Kratos and hiSky Partner to Enable Kratos’ OpenSpace® and hiSky’s Smartellite™ Solutions to Work Together for IoT and Related Satellite Network Services in Virtual and Cloud Environments

Rhea-AI Summary

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ:KTOS) and hiSky have announced a strategic partnership to integrate hiSky's satellite network services with Kratos' OpenSpace® software-defined ground system. The collaboration aims to deliver Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities through cloud-enabled network architecture.

The partnership comes as the global IoT market is projected to grow from $277 billion in 2024 to $606 billion by 2030. The integration will virtualize hiSky's hub within the OpenSpace platform, enabling cloud-based operations that eliminate the need for on-site hardware and reduce operational costs while increasing scalability.

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• None.

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• Implementation timeline and costs not disclosed
• Potential technical challenges in virtualizing traditional hardware systems

Insights

Satellite Communications Technology Expert

Kratos-hiSky partnership virtualizes satellite IoT infrastructure, reducing costs while targeting the growing $606B IoT market by 2030.

This partnership represents a significant technological advancement in satellite-based IoT infrastructure. Kratos' OpenSpace software-defined ground system will now integrate hiSky's satellite network services to create a fully virtualized solution that eliminates the need for conventional hardware-based hubs at teleport facilities.

The technical implications are substantial. Traditional satellite IoT deployments require dedicated hardware installations at each teleport, creating capital expenses, maintenance requirements, and scalability constraints. By fully virtualizing hiSky's hub within Kratos' OpenSpace platform to run in mainstream public cloud environments, the partnership enables network operators to dynamically provision new carriers on-demand without physical hardware changes.

This cloud-native approach brings three critical technical advantages: dramatically reduced deployment costs, significantly enhanced scalability that can adjust to varying demand levels, and improved operational flexibility with faster service activation. For satellite operators, this means the ability to rapidly expand IoT service offerings while maintaining lower operational overhead.

The market timing is strategic, as ABI Research projects the global IoT market to reach $606 billion by 2030. Satellite connectivity is uniquely positioned to capture segments of this market that terrestrial networks cannot effectively serve, particularly in remote, mobile, or disaster-affected environments where traditional infrastructure is unavailable.

This virtualization approach aligns with broader industry trends toward software-defined network architectures that reduce dependencies on proprietary hardware while improving service agility and reducing time-to-market for new offerings.

Orchestrated Software Solution Will Eliminate the Need for On-site Hub Hardware and Enhance Flexibility for Customers

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 05, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a technology company in Defense, National Security and Global Markets, and hiSky, a leading provider of industrial satellite communications solutions, announced today a partnership that will enable the delivery of hiSky satellite network services, including Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) as a fully orchestrated capability using Kratos’ OpenSpace^® dynamic, software-defined ground system. The partnership will allow satellite and other communications network operators to offer IoT connectivity services to their commercial and government customers, taking advantage of the scale, economics and operational benefits of a modern, cloud-enabled network architecture.

According to ABI Research, the global IoT market for supply-side software and service revenue will grow in value from US$277 billion in 2024 to US$606 billion by 2030, and that IoT will play an increasing role in all industries. Satellite connectivity can contribute mightily to this growth with its ability to reach remote, mobile, disaster-affected and other unconnected environments. The partnership between Kratos and hiSky will advance this capability by enabling IoT services employing virtual and cloud-native network architectures, thereby reducing costs and greatly increasing scalability and service flexibility.

hiSky’s solution provides customers around the globe an exceptionally agile answer for satellite IoT applications with easy-to-deploy Smartellite^™ terminals today connecting to a conventional hardware-based hub. “Kratos is working closely with hiSky to fully virtualize the hiSky hub within the OpenSpace platform, enabling it to run in the mainstream public cloud,” said Greg Quiggle, SVP of Product Management at Kratos. “Doing so will enable hiSky and Kratos customers to offer a new breed of on-demand and dynamically scalable IoT services at a much lower cost than conventional hardware-based systems.”

According to Shahar Kravitz, co-founder and CEO at hiSky, “With the results of this partnership, satellite operators will be able to spin-up new carriers upon demand at any enabled teleport with a touch of a button, without the need for new hardware at the teleport and the associated plumbing. It’s a new era of flexibility, scalability, speed of service enablement and redundancy.”

