Media

From agentic AI systems and command and control to financial trading and remote mining operations, organizations today depend on low latency data transmission more than ever before. What’s needed now is an entirely new foundation—one designed from the outset for real-time responsiveness. A network that puts low latency applications first.

This white paper presents a new model for air-gapped connectivity. By integrating Cisco 8000 series secure routers running a modern SDN solution with Rivada’s Outernet, organizations can establish a controlled electronic air gap. The white paper is being presented at the SATELLITE 2026 event in Washington, D.C.

The digital landscape is under siege. Cybercrime is no longer a technical nuisance—it’s a strategic threat. With global damages projected to reach $10.5 trillion USD by 2025, cyberattacks now represent what some call the largest transfer of wealth in human history. If cybercrime were an economy, it would rank third after the U.S. and China. This shift elevates digital infrastructure from a technical asset to a pillar of national security and economic resilience.

The digital world is under siege. Hackers, organized crime, and rogue nation-states relentlessly probe for vulnerabilities, exploiting any weakness to compromise sensitive data. If the best-prepared and best-equipped organizations in the world can fall prey to these attacks, how can others hope to defend themselves using the same vulnerable infrastructure?

Digital transformation has pushed enterprise and government operations into the cloud, across borders, and into mission-critical, latency-sensitive domains. At the same time, cyberattacks have grown in frequency and sophistication, targeting the soft underbelly of existing infrastructure—its exposure, complexity, and overdependence on terrestrial intermediaries.

Planning for business continuity has never been more important. Today, a network outage doesn’t just cause inconvenience—it halts production, severs access to systems, and breaks continuity. And as dependence on cloud-based tools and remote access intensifies, the cost of downtime keeps climbing.

The global telecommunications infrastructure we rely on today was built and optimized to deliver the internet—now essential to modern social and business life. But networks designed for maximum reach and cost efficiency are not always the best fit for secure, mission-critical operations. A foundational shift is required: a network built from the ground up for secure, deterministic, and sovereign operations.

The polar regions, once remote frontiers, are now arenas of intense strategic, economic, and scientific activity. As climate change opens new sea lanes and uncovers resources, maritime and aviation traffic is surging. The High North is facing a connectivity paradox: as the need for data grows exponentially, the available solutions remain a patchwork of high-latency, low-bandwidth, and jurisdictionally compromised options.

For too long, satellite networks have been perceived as a last resort for network connectivity only when terrestrial connectivity is not available. Now the Outernet will give telecom operators access to previously unimaginable levels of secure network performance combined with worldwide reach.