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Kratos and Rancher Government Solutions Announce Strategic Partnership to Enable Customers to Seamlessly Deploy and Scale Virtual Ground Systems Using Kratos’ OpenSpace® Software Platform

January 4, 2024

First-to-Market OpenSpace Platform is a Software-Based Networking Solution that Connects Space to the Dynamic Ground, Supporting Multiple Satellites, Orbits, Payloads and Services

SAN DIEGO, CA. January 4th, 2024 – Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a technology company in Defense, National Security and Global Markets and Rancher Government Solutions (RGS), the leading provider of enterprise Kubernetes management solutions to the U.S. Government, announced today a strategic partnership to enable customers to seamlessly deploy and scale virtual ground systems using Kratos’ software-based OpenSpace® Platform.

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With increasingly complex and dynamic satcom and Earth Observation missions, satellite operators and government agencies are transitioning from fixed and proprietary hardware to flexible and scalable generic compute-based cloud environments. This enables a virtualized and software-defined ground system like Kratos’ OpenSpace Platform to more cost effectively and securely support multiple missions simultaneously, deliver services faster and streamline operations.

Today, customers leverage a range of computing environments from bare metal, virtual machines to the cloud, making the deployment of software-based ground systems more complex and time consuming. Working together, Kratos and Rancher Government Solutions have enhanced the ability of the OpenSpace Platform, the first commercially available, fully virtualized and software-defined satellite ground system to be deployed more easily across customer environments.

“With Rancher, the OpenSpace Platform deploys its virtual functions including modems, channelizers, combiners, and more, as Kubernetes-based containerized software applications that act as independent and portable computing environments that can run and scale on any infrastructure,” said Brandon Gulla, Chief Technology Officer at RGS. “We are proud to be working with Kratos to support this truly transformational platform that will free satellite operators from proprietary hardware architectures and move to software-defined, flexible and extensible virtual platforms.”

By the nature of it being software-defined and containerized, the OpenSpace Platform is already much faster, and more flexible to deploy than traditional hardware-based satellite ground systems. As customer demands grow, the software-based OpenSpace Platform can reconfigure on the fly and deploy new services automatically and cost effectively in minutes. Software containers can be spun up and down and scaled on demand elastically using a single management interface from the Rancher Platform.

“Rancher serves as the Kubernetes management technology that supports the OpenSpace Platform’s ability to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of our containerized workloads,” said Anthony Semiao, Chief Solutions Architect of the OpenSpace Platform. “The combined technologies support hybrid and multi-cloud environments enabling OpenSpace customers to run in the data center and cloud environment of their choice such as Google, Amazon or Microsoft and to easily switch from one cloud provider to another.”

About Kratos OpenSpace

Kratos’ OpenSpace family of solutions enables the digital transformation of satellite ground systems to become a more dynamic and powerful part of the space network. OpenSpace® is the industry’s only commercially available digital transformation solution that enables operators of satellites, Ground Systems-as-a-Service (GSaaS) providers, teleports and others in the satellite services supply chain to capitalize on dynamic ground capabilities. The OpenSpace family consists of three product lines: OpenSpace SpectralNet for converting satellite RF signals to be used in digital environments; OpenSpace quantum products, which are virtual versions of traditional hardware components; and the OpenSpace Platform, the first commercially available, fully orchestrated, software-defined ground system. These three OpenSpace lines enable satellite operators and other service providers to implement digital operations at their own pace and in ways that meet their unique mission goals and business models. For more information about the OpenSpace family visit www.KratosDefense.com/OpenSpace.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology company that develops and fields transformative, affordable systems, products and solutions for United States National Security, allies and global commercial enterprises. At Kratos, affordability is a technology, and Kratos is changing the way breakthrough technology is rapidly brought to market – at a low cost – with products, systems and technologies rather than slide decks or renderings. Through proven commercial and venture capital backed approaches, including proactive, internally funded research and streamlined development processes, Kratos is focused on being first to market with our solutions, well in advance of competition. Kratos is the recognized technology disruptor in our core market areas, including Space and Satellite Communications, Cyber Security and Warfare, Unmanned Systems, Rocket and Hypersonic Systems, Next-Generation Jet Engines and Propulsion Systems, Microwave Electronics, C5ISR and Virtual and Augmented Reality Training Systems. For more information, visit www.KratosDefense.com.

About Rancher Government Solutions

Rancher Government Solutions (RGS) is specifically designed to address the unique security and operational needs of the U.S. Government and military as it relates to application modernization, containers, and Kubernetes.

Rancher is a complete open source software stack for teams adopting containers. It addresses the operational and security challenges of managing multiple Kubernetes clusters at scale, while providing DevOps teams with integrated tools for running containerized workloads.

RGS supports all Rancher products with U.S. based American citizens who are currently supporting programs across the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and civilian agencies.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Kratos and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Kratos undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Kratos believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of Kratos in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Kratos for the year ended December 26, 2022, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Kratos.

Originally posted on  https://ir.kratosdefense.com/news-releases/news-release-details/kratos-and-rancher-government-solutions-announce-strategic 

Kratos Press Contact:
Yolanda White
858-812-7302 Direct

Kratos Investor Information:
877-934-4687
investor@kratosdefense.com

Rancher Government Press Contact:
Don Poole
(844) 747-7779
don.poole@ranchergovernment.com