertainment scene. I believe that what we are doing is a singularity in in movie industry, and is the most important innovation in that industry following the introduction of sound, because it’s the first time that you are able to step into a movie and move in any direction inside it. Obviously, you need XR and stereoscopic displays, but these will come a bit later as we are currently concentrating on XR headsets. But it’s really impressive because you can enter a movie and do things like circle around Kung Fu Panda or look behind Tom Cruise in a movie. You have never been able to step into a movie with that cinematic quality before.
It’s not a video game. This is in real Hollywood quality in terms of definition, graphics, light, etc. If you consider that a single frame of Avatar, the James Cameron movie, is rendered for between one and seven hours per frame, and you have 24-48 frames per second, then this experience is impossible to do in real time with a video game engine. To have that kind of quality, we pre-render the scenes so that each frame is not a frame anymore but it’s a cube of space where you are able to move around and experience it.
Normally, you would experience a movie on your sofa, so we are aiming to give you a shorter experience that you can be more immersed in physically. For instance, we are now producing a musical video XR where you can really experience the song together with a lot of special effects, etc. When we create a physical space for people to explore cinema in the same way, that is going to be really impressive.
Do you think that these innovations in XR are gonna change the way that individuals consume content moving forward?
I think that we are placing together different facts. On one side, people are consuming more and more content because during the pandemic people got used to more streaming solutions etc. I think that XR and VR solutions will gain more and more importance over time because of the release of products like Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest 3, with PlayStation, Samsung and Google entering the arena of VR and XR headsets in the coming months. There are a lot of different types, and I really believe that we have gotten to a moment in time where they are okay in terms of definition, and they are getting lighter and more powerful.
We are working with Qualcomm to leverage their chip sector to perfect the experience in our technology. Our consumers always love going to see movie experiences in movie theatres, but if you try to put together that viewing habit and this new revolution in terms of VR or XR headsets, your viewers will not have the same flat experience. You need to give the audience something more than a flat view, and this cannot be done with VR 360 videos because they make you feel sick due to the lack of parallax in those experiences.
This is what we are proposing: the first experience with cinema-like quality, where you are able to move and see whatever you should in terms of parallax geometry variation. That is not possible with other technology—you need technology like ours to move around the scene with a full parallax full of geometry variations iterated. This is the most important invention, I think, in our technology.
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
As we hit the mid-point of this year’s World Space Business Week (WSBW), the 2024 edition of the show has already seen some important announcements and inspiring discussions taking place at the Westin in Paris.
Day 1 saw conversations around investment in the industry with major investment banks sharing their thoughts on the state of the market with key talking points being that, even though we have seen increased investment in the last few years, we have still not returned to the peak of 2021. Then, Director General of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschenbacher, shared ESA’s aims for Europe to have a world-class space programme, lead in the sustainability of space, and continue its international collaboration. The growth of the direct-to-device market was also a hot-topic with executives from Yahsat, Lynk, Globalstar, Omnispace, Iridium, and AST sharing their thoughts on how to create a sustainable business model and the challenges of delivering the right service.
Day 2 covered some very pertinent topics with optical communications, multi-orbit services, and ground system architecture all getting their time in the limelight. We heard how satellite operators are moving towards offering multi-orbit solutions as standard, how this is causing a number of specific regulatory problems – especially with LEO and GEO switching, how the benefits of optical communications will further shape the industry, and how most of the industry agrees that the push towards technology agnostic, seamless connectivity should be the goal we all strive for.
There have also been several exciting announcements that deserve a special mention. Leading US aerospace business, Sceye, announced the successful closing of its Series C funding round, Finland’s ReOrbit shared news of its exclusive agreement with the Uzma Group for a new GEO software enabled satellite project, and the news that Starlink has almost doubled its backlog of IFC orders after last week’s deal with United Airlines.
With still more than half the conference left to come, we can’t wait to see what other exciting developments are announced.
The satellite industry has been rapidly developing over the last two years. On Episode 36 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, we were joined by returning guest Gary Calnan, the CEO of CisLunar Industries, to explore the changes that have happened since he last appeared on the show. He shared his perspectives on the major trends of privatisation and investment in the industry and explained the global benefits of tackling space debris. Read on for the highlights of the conversation.
“In the last two years, there have been a couple of major trends in our industry. The whole government of the United States has shifted its mindset in a very definitive way from the prior paradigm of launch and be done. They used to think that you launch a satellite and it’s a one-shot deal where it’s eventually it’s either going to become space garbage or it’s going to be in orbit. From there, we have completely shifted into this paradigm of in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing, or I-SAM.
