Earlier this month, Comtech sponsored America’s Future Series “Cyber, Land, Air, Sea, and Space” (or, CLASS) Summit. During the two-day CLASS Summit, Comtech CEO Ken Peterman joined leaders from both government and the private sector – including General (Ret) John Hyten, General (Ret) David Petraeus, and Jeff Bezos – to discuss policies, practices, solutions, and challenges as they relate to U.S. global competitiveness and national security.
Ken kicked off the first day of the conference by participating in a fireside chat with David Hamilton, the founder and CEO of America’s Future Series. During the conversation, Ken and David explored the history, current trends, and future trajectory of commercial and military satellite communications (SATCOM) – in particular, the convergence of ground and terrestrial communications.
“Now you’re starting to see SATCOM architectures coming together to provide a hybrid connectivity solution,” said Ken during the conversation. “This is just like your phone, which has a smart decision engine that automatically routes traffic over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi in one direction and cellular traffic in another.”
Ken also discussed Comtech’s industry leadership, the future of hybridized connectivity, and the company’s culture of innovation.
“Our employees are passionate about the mission we’re on to leverage technology across diverse user communities in order to improve collaboration, unleash innovation, and connect people so that we can set ideas free,” said Ken. “Connecting the unconnected globally is creating geopolitical change. When we democratize access to information, education, and the economy, we drive change that makes the world a better place.”
To learn more, watch Ken’s full fireside chat with David Hamilton below.
On day two of the conference, Ken joined David Hamilton and others to present this year’s 5-Star Award to Jeff Bezos. The America’s Future Series 5-Star award is given to business leaders and their organizations for extraordinary support of our military and their families both philanthropically and through their hiring and career development practices.
During the presentation, Ken highlighted the importance of veterans and their spouses as well as the value veterans entering the workforce bring to companies across industries. Given their unique experiences and ability to improvise, veterans, as Ken noted, can really help companies find innovative solutions to customer problems.
“At Comtech, we are a team of veterans and creative thinkers,” said Ken. “We focus on the warfighter’s mission and apply our technical innovation to empower the warfighter in new and different ways—ways our customers never dreamed possible.”
Watch the full 5-Star Award presentation and Jeff Bezos’ acceptance speech here.
Ken also moderated a panel with Rear Admiral John Watkins and Brigadier General Damon Feltman focused on the synergies of U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Space Force; opportunities for private sector partnerships; how the organizations are preparing for a conflict that extends to space; current initiatives, such as Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2); and the importance of cybersecurity across commercial and defense sectors.
“Commercial companies are gathering data and using subscriber analytics to identify usage trajectories and patterns so that they can provide a better customer experience,” said Ken. “To some degree, this same data can support active cyber defense, because we can also… see trends and evolving threats, in some cases, ahead of time. Those are commercial capabilities … that can be drawn upon by our warfighters.”
Ken’s conversation with Rear Admiral John Watkins and Brigadier General Damon Feltman can be found here.
Over the two days of the conference, many themes emerged including the conflict in Ukraine; China’s foreign policy and national security posture; the importance of cybersecurity; the new space era’s challenges and opportunities; the integration of technology-enabled capabilities; and the impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning across industries and military domains. As the CLASS summit concluded, it was clear attendees not only left with valuable insights, but actions that can be implemented to help ensure the US remains the world’s leader in innovation and national security.
America’s Future Series is a non-partisan speaker series that brings leaders together in a civil forum to discuss US global competitiveness and national security topics. Visit the America’s Future Series website to learn more about the organization and other upcoming events that may be of interest.
