Advisory
Independent advisory for people who buy from, invest in, or regulate the satellite industry.
1991
Year I began designing and operating A.G. Edwards' two-hub, 700-node satellite network
20,000
Customer locations in the enterprise and channel account base at Spacenet and SageNet
2 at a time
Project engagements held concurrently, at 15 to 25 hours per month each
$1,300
For a two-hour consultation by video, paid by card or purchase order
Before I ever sold any of this, I bought it and ran it.
I spent ten years at A.G. Edwards. Starting in 1991 I designed, engineered and operated a two-hub, 700-node Hughes satellite network across the firm’s offices, owning the selection, the engineering, the contracts and a good share of the operations. When it went down, restoring it was my job. Then I supervised the twenty-person wide area network (WAN) engineering team that built a 700-node frame relay network across the same footprint and ran the two together as one hybrid.
So I have made the call every enterprise buyer eventually makes about which traffic belongs on satellite and which belongs somewhere else, with my own budget and my own operations team living with the answer.
Only after that did I cross to the other side, and I have been there since 2001. PanAmSat and Intelsat during the fleet-scale geostationary (GEO) era. iDirect Technologies on the ground-segment platform side. Then an enterprise and channel account base with a total value of $60 million across 20,000 customer locations at Spacenet and SageNet, and eight years running enterprise broadband services at Viasat.
Because I have been the customer and then the vendor, I can tell you where an operator’s cost structure leaves room and what an optimistic deck costs the buyer afterward.
Who this is for
- Investors evaluating satellite operators, ground-segment vendors, or direct-to-device (D2D) ventures.
- Enterprise and government buyers procuring connectivity across GEO, low Earth orbit (LEO), and multi-orbit services.
- Corporate development teams testing an acquisition thesis.
- Policy and regulatory professionals who need the commercial mechanics explained by someone who has lived them.
How engagements work
- Project engagement
15 to 25 hours per month against a defined scope and a defined term, billed monthly. For corporate development teams working an acquisition thesis, buyers running a procurement cycle end to end, or investors who want a named advisor on a sector position rather than a one-off call. I hold two of these at a time.
- Fixed-scope deliverable
A written assessment on one company, one sector position, or one procurement decision. Fixed fee, fixed turnaround, delivered as a document with a call to walk it through. Three shapes: a technology or vendor landscape scan, a requirements-to-vendor capability mapping, or a full segment assessment with primary interviews. Scope is agreed in writing before the work starts. See the Research page for more on commissioned reports.
- Consultation
Two hours by video on one topic, for $1,300, paid by card at checkout or by purchase order. Use it when you want to work through one subject in depth and do not need an engagement.
- Expert network calls
I take calls through AlphaSense (including Tegus), Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), Guidepoint, True North Insights, and Third Bridge. If your firm already holds a subscription, that is the fastest route to an hour of my time. For anything that needs two hours or more, coming direct is usually both faster and cheaper for you, since the network’s margin sits on top of my rate rather than inside it.
How do I book a two-hour consultation?
In short: a two-hour consultation with me, Glenn Canales of Satellite Insights, costs $1,300, paid by card at checkout or by purchase order against my invoice. I email you within one business day to agree on a time, and we meet on Zoom.
The two hours go to one topic you want to work through. That might be a capacity contract you are about to sign, a diligence question on one company, or a choice between two ground-segment architectures where your own teams read the tradeoff differently.
When I email you to agree on a time, tell me what you want to cover. If you have documents, such as a vendor proposal, a draft contract or a regulatory filing, send them with your reply and I will read them before we meet. What you send stays confidential. As with all my work, the conversation stays within publicly available information and general industry experience, and if you want a written summary afterward, ask and I will send one.
A free 20-minute call answers some questions on its own. Others need a fixed-scope deliverable or a project engagement, and if you are unsure which yours is, start with that call and I will tell you before you pay for anything.
Two-hour consultation
Two hours by video on one topic
Pay by card at checkout, or by purchase order if your organization requires one. I email you within one business day to agree on a time.
$1,300 · US dollars, plus any applicable tax
To pay by purchase order, email glenn@satelliteinsights.com with your purchase order and billing details. I send an invoice, and we can schedule the session as soon as I receive the purchase order. If we cannot agree on a time within 30 days, I refund your card payment in full or cancel your invoice. You can move a confirmed session once, with at least 24 hours’ notice.
Where I add the most value
- Enterprise satellite communications economics
Ground-segment platforms and their real switching costs, multi-orbit service strategy, and how operator sales organizations actually behave when they are losing.
- Diligence support
Independent assessment of a target’s technology position, customer economics, and competitive exposure. I read the same filings the bankers read, and I separate what a management deck says a network was designed to do from what it has demonstrated in service.
- Procurement advisory
If you are negotiating satellite capacity or managed services, I can tell you what the vendor’s cost structure looks like, where the negotiating room actually is, and which contract terms will hurt you in year three. I have been on both ends of that negotiation, including the end where you have to operate what you signed for.
- Multi-site enterprise networks
Distributed footprints are their own discipline: hundreds or thousands of locations, mixed transport, and an operations team that has to keep all of it running. I have engineered one, bought one, and sold into thousands of them.
- Multi-orbit strategy
The useful questions are which traffic belongs on which orbit, what the ground segment has to look like to make that portable, and what it costs to be wrong. In the 1990s I ran a 700-node satellite network and a 700-node frame relay network as one hybrid, which raised the same portability question multi-orbit raises now.
How I work: Engagements are conducted remotely by video. Client site visits and meetings with a defined agenda are available and quoted with travel. All work stays within publicly available information and general industry experience. Where a former employer’s business is material to an engagement, I disclose it before the work starts.
Background, in brief
Principal, Satellite Insights LLC, publishing Satellite Insights Weekly, an independent satellite communications intelligence publication. Previously Senior Director of Enterprise Broadband Services at Viasat, Senior Director of Enterprise and Channel Sales at Spacenet, which SageNet acquired in 2013, and Director of Enterprise Sales at iDirect Technologies and at PanAmSat and Intelsat. Before that, ten years at A.G. Edwards engineering and running the firm’s satellite and wide area networks, and United States Air Force communications.
Program Committee member, Society of Satellite Professionals International. Based between the United States and Spain, working with clients in both markets.
Sample of the published work
Send a sentence or two on what you are trying to figure out.
Email glenn@satelliteinsights.com. If it is not a fit, I will say so and, where I can, point you at someone better placed.