The United States has pushed this government initiative across the defence department, the executive branch, NASA, and all the other agencies, saying that we’re going to shift from that earlier paradigm to one where we are launching spacecraft with the intention of building them in space, reusing them, servicing them and repairing them – the very first part of which is refuelling them and really basic stuff like that. Now we’re building towards this paradigm of staying in space and expanding in space instead of creating the one-shot deals that we did in the past.
A lot of that has been facilitated by launch costs coming way down, which has obviously been principally driven by SpaceX and other companies who are falling on their heels to help drive that competition further. Falling launch costs have enabled a new way of thinking about these things. Simultaneously the government on both the DoD side and the NASA side has shifted to embrace the idea of tapping the private sector, not just to build things for them to own but actually to provide capabilities as a service. So instead of saying, ‘I want you to build me my own moon rocket’, they’re now saying, ‘I want to pay for a ride to the moon’. That’s a wholly different way of thinking about space that has enabled the private sector to push the limits of space and move forward faster.
Private space companies have shifted away from cost-plus pricing to fixed-price contracts, which helps to keep costs from ballooning. Lower launch costs make it possible to get more satellites and missions into space and make a profit.
The government paying for services from private industry also provides another incentive for companies to launch their own constellations, so we end up with a satellite environment that is increasingly congested. Because we want to do more with the satellites, they’ve grown in size from the bread blocks of the original NewSpace constellations to something that’s not the size of a school bus but significantly bigger to give those satellites more power. They needed to be more capable, with more powerful sensors, and do things that require more energy. Because there are more of them, they also need propulsion to be able to manoeuvre around as they go. If they’re manoeuvring, they need to be refuelled to stay up there for a while. That’s creating a self-feeding ecosystem that’s driving more and more economic activity, so prices go down for launch, and it just helps to feed the cycle. There really has been a paradigm shift.
Along the way, we’ve also had shifts in the capital markets. For years there has been a real slump in investment, but that’s starting to crack a little bit. As far as legislation and regulation go, more needs to be done for debris, like mandating lifespans. I know they don’t want to regulate that too hard and stifle the industry’s progress, but they’ve moved to a five-year plan which aims to address these issues. We’re seeing fines levied against companies for not handling an array, which is interesting. It happened recently, and the cost was minimal for the company, but nevertheless, it’s happening. I think it’s all going in the right direction.
From a debris perspective, we think that once satellites reach the end of a mission, they should be required to orbit right away or do something else. Part of what we offer or enable is doing salvage in space. We partner with other companies that can go out and get these satellites and bring them back. This should all be part of the planning that companies have in response to a requirement that as soon as the mission is over, you have a year to deal with it. Otherwise, space is going to get more and more congested. We have an incentive to keep space clear, but if others aren’t doing it, they’re getting an advantage on cost, which makes it hard to eliminate the tragedy of the commons problem.
Space is getting crowded. There’s no way we’re going to be able to handle an increase in satellites without addressing the space debris issue. Doing that also increases the carrying capacity of the orbital environment because if we remove the things when they’re broken right away, we can put more satellites up there, which means we can have more capabilities. It’s in everyone’s interest that that gets managed as tightly as possible.”
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
Gender diversity has been a pressing issue within the cyber security industry for a number of years. On Episode 34 of The Cyber Security Matters Podcast, we were joined by Julia Weimer, the Director of Professional Services, EMEA at Lacework, to discuss the issue. Julia is passionate about gender diversity in cyber security, and actively participates in industry events and forums as an advocate for women. Julia regularly shares her insights and guidance with aspiring professionals to empower them in entering the cyber security space.
Do you think mentoring and public speaking are good ways to spread awareness of women in STEM and tech?
Absolutely. This is an opportunity for women to speak but also hear about the struggles of women in the industry. That helps people in the room feel like they’re going through a similar experience to the speaker or maybe find a nugget of inspiration to take on a new challenge or do something different. I think that it’s worthwhile to explore events like that with women and men. I say that based on the sheer numbers alone because there are more men in the industry, so we will need their help to get us to the next stage.
I’ve witnessed the benefits of sponsorship in my own career. If we can bring more men into the mission that we’re on, we’ll have an equal composition of men and women in tech in the industry much faster. I really do believe that the more we can bring our male allies in the better the industry will be. We can empower them to speak on our behalf when we are not able to, bring a woman to a meeting that she wasn’t invited to, and speak up on our behalf when they know that we’re not being paid the same as our male counterparts. Those are opportunities for us to bring men into the conversation and realise it’s a men and women problem.
What advice do you have for male allies who want to stand up for women more?
Invite them to that meeting, include them in the conversation, and get their advice. Getting feedback from diverse perspectives is so important in the business world, because business can be quite boring if everybody has the same perspective and the same opinions. It’s it’s healthy to be challenged and see problems from a different viewpoint. Invite women to meetings, speak up for them, and if you notice a woman is quiet in the room, ask for her advice after the fact or ask what she thinks during the meeting to make her feel included.
