Contrivian, a provider of mission-critical connectivity, and Big Network, a software company focused on reliable networking, announced the completion of their merger, bringing Big Network’s proprietary networking software into Contrivian’s technology portfolio. The move creates a vertically integrated provider that combines connectivity, hardware, software, orchestration and managed service delivery within a single solution, said the companies.
By owning Big Network’s software-led technology at the center of its solution, Contrivian can develop services faster, operate more efficiently and scale across enterprise and government markets, said the company. Unlike the industry-standard approach of assembling separate third-party products, Contrivian has integration and orchestration capabilities built directly into its solution.
“The merger fundamentally changes what Contrivian is and what we’re capable of becoming,” said Grant Kirkwood, founder and CEO of Contrivian. “Nobody else has this software, because nobody else built it for this. The Big Network software was engineered from the ground up for intelligent, multimodal, mission-critical connectivity, and it now lives inside our platform and nowhere else. Software, hardware, carrier and engineering now work as one system. It’s a network engineer in a box, and that’s what lets us move faster, serve more customers and scale Contrivian as demand for mission-critical connectivity keeps growing.”
The need for reliable connectivity is increasing as organizations distribute critical applications and operations across cloud platforms, edge environments, remote sites and connected devices, while also adopting AI and supporting teams across wider geographies. However, most networks still depend on a primary connection, a secondary connection and failover between them. That model only reacts after performance has already degraded or a connection has failed, explained Contrivian executive. Contrivian replaces legacy failover with an active-active model in which multiple connections operate simultaneously, with traffic continuously routed across fiber, broadband, LTE/5G and LEO satellite networks according to real-time conditions.
“Failover means failure has already happened,” said Tom Daly, Principal Technologist at Contrivian. “Traditional architectures wait for the primary connection to degrade or go down before moving traffic to a backup. We continuously measure every available path across fiber, wireless and LEO satellite and optimize traffic according to real-time performance. That makes separate connections behave as one system, reducing the brief outages and performance gaps associated with traditional failover.”
The combined company enters its next phase with an established global operating footprint, supporting enterprise and government customers across more than 160 countries through a network of more than 600 carrier relationships. Its software-led solution gives customers centralized control over performance, deployment and lifecycle management across terrestrial and satellite connectivity, creating a repeatable model that can scale across global markets. The combined solution is available now for enterprise and government deployments.
In March 2026, Contrivian launched Contrivian Constellation, the industry’s first unified multi-constellation LEO connectivity solution. Constellation brings Starlink and additional LEO satellite networks together with terrestrial connectivity through one managed platform. Rather than treating each satellite service as a standalone connection, Contrivian continuously orchestrates performance across multiple constellations and terrestrial paths, reducing dependence on any single network and delivering greater resilience for enterprise and government operations worldwide.
