Cal Shintani is the Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer of Oceus Networks, a provider of broadband services and solutions worldwide that deliver high-speed voice, video and data communications to government and commercial industries.
In his current role, Shintani is focused on profitably growing the company’s top line, defining market opportunity, and determining how to mobilize the company to capture opportunities in those markets.
In his prior position, he served as Senior Vice President and Operating Group Manager at CACI, responsible for CACI businesses ranging from $50M to $150M. He has served in business development, capture, and operations roles at Unisys, BTG, Veridian, and Gray Hawk Systems.
WashingtonExec had the opportunity to discuss Oceus Networks’ solutions, the “Holy Grail” of mobility, and the immense strides that Oceus has made in deployable airborne 4G LTE solutions.
WashingtonExec: As Chief Growth Officer of Oceus, how is the firm able to expand and grow in such shaky economic times?
Cal Shintani: We provide end-to-end specialized fixed and mobile broadband solutions that meet the growing demands and stringent requirements for secure communications by U.S. government and enterprise customers. Because our solutions leverage commercially available technology, we can actually provide more economical solutions for our customers than the traditional solution developed specifically for Government use.
Additionally, as a smaller company, we can move more quickly than the typical large system integrator – another advantage in this fiscally challenging environment.
“In July, we demonstrated how a deployable 4G LTE solution on a high-altitude airborne balloon platform could provide broadband coverage to our nation’s first responders in the first 72 hours after a natural disaster or other emergency.”
WashingtonExec: How has mobility impacted Oceus Networks, if at all?
Cal Shintani: Oceus is all about mobility – we provide mobile broadband solutions.
Therefore, some key advances in our customers’ adoption of mobility are important to Oceus:
- Ability to move full motion video and large amounts of data
- Ability to seamlessly manage multiple devices
- Ability to enable secure communications in this mobile environment
We help enable these mission requirements.
What’s great is that the more our customers use data-intensive applications, the more they need the type of broadband mobility that we can provide.
“The Holy Grail from a mobility perspective is that ability to move seamlessly from a secure to an unclassified environment on the same mobile device.”
WashingtonExec: Are there any other recent technological advances that have made a mark on the way Oceus does business as compared with mobility?
Cal Shintani: Closely related to the growth of mobility is “big data.” That’s not something Oceus is focused on, but imagine if a Federal worker was using a mobile device for immigration or law enforcement or environmental research. How could that mobile device have immediate access (search ,comparison) to the petabytes of data available on that topic.
WashingtonExec: What, in your opinion, is the next big technological innovation?
Cal Shintani: The Holy Grail from a mobility perspective is that ability to move seamlessly from a secure to an unclassified environment on the same mobile device. Voice & data in SCIF, then in a non-secure room, then call home to the family – all without comprising data.
“We’ve been able to demonstrate the power and utility of 4G LTE mobility solutions in a variety of pilot programs, from Navy ships and helicopters to Army vehicles, and most recently on an aerostat and UAV.”
WashingtonExec: Earlier this summer, Oceus announced its successful demonstration of its 4G LTE Solution. Is this solution to be used by federal first responders? State or local?
Cal Shintani: In July, we demonstrated how a deployable 4G LTE solution on a high-altitude airborne balloon platform could provide broadband coverage to our nation’s first responders in the first 72 hours after a natural disaster or other emergency. This was our first demonstration of 4G LTE for First Responders – we’ve already successfully deployed this technology for the DOD.
The demonstration supported the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Deployable Aerial Communications Architecture (DACA) initiative – we also worked with NIST and PSCR ( Public Safety Communications Research)
DACA was a demonstration – we are working with the State & Local first responder and law enforcement community – as well as the FIRSTNET community — on how to best leverage this technology.
WashingtonExec: What is the most important goal for Oceus Networks to achieve within the next five years?
Cal Shintani: We’ve been able to demonstrate the power and utility of 4G LTE mobility solutions in a variety of pilot programs, from Navy ships and helicopters to Army vehicles, and most recently on an aerostat and UAV.
The next step for Oceus is to prove that we can provide this capability on a broader programmatic basis, not just in a pilot program.
We’ve penetrated the tactical mobility market. As mobility matures, we need to enhance the capability of the broader enterprise.
But 5 years from now? Imagine that EVERYONE is mobile, that you can access data seamlessly from wherever you are working. That’s where we’re headed.
WashingtonExec: What is the most important professional advice you’ve ever received?
Cal Shintani: As a junior officer on a submarine, my Commanding Officer, who eventually retired as a 2-star admiral, said “My job is to provide you an environment in which you can make a mistake – ONCE – then make sure you don’t make that mistake again.”
That’s something I try to emulate; providing an environment in which my team feels it can take risks, occasionally fail, figure out what went wrong and try again.
WashingtonExec: Now that Fall is here, are there any sports teams you look forward to rooting for?
Cal Shintani: Navy football— Navy won its 6th game and is heading to a Bowl game.
I’ve also been playing fantasy football, which gives me a different perspective on watching football. Now, instead of rooting for one team, I’m rooting for the QB on one team while simultaneously rooting for the running back and defense of the opposing team.