What advice would you give as a mother who is successful in your career?
Being a woman and mother in tech specifically makes you realise that so many things outside of motherhood really don’t matter. It’s given me the confidence to know that if I need to take my child to a doctor’s appointment rather than taking a meeting, I will do it every day. I’m privileged to have a job where that’s okay and where my peers respect that. My advice to other full-time working mums is to lean into both. You can absolutely have both. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for choosing that lifestyle.
A lot of mothers have faced judgement for choosing not to stay home – there’s a lot of judgement that’s passed on women in general. But as a mum in tech, I truly lean into both. However, realising that you can’t do it all is important too. By that, I mean making sure that you can let your to-do list carry over to the next day. If you have responsibilities at home and in your job, you have to recognise that you may not get to everything that day, but be able to make the right decision for yourself. One of the key points when you look for a new role is whether you will have the people around you to support what you’re trying to do as a mum but also as a full-time employee.
What’s one piece of advice you give to someone entering the industry?
Women statistically do not apply to jobs that we do not feel qualified for. If there’s a job that seems interesting to you, apply for it. It just takes the first meeting for someone to see your potential or hear what you have to say. I think there’s no problem in saying ‘Why not’ and just going for it and giving it your best.
Breaking into the industry has seemingly become harder. It is about using relationships to open a door. The more networking events you can attend, the more people you can meet and interact with, the better. You’ll meet respectable people in the industry who can help you and connect with you on LinkedIn so that when you’re asking for help and using the network to be able to do that, the right people will see it.
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
IoT technology is a key component of smart living. On Episode 23 of The Connectivity Matters Podcast we were joined by Ed Chung, the SVP of Product & Business Development at Endeavour Technology, to talk about his perspectives on the most exciting developing technologies in the IoT space. Read on for his insights.
“IoT probably means different things to different people. It was probably a term that was invented to capture a whole bunch of things, primarily from a technology point of view. What’s exciting for us at the moment is certain industries have embraced connectivity.
The one that we’re focusing on at the moment is automotive. A lot of industries over the years have promised that bringing in connectivity would enable new areas of opportunity, either in revenue or by improving the way things work. Over time there have been a number of reasons why things have not happened as quickly as many would have hoped – and I include automotive in that as well, but it’s still one of the leading industries. We’ve all heard about the connected car, and those who have been lucky enough to get into a vehicle that’s been produced recently will see the technology and the way that that car communicates with people and with the outside world, and it has changed a lot. I’ve seen it described as a giant smartphone on wheels.
That’s particularly exciting for us because not only is that a new product out there but there’s a lot of innovation. There are also aspects of it that people sort of expect and rely on now, but there are also autonomous driving and entertainment applications, which are becoming ubiquitous features. We’ve come from a time when you buy a car and just expect it to work. Now, connectivity is a part of that, as are all the services that run on top of the main function of the vehicle.
However, we all know it’s not quite like that in the real world, right? Sometimes things just don’t work. That’s applicable not just to automotive but to any industry, but we’re working with a number of partners to try to understand how to improve and solve those challenges, such as poor quality or poor connectivity that’s not fit for purpose.
Beyond automotive, there are a number of other areas that have embraced connectivity as well. We’re starting to see it on planes – Wi-Fi is available on most airlines. That’s been a pretty significant change in recent years. We’re also seeing some really interesting discrete sectors on the transportation side, even things like connected elevators, as businesses evolve and connectivity becomes more useful and applicable. Machines are talking to other machines, and machines are talking to humans. The need for connectivity is ever-increasing.”
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
On Episode 35 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, Constellr‘s co-founders, CEO Max Gulde and COO Cassi Welling, joined us to discuss the industry’s changing perceptions of our planet’s health. Constellr is developing earth observation applications that monitor the heat on Earth’s surface, with the aim of helping companies and people create more responsible solutions. With such a powerful mission, we were keen to hear their thoughts on perceptions of planetary health in the satellite industry. Here are the highlights:
Max: “In principle, we see a shift in perception. There have been, and still are, a lot of promises about what Earth observation would eventually do to solve these problems around the globe, and a lot of those promises didn’t come to pass. We have to fight that legacy. It turns out that you can correlate certain things, but the correlation is not that good. This has misplaced a lot of trust, so it’s a challenge.
We try to be extremely realistic about what we can do and also clearly state what we cannot do. On the one hand side, we are the first generation who can directly see the impact of climate change, and that is scary, but it’s also obviously helping bring across our message. We are also probably the last generation that has the leverage to change things, so we should use that opportunity. On the other hand, people are more acutely aware that this is happening, and they’re uncertain. There’s no discussion anymore about if this is happening or not. We are in deep trouble.
