INDUSTRY INTERVIEW: DigitalGlobe
Scott Smith
Chief Operating Officer
DigitalGlobe
Scott Smith brings over 24 years of experience in the aerospace and commercial remote-sensing industries with a background in spacecraft and ground systems design, commercial and military space systems development, and commercial space business management.
Q: What is your product and how is it used?
A: Our QuickBird satellite collects imagery with 60-centimeter resolution. Our next-generation WorldView I and WorldView II satellites, the first of which is scheduled to be launched in mid-2007, will collect imagery with half-meter resolution.
In the defense and intelligence market, DigitalGlobe’s current product offerings support the four fundamental tasks facing the military and intelligence sector: surveillance, reconnaissance, monitoring and mapping. Our QuickBird imagery is ideally suited for customers who require detailed information and surveillance assessments of all types of geospatial intelligence.
In the military market, one interesting application of satellite imagery is flight simulation for the flight-training community, where visual databases incorporate satellite imagery data to mimic real-world flight scenarios. 3-D visualization is also applied to a wide variety of operational requirements. Mission planning is supported by 3-D visualizations backed up with real GIS information, so that the data can support intelligent software queries such as, “What is the shortest distance between the front line and the supply depot?” Mission training incorporates our imagery into the systems that allow the B-2 pilot or the M1A1 tank commander to go “fly” or “drive” their mission repeatedly. This enables vastly improved combat readiness without putting aircraft, air crews or soldiers at risk, and without burning critical fuel.
Q: What makes your product stand out? Why is it different or the best in the market?
A: We are the clear market leader through the technical superiority of our satellite systems and our high standards for product quality and customer service. We are also proud to be the original NextView winner. Our world-class network of partners makes us the industry’s “go-to” provider of geospatial information, and is responsible for helping us achieve remarkable growth; we continue to achieve double-digit growth year after year.
On the technical side, our QuickBird satellite collects imagery of the Earth with the highest resolution and largest footprint of any other commercial system, and we are the only company with concrete plans to launch a constellation of next-generation commercial high-resolution satellite imaging satellites.
Q: Are you a fairly new or established player in the military?
A: Defense/Intelligence customers have traditionally been the leading users of satellite imagery worldwide, and the military was an important early adopter of DigitalGlobe’s commercial highresolution satellite imagery. We have had military sector customers for 14 years, and the military opportunities will always be an important component to our business. Our revenue base is composed of approximately 45 percent from the U.S. government and 55 percent from commercial and international government markets.
Q: What are examples of success in the military and goals for this year?
A: Several recent humanitarian crises, including the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan, have dramatically demonstrated the utility of our products. Each event decisively demonstrated how DigitalGlobe’s products play a critical role to both the military and civilian responses to major events. Key players in these crises include the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the U.S. defense/intelligence community, domestic and international first responders and relief agencies. Our ability to rapidly disseminate QuickBird imagery and derived information to all users directly involved in relief and support operations highlights a significant advantage of our commercial satellite imagery—it is unclassified and can be freely shared with all players whether they be first responders here in the U.S. or members of a coalition joint task force halfway around the world.
Our goal is to find innovative and efficient ways to help defense and commercial customers improve their ability to find, order and receive our satellite imagery data. We strive to change the ways people interact with our imagery by making it easier to ingest for mapping and monitoring applications.
Q: How are you positioned for the future within the military?
A: The true half-meter imagery of the WorldView constellation will be well suited for the requirements of military and intelligence customers. WorldView I will not only collect at least four times more monoscopic imagery than the current QuickBird satellite, but its dramatically improved agility will allow rapid and efficient collection of stereo imagery that will make us “first among equals” amongst all the commercial satellite imagery providers. Being able to readily provide the 3-D stereo imaging greatly strengthens the utility of our product across the range of our military and intelligence customers. Finally, our world-class partner channel of defense contractors are focused on building various levels of valueadded products and services and have committed to augmenting access to DigitalGlobe imagery for the entire military and intelligence community. ♦