About Kratos OpenSpace
Kratos’ OpenSpace family of solutions enables the digital transformation of satellite ground systems to become a more dynamic and powerful part of the space network. Today’s ground systems are still based upon legacy hardware architectures that are inflexible, difficult and expensive to manage, and slow to adapt to evolving customer needs. As the first and only commercially available, fully orchestrated, software-defined ground system, the OpenSpace Platform enhances satellite network operations, reducing costs and mainstreaming satellite connectivity to work seamlessly with the rest of the world’s global communications infrastructure, which long ago adopted modern software-defined networking principles. For more information about the OpenSpace family visit www.KratosDefense.com/OpenSpace.

About hiSky
Founded in 2015, hiSky is a leading provider of satellite communication solutions, offering innovative and reliable connectivity for government and industrial IoT applications.

hiSky is the only commercially available, satellite-agnostic end-to-end system focused on mid-range bitrates. Its technology ensures secure and reliable connectivity through private networks, addressing critical connectivity challenges across multiple sectors.

hiSky’s competitive edge is driven by its proprietary, in-house-developed firmware and a unified software solution, enabled across GEO, MEO, and LEO satellite networks over high-speed Ka/Ku frequencies. The company’s technology stack provides a cost-effective, small, lightweight, ruggedized and adaptable solution. For more information visit: www.hiskysat.com.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology, products, system and software company addressing the defense, national security, and commercial markets. Kratos makes true internally funded research, development, capital and other investments, to rapidly develop, produce and field solutions that address our customers’ mission critical needs and requirements. At Kratos, affordability is a technology, and we seek to utilize proven, leading edge approaches and technology, not unproven bleeding edge approaches or technology, with Kratos’ approach designed to reduce cost, schedule and risk, enabling us to be first to market with cost effective solutions. We believe that Kratos is known as an innovative disruptive change agent in the industry, a company that is an expert in designing products and systems up front for successful rapid, large quantity, low cost future manufacturing which is a value add competitive differentiator for our large traditional prime system integrator partners and also to our government and commercial customers. Kratos intends to pursue program and contract opportunities as the prime or lead contractor when we believe that our probability of win (PWin) is high and any investment required by Kratos is within our capital resource comfort level. We intend to partner and team with a large, traditional system integrator when our assessment of PWin is greater or required investment is beyond Kratos’ comfort level. Kratos’ primary business areas include virtualized ground systems for satellites and space vehicles including software for command & control (C2) and telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C), jet powered unmanned aerial drone systems, hypersonic vehicles and rocket systems, propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, space craft and launch systems, C5ISR and microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, satellite, counter UAS, directed energy, communication and other systems, and virtual & augmented reality training systems for the warfighter. For more information, visit www.KratosDefense.com.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Kratos and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Kratos undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Kratos believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of Kratos in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Kratos for the year ended December 29, 2024, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Kratos.

Press Contact:
Claire Burghoff
claire.burghoff@kratosdefense.com

Investor Information:
877-934-4687
investor@kratosdefense.com

FAQ

What is the partnership between Kratos and hiSky for satellite IoT services?

The partnership integrates hiSky's satellite network services with Kratos' OpenSpace® platform to deliver IoT capabilities through cloud-enabled architecture, eliminating the need for on-site hardware.

How large is the IoT market potential for Kratos (NASDAQ:KTOS)?

According to ABI Research, the global IoT market for supply-side software and service revenue is expected to grow from $277 billion in 2024 to $606 billion by 2030.

What are the main benefits of the Kratos-hiSky partnership?

The partnership enables reduced costs, increased scalability, and enhanced service flexibility through cloud-native network architectures and virtual hub implementation.

How will the Kratos-hiSky solution improve satellite operations?

Satellite operators will be able to spin-up new carriers on demand at any enabled teleport without requiring new hardware, improving flexibility and speed of service deployment.

What is hiSky's Smartellite™ technology?

Smartellite™ is hiSky's terminal technology that provides agile satellite IoT applications, currently connecting to a conventional hardware-based hub.