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Viasat history
Viasat company history timeline
Viasat was co-founded in May 1986 by Mark Dankberg, Mark Miller and Steve Hart.
In 1990 it introduced its VTS-3000 test system.
By 1997 ViaSat had about 300 employees, about half of them engineers.
For fiscal 1998, ViaSat reported revenue of $64.2 million and net income of $5.3 million.
ViaSat's revenue rose to $71.5 million for 1999, and net income rose to $6.3 million.
In 2000, the Company bought a unit of Scientific-Atlanta that made the ground antennas that connect to satellites.
The acquisition of the satellite networking business of Scientific-Atlanta for $75 million in cash in 2000 helped Viasat to focus on providing technology for interactive services to businesses.
The company acquired Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications' products unit, Comsat Laboratories in 2001 for an undisclosed amount.
Eutelsat entered an agreement in 2001 to use Viasat's LinkStar high performance IP terminals for their broadband multimedia network over Ku-based FSS satellites.
Although the company continued to win defense and commercial contracts, it announced toward the end of 2002 that its business focus was shifting back to defense contracts, which accounted for about two-thirds of its business in fiscal 2002.
2002: ViaSat acquires US Monolithics for $30 million.
Later in 2000 ViaSat signed a contract with Astrolink International LLC to supply it with more than $100 million worth of terminals that would carry business data over Astrolink's planned satellite system. It planned to begin offering broadband services in 2003.
WildBlue launched its internet service in October 2004 after gaining Ka-band transponder capacity on the Telesat Anik F2 satellite.
WildBlue launched its internet service in October 2004 after gaining Ka-band transponder capacity on the Telesat Anik F2 satellite. It conducted formal technical testing until January 2005, followed by nationwide beta testing before the first residential retail customers had services installed in June.
In 2005, Viasat acquired Efficient Channel Coding, a producer of broadband communication integrated circuits and satellite communication systems, which gave Viasat access to the IPStar satellite broadband market.
The WildBlue service was upgraded in 2007 using the satellite WildBlue-1, which launched the year before.
Viasat acquired JAST Antenna Systems, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2007.
To rationalize the Group's structure, strengthen its technological synergies and valorize its excellences, a reorganisation of project areas is started. (2008) Vem Solutions S.p.A., a design, research, development and innovation company is established.
On December 15, 2009, Viasat bought WildBlue, based in Colorado, for $568 million in cash and stock.
In 2010, Viasat bought Stonewood Group of Dorset, England, an encryption company, for $20 million in cash and stock.
Viasat stepped into this gap with ViaSat-1, launched in 2011.
Popular Science named ViaSat-1 and Exede service to its “Best of What’s New” for 2012
Viasat also acquired LonoCloud, a company focused on cloud networking software, in 2013.
For second consecutive year, Exede Internet ranked #1 ISP for delivering advertised speed by the FCC 2014 Measuring Broadband America report
NetNearU based in Bryan/College Station, Texas was acquired in 2014.
The first half of 2015 saw Viasat's internationalization project develop even further with the acquisition of 55% of Cefin Systems, also known on the market as CS Fleet.
In 2016, Viasat acquired Arconics, an aviation software provider based in Dublin, Ireland.
In 2017, Viasat broke ground on an 80,000 square foot facility on the ATLAS property near the Texas A&M Health Science Center in Bryan, Texas.
The companies aborted their joint venture plans in April 2018.
As ViaSat-1 disrupted high-priced low-capacity model by showering North America in bandwidth, Viasat doubled down on the technology with the service launch of ViaSat-2 in 2018.
Viasat named Global Satellite Business of the Year at Euroconsult’s 2019 Awards for Excellence in Satellite Communications
In December 2020, Viasat acquired RigNet, a secure managed networking solutions and specialized applications developer.
On November 8th, 2021, Viasat announced a $7.3bn deal to purchase Inmarsat for $850m in cash, approximately 46 million shares of Viasat stock and assumption of $3.4bn in debt.
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Viasat competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autodesk | 1982 | $6.1B | 11,500 | 474 |
| Ericsson | 1876 | $25.5B | 100,824 | 30 |
| EMC | 1936 | $24.7B | 20 | 34 |
| Sensis | 1998 | $2.3M | 20 | 1 |
| Imagine Communications | 1922 | $338.2M | 3,000 | 17 |
| ICS Nett | 2003 | $16.0M | 100 | - |
| Enterprise Information Services | 1994 | $59.4M | 200 | - |
| Wink Communications | 1994 | - | 100 | - |
| Second Foundation | - | $77.0M | 50 | - |
| ST Engineering iDirect | 1994 | $350.0M | 600 | 2 |
Viasat history FAQs
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Viasat may also be known as or be related to VIASAT INC, ViaSat Inc, Viasat, Viasat Antenna Systems SA, Viasat Inc. and Viasat, Inc.