Telesat has chosen Calian Group to supply key software for its state-of-the-art Lightspeed satellite project in the most significant collaboration yet between two of the National Capital Region’s biggest publicly traded tech firms. Telesat, which is headquartered on Elgin Street and trades on the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange, announced this week that Calian will […]
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Telesat has chosen Calian Group to supply key software for its state-of-the-art Lightspeed satellite project in the most significant collaboration yet between two of the National Capital Region’s biggest publicly traded tech firms.
Telesat, which is headquartered on Elgin Street and trades on the Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange, announced this week that Calian will develop and deploy the software system that will manage much of Telesat’s Lightspeed low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Valérie Travain-Milone, president of Calian’s advanced technology division that will be designing the software, said Tuesday the deal is an important one for the Kanata-based company, which also trades on the TSX.
“It’s not like it was an RFP that was sent to only local players,” Travain-Milone said. “It was an international competition. So the fact that Calian was awarded this contract shows we are able to compete against international players.
“I think it also says this ecosystem of companies headquartered in Ottawa is very innovative. By bringing together this ecosystem, we can achieve incredible things.”
It’s not the first time the two tech powerhouses have been involved in projects together, but the new agreement certainly marks a major step forward in the companies’ working relationship.
Calian will be in charge of implementing technology that will monitor much of the equipment for Lightspeed, a multibillion-dollar project Telesat hopes will put it at the forefront of the emerging LEO satellite boom aimed at delivering better broadband internet service to far-flung parts of the globe.
The Kanata firm’s software will gather information from various components in hundreds of satellites that will eventually comprise the Lightspeed network, giving technicians a clear view of the data so they can accurately assess how well the satellites are performing.
The software, which is being designed at Calian’s advanced technology hub in Saskatoon and is now in the testing phase, is “critical” to ensuring that Lightspeed runs properly, Aneesh Dalvi, vice-president for Telesat Lightspeed Systems Development, said in an interview this week.
“We talked to a number of different vendors around the world and we liked Calian’s solution the best,” Dalvi explained. “The fact that they're Canadian is a bonus.”
Telesat originally issued a request for proposals for a partner to develop the software three years ago, but delays in getting Lightspeed off the ground prompted the company to relaunch the competition in 2023.
As it turned out, that pause paid big dividends for Calian.
“We were really impressed with how much Calian had progressed in that intervening time,” Dalvi said. “They had clearly made a lot of investments internally on their own to improve their product. It neatly aligned with Telesat’s needs, and they agreed to customize it for our specific requirements.”
