Day two of AUVSI is under our belts. What trends have we seen? Well, everyone is talking about sequestration. Specifically, the conversation surrounds two questions, if these drastic cuts will happen and how they will impact defense contractors? No one knows for sure what the future holds for defense budgets, but the defense contractors are starting to act differently.
As an embedded technology supplier, we are seeing more traffic at our booth from equipment manufacturers who are specifically requesting information on how they can use COTS technologies in their projects. Furthermore, many of the folks at our booth are also looking to purchase at higher levels of integration. Instead of buying VME or ATCA blades and tackling the integration themselves, many are looking for a supplier, like Radisys, to provide a complete platform.
Why? In short, this will help defense contractors reduce development costs and decrease their time to market. This level of efficiency will be critical in the face of potential sequestration.
This movement has bigger implications as well for our industry. You’ll see a continued trend (Radisys has been at the forefront of this type of collaboration) in the embedded industry toward close partnerships between technology providers, resulting in high levels of integration and platforms-as-building-blocks solutions.
It’s been amazing to see the impact that potential sequestration has had on the A&D industry. I’m pleased that Radisys and its technology partners are well-positioned to provide efficient, scalable and high-performing solutions to the defense industry in the face of this potential monumental shift in policy.
