Playbook Volume 9 - ChannelVision Magazine

“In terms of latency, we aren’t trying to position ourselves as a high-perfor- mance network service,” Gatens said. “It’s [less about speed] and more about the combination of global connectivity and secure data storage. We’re not out there competing with the fastest net- works available, which on a global basis is still a network of networks.” Still, users shouldn’t anticipate run- ning into any performance issues. “A round trip delay will be under three-quarters of a second, so we’re confident that the user experience on the range of applications we antici- pate serving will be just fine,” Gatens said. “It will be an adequate user ex- perience in terms of network and data storage capabilities.” SpaceBelt will feature multi-tenant architecture across its satellites, and there will be three initial memory stor- age (MSATs) in orbit for data replication and redundancy purposes. Customers will lease space on an MSAT just as they would in a typical multi-tenant data center. The company, however, will be able to provide individual satellites if an or- ganization wishes to pay for that level of service. Beyond that, Gatens said, Cloud Consetllation will have the abil- ity to support whole separate constel- lations for organizations. Scalability will be fairly rapid, according to Gatens, as the company’s initial launch plan is to provide just under five petabytes of storage replicated across three MSATs. The company will launch additional satel- lites as the market demands, which will be inserted into the constellation. Calling all partners Gatens is adamant that the chan- nel will be a critical part of SpaceBelt’s growth strategy. “To start, we are a wholesale ser- vice,” he said. “We see the channel as being fundamental to our strategy and business model. It will enable us to scale into a range of verticals and lever- age partners that already have existing customer relationships. This will help us cement our position in the marketplace and take on new addressable markets. “We think it’s very much a mutually beneficial relationship,” Gatens added. “The channel is key to our go-to-market strategy, and we can bring to the table a solution that doesn’t exist today. There is no apples-to-apples comparison. It enables partners to sell a higher value service to customers who are looking to protect their most sensitive data assets.” For partners, this is a unique oppor- tunity as it combines the “wow” factor of a space-based technology with a viable cybersecurity solution. It’s an impressive technology to add to a portfolio, and one that is certain to at least be a conversa- tion starter. In a recent study from Harvey Nash & KPMG, it should be noted, more than 60 percent of CIOs reported that improving cybersecurity is a key issue facing their board. This is a trend that has increased steadily over the last two years. “You can certainly capture their in- terest with an initial positioning of ‘let’s talk about a cloud service capability in space,’” Gatens said. “But then when you sell and present the value propo- sition, it clearly addresses a problem that is significant for any multinational enterprise that exists no matter what the vertical or the amount of data that an organization has. The risk of a breach could have a devastating im- pact on a company.” Gatens did reiterate that this is meant to be a complementary service. It’s designed to work with other solutions in a portfolio. No other company, though, is currently offering anything like Space- Belt —at least not yet. “We do not see any competitive threat on the horizon in the public do- main or back channel,” Gatens said. “We believe we are unique. Do we believe cloud services in general are going to take advantage of LEO and the economies of space going forward? Yes. We always should anticipate competi- tion. But right now, we don’t see anyone going down this path. We also have patents on our architec- ture and operations. “Right now, we have strong product differentiation throughout the foresee- able future that enables us to go to the channel with a compelling service of- fering that partners can roll out to their customers,” Gatens added. o 22 THE CHANNEL MANAGER’S PLAYBOOK