We can actually do a measurement now which is far more reliable and directly quantifiable than previous modeling approaches. People seem to understand more, and they’re crying out for us to measure things because the model is not granular enough. Making more data-driven decisions is helpful, especially as we’re pushed towards a more compliance-based market that’s about fulfilling certain requirements. Measurements are at the very centre.
The point is that we’re moving. I’m very happy as a scientist, but maybe there’s a bias there. It’s gratifying to be pushed in this direction and to provide these measurements to help people make better decisions. We see the market moving, despite the early mistrust from overclaiming what satellites can do. Now with a new generation, we’re getting a lot closer to actually fulfilling these promises.
Cassie: “Just to add to that, I think the benefit of science becoming more of a mainstream topic is that it’s completely cross-cutting not just one part of the industry, but it’s pushing us to collaborate, generate partnerships and so on. It’s creating a drive towards NewSpace and more opportunities through being quicker, lighter, more sustainable, more efficient, etc. It goes hand in hand with the evolution of the sector.
The industry is able to address some of these more specific topics now. Space debris is a massive topic at the moment, so heaps of companies are popping up in that area. That’s just one example of this broader view of ‘Oh, we’re not just sending satellites into space, we’re contributing to planetary debris that’s also impacting the Earth.’ There’s also something called space sustainability ratings that’s growing at the moment, so there’s a lot of drive in the right direction.
Space offers massive scalability. It allows us to look at the whole planet and assess change over time and be consistent in how we’re measuring things. But at the same time, it doesn’t always allow for the granularity of decision-making on the ground. It’s about having a balance and making sure that space complements other datasets or methodologies that we’re using on the ground so that you get the best possible picture at any one point.”
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
Email security is an often overlooked area of the cyber security industry. On Episode 33 of The Cyber Security Matters Podcast, we spoke with Sam Hutchinson, the Co-Founder and CEO of Sendmarc, about how we can attract more engineers to the email security sector. Read on to find out more.
What are the biggest opportunities for talent in email security?
It’s quite a crowded space, but email security is quite a big topic. But there are pockets of that topic which are not crowded at all. We operate in a macro area of that large sphere, where there isn’t much competition, or knowledge, either. That’s the weird thing about email; every company in the world uses it, yet engineering is focusing on much more popular things like AI or blockchain. No engineers come out of school and want to focus on email. It’s just not interesting enough or popular enough, but the opportunity is insane. It’s an unlimited market that shows incredible opportunity. Because it’s such a historical space, there’s been a lack of innovation for quite a long time, so there’s plenty of space for disruption.
What are the key talent topics that need addressing the most?
I think we all admit that there is a small pool of talent, so the question which we often ask ourselves is, how do we become relevant to that talent? As we progress through different changes, what that talent needs in life changes too. If you think about a person who’s leaving university, what do they want out of a career? A person who’s 35 with a career, a working parent or a single person all need different things. You have to understand who you’re hiring and what they want, and then customise the position to be attractive to them. Ultimately, there’s an oversupply of work and an undersupply of talent.
How are you securing talent at Sendmarc?
We’ve gone on a journey with investors, and we’ve been able to raise funding so that we can hire top talent. Here’s a very interesting thing about top talent though: many people between 35 and 45 are highly skilled, but they’re frustrated with the machine. They’re searching for meaning. So we hired leaders first in our company, and then all of those leaders brought their teams with them. It was an incredibly efficient way to attract high-quality talent. Not only did we pay those people well so that they could look after their families, but we also gave them meaning. If you can create a high-performance environment that gives people the meaning that they’re looking for, you can attract the top talent in that sector.
How can businesses attract more diverse talent in this sector?
I completely believe in diversity, but if I look at my engineers, they’re mostly male. What we have to do when we hire somebody who doesn’t fit the stereotypes is embrace them so that they feel psychologically safe. We have zero tolerance for racism, sexism, or any sort of xenophobia, which means the minority always feel safe in our environment. If we start with getting it right with one or two diverse placements, and those people feel good, we’re more likely to attract more diverse talent.
However, the fundamentals need to improve. How do we get more minority groups into engineering or finance, for example? How do we get more males into human resources? It’s more about generating interest in all these sectors. But I am trying at least to make minorities feel comfortable when they’re bucking the trend so that positive action keeps happening.
We sit down regularly with some of the biggest names in our industry, we dedicate our podcast to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together. Follow the link here to see some of our latest episodes and don’t forget to subscribe.
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By clicking Accept, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation and analyse site usage.
Strictly necessary cookies
Always active
These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Analytical/performance cookies
They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Functionality cookies
These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). By using the Website, you agree to our placement of functionality cookie.
