Hello. I'm Jay Woods, Chief Global Strategist of Freedom Capital Markets. Thank you for joining us again for our latest installment of Freedom Fireside Chats. Speaking of joining us again, we're very happy to have President of Gilat's Commercial Division, Ron Levin, joining us with a nice announcement. Ron, thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me again, Jay.
You just announced a $40 million contract.
Yeah, we just announced a milestone contract for Gilat, a $40 million deal for development and deployment of a virtual version of our market-leading SkyEdge IV system. It is really exciting. Exciting times.
Yeah, I can't wait to learn more about it. What exactly is the SkyEdge IV platform, and who is the end client?
We can't really expose the client at this point, but to talk a bit about SkyEdge IV. SkyEdge IV is Gilat's, as I said, market-leading satellite communication platform, a system comprised of a hub and terminals. In this case, we're talking about taking the hub system and moving it from a hardware-based platform to a software-based platform. If I take it, maybe break it down a bit, basically out of three parts. We have the RF part, the RF system, which actually communicates with the satellites. Then we have the data processing elements, and we have the network management. We're taking all of those that are today based on dedicated hardware and moving them to cloud-based architecture.
I have to say that in my 13 years in Gilat, and I've seen a few generations of our platform evolving, this is, I think, the biggest technological leap that we're taking on ourselves.
Wow. Yeah, I was about to ask you about what kind of milestone is this for you, someone that's been there for 13 years. You just answered my question. You seem very excited. The team sounds like they're ready to get going. Let's talk a little bit more about the technology behind it. One of the things that makes this SkyEdge IV technology so special is the cloud-native architecture, that non-terrestrial network, that 5G non-terrestrial network. This is really going to speed this up. How significant is that increase, and is this becoming the gold standard now going forward in your eyes?
Yeah. So the nice thing about SkyEdge IV is that it's already been selected by several of the market-leading satellite operators, and it's already delivering today, as is on the hardware-based platform, gigabits and gigabits of capacity per terminal. We're supporting some of the largest cruise ships in the world and some of the largest airlines in the world with this platform. The nice thing is that we're taking a step approach towards 5G NTN, which is the future. Initially, we're taking the platform as is and moving it to be software-based and cloud-native. It means actually that the customers that have already made investments, those investments will carry them through to the future, meaning they'll be able to work simultaneously with the software-based platform and the hardware-based platform, no need for a forklift upgrade.
Once everything is software-based, that gives us a very easy path towards changing the waveform and moving to a 5G NTN waveform, which is really what we're seeing our customers look for in the, let's say, midterm future.
Gotcha. Now, the financial impact, I know you can't go into deep dives on this, but a $40 million contract should be great in terms of revenue going forward. It's being delivered over 24 months. Is this a timetable that is standard? Describe the timetable of 24 months if you could.
Yeah. This is, as I mentioned earlier, there are several steps to this development because we have the three elements of RF chain, data center, and management. It takes quite a while to transfer everything there to be software-based. It takes about 24 months. In terms of the revenue, we're recognizing it according to the progress of the work. It is about, over the 24, about $20 million recognized per year.
That's great. I saw recently that you did reaffirm your guidance for the fiscal year, $415 million-$455 million. This is after that reaffirmation, correct?
Yeah, this is correct. Obviously, this is not a deal that happened overnight. We were negotiating for a while, and we took it into account in the guidance with a PWIN probability. So it was already calculated in, and we reaffirmed the guidance based on this and other projects that we have ongoing and deliveries.
Yeah. The last time we talked, it was after the Stellar Blu partnership. How has that been so far?
It is progressing nicely. We haven't had many announcements on the market, but it is progressing nicely. We've seen the business pick up, and we're quite happy about that acquisition.
Yeah. As far as this contract goes, do you see any follow-on opportunities with this client?
Definitely. I mean, when we look at this, it's a development of the next version of our SkyEdge IV platform. It's meant for deployment on upcoming satellites, and we definitely see room to grow once the development is finished to additional capacity by this client. Not only that, we see huge opportunities for this platform on most of the upcoming software-defined satellites. There are several of those in the pipeline by several satellite operators. We see a huge opportunity there. Not to mention the NGSO constellations. If I look at the IRIS2 or the OneWeb Gen2 and the Geo constellations, there's huge opportunity there for this platform and the future 5G NTN. Yes, we see a huge opportunity in the market.
You break news like we did with Stellar Blu, and now this, the market does react positively. When that announcement came out on June 3rd, the stock was up 6.6%. I assume you're too busy to even worry about the stock performance, but the street seems to like it. What do you think was behind the street's positive reaction to that? Put yourself in the investor's seat. What do you think they expect from you now going forward?
First of all, we're always looking at the stock prices like our shareholders. That reaction definitely shows confidence in Gilat's technology and in our ability to deliver. Really, the confidence of this, as I mentioned previously, unlocks a huge potential of new business going forward. Also, moving to a software-based platform unlocks probably more efficiencies and new business models that will be able to support going forward. I think the stock market is excited, as excited as we are about this.
Yeah. It's been an interesting time. It's been very volatile in the stock market. One thing that we can never avoid is market volatility. The headlines have been a little crazy, as everyone knows, around the world. What is the one thing that excites you the most going forward about Gilat? The first time I talked to you, it's Stellar Blu partnership. Now it's this contract. There's a lot going on. What excites you to come to work every day, and what are the things you look forward to next?
I think you're right. The market is a disruptive market, and there is a lot of volatility. When I look at Gilat, I mean, look at this contract. This kind of puts a stake in the ground for Gilat to advance our technology and open up opportunities for us. The Stellar Blu acquisition obviously allows us to grow into the infrared connectivity terminal market. We're putting a lot of investment, and we're starting to see the results on the defense side. All in all, I think Gilat is making the right moves, and it's a really exciting time for our industry and for Gilat.
We're excited that you took the time out to just talk with us and share the good news. We've been talking with Ron Levin, the President of Gilat's Commercial Division. Thank you, Ron, and keep up the good work.
Thanks, Jay. Always glad to speak with you.