PISCATAWAY, N.J., Sept. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium today announced that Matt Sipe will deliver the keynote address at the 2026 DIFI Workshop at MILCOM, taking place October 12 during MILCOM 2026 in the National Capital Region (Maryland, USA).
Sipe brings decades of experience advancing open architectures, interoperability and innovative approaches to defense acquisition. His keynote, MOSA and the Future of Defense Acquisition: Connecting Open Architectures, COTS and Digital Engineering, will examine the evolving role of MOSA, government and industry architectures, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies and digital engineering, and how their convergence is shaping the future of defense systems and acquisition.
“We are pleased to have Matt Sipe bring this broader perspective to the DIFI Workshop and explore how open architectures, COTS technologies and digital engineering can work together to accelerate innovation while giving government greater flexibility in selecting and integrating technology.” said DIFI chairman Stuart Daughtridge.
DIFI is the on-ramp for SATCOM into the digital world. By bringing an open, interoperable digital interface to the satellite ground segment, DIFI extends the principles of MOSA into SATCOM and enables a shift from proprietary, hardware-centric architectures to modular, software-defined systems. Like MORA in tactical RF environments, DIFI provides a practical standards-based path toward interoperability, vendor choice, COTS integration, virtualization, and technology refresh—helping defense organizations build SATCOM architectures that are more agile, adaptable, and aligned with MOSA objectives.
The 2026 DIFI Workshop will feature a full-day program on the MILCOM stage with expanded sessions, panel discussions, and interactive demonstrations focusing on the current state of virtualized satellite communications and the future. Attendees will learn how digitization and virtualization - powered by the open DIFI standard - are streamlining operations, reducing costs and complexity, and enabling more agile, multi-orbit, and multi-beam architectures for both commercial and public sector/military satellite communications users.
DIFI’s highly successful 2025 event welcomed over 80 attendees. Based on early registration, more are expected this year. To register, click here: https://dificonsortium.org/difi-workshop-registration-milcom-2026/
For information or to answer questions, please contact: difiworkshop@dificonsortium.org
MORE ABOUT MATT SIPE
Matt Sipe is a defense and aerospace executive, engineer and strategic advisor with extensive experience in systems engineering, acquisition, the Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), digital engineering and open architectures. He currently leads To The King LLC, providing strategic consulting to the defense and aerospace industries. Previously, he served as Vice President of Strategy and Open Systems at Parry Labs and held senior leadership positions within U.S. Army Aviation, including Chief Engineer for Army Aviation and Director of MOSA Transformation for PEO Aviation.
ABOUT DIFI
The Digital Intermediate Frequency (IF) Interoperability Consortium, or DIFI, has created a standard that enforces interoperability on digital IF/RF technology. Digital IF was developed to overcome the limitations of analog systems but, today, vendor lock-in prevents it from delivering seamless interoperability and severely limits its adoption. A truly interoperable digital IF, on the other hand, will enable transformation to a virtualized ground segment, reducing the total cost of ownership and significantly boosting network and terminal agility and scalability. Compliance with the DIFI standard will ensure that satellite ground segments can seamlessly adapt to rapidly changing space-layer payloads, orbits, and constellations. Ultimately, DIFI promises to elevate the resilience, performance, and capabilities of satellite networks and enable a digital transformation that integrates satellites seamlessly into the larger telecom, IT and GIS markets.
A full list of DIFI members and information about membership can be found at https://dificonsortium.org/members/
Contact:
Joni Sterlacci, Sr. Program Manager, joni.sterlacci@isto.org
