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Demonstrating Innovative Technologies Transforming Public Safety Operations
HERNDON, Va., Feb. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ST Engineering iDirect, a global leader in satellite communications, announced today its collaboration with Verizon Frontline to demonstrate advanced public safety solutions and emergency preparedness. Verizon Frontline, the advanced network and solutions built for first responders, will host an exclusive event for public safety officials in the Bay Area during the week of Feb. 2, ahead of the Super Bowl.
The event will highlight the innovative technologies transforming public safety operations, offering attendees a firsthand look at Verizon Frontline's state-of-the-art fleet of deployable assets powered, in part, by ST Engineering iDirect's satellite technology. It will feature asset tours, technology demonstrations, and a special ceremony recognizing state and local government agencies from the next two Super Bowl host cities. Verizon Frontline will showcase real-time situational monitoring, on-demand capacity, and a command center integrating video and audio feeds to help empower first responders with rapid, informed decision-making capabilities.
Verizon will showcase its advanced Frontline fleet to public safety officials, providing them the opportunity to explore its capabilities, including:
- Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response (THOR) platform, a cutting-edge vehicle equipped with private 5G Ultra-Wideband (UWB), mobile edge compute, and multiple backhaul options for seamless connectivity.
- Satellite Picocell on Trailer (SPOT), a mobile solution supporting up to 400 users with satellite backhaul and Wi-Fi access.
"By integrating ST Engineering iDirect's satellite solutions, we're able to deliver reliable, resilient connectivity that first responders can count on in any situation," said Stuart Burson, Director of Satellite Solutions at Verizon. "This partnership is transforming public safety communications, setting a new standard for how we support those on the front lines."
"ST Engineering iDirect is honored to partner with Verizon Frontline to deliver high-performance satellite communications for mission-critical operations," said Darren Ludington, Regional VP Americas at ST Engineering iDirect. "This partnership is a testament to our shared commitment to empowering first responders with the tools they need to protect and serve, even in the most challenging environments."
In 2025, Verizon began modernizing its satellite network by upgrading to ST Engineering iDirect's Intuition virtualized, cloud-native hub architecture. This modernization fundamentally transformed how satellite resources are managed, reducing the physical footprint at the teleport, simplifying operations, and enhancing performance. These advancements help enable faster deployment of mission-critical resources while ensuring uninterrupted services during emergencies and natural disasters.
ST Engineering iDirect, a subsidiary of ST Engineering, is a global leader in satellite communications (satcom) providing technology and solutions that enable its customers to expand their business, differentiate their services and optimize their satcom networks. With over 40 years of delivering innovation focused on solving satellite's most critical economic and technology challenges we are committed to shaping the future of how the world connects. The product portfolio, branded iDirect, represents the highest standards in performance, efficiency and reliability, making it possible for its customers to deliver the best satcom connectivity experience anywhere in the world. ST Engineering iDirect is a leader in key industries including mobility, broadcast and military/government. In 2007, iDirect Government was formed to better serve the U.S. government and defense communities. For more information visit www.idirect.net.
Demonstrating Innovative Technologies Transforming Public Safety Operations
HERNDON, Va., Feb. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ST Engineering iDirect, a global leader in satellite communications, announced today its collaboration with Verizon Frontline to demonstrate advanced public safety solutions and emergency preparedness. Verizon Frontline, the advanced network and solutions built for first responders, will host an exclusive event for public safety officials in the Bay Area during the week of Feb. 2, ahead of the Super Bowl.
The event will highlight the innovative technologies transforming public safety operations, offering attendees a firsthand look at Verizon Frontline's state-of-the-art fleet of deployable assets powered, in part, by ST Engineering iDirect's satellite technology. It will feature asset tours, technology demonstrations, and a special ceremony recognizing state and local government agencies from the next two Super Bowl host cities. Verizon Frontline will showcase real-time situational monitoring, on-demand capacity, and a command center integrating video and audio feeds to help empower first responders with rapid, informed decision-making capabilities.
Verizon will showcase its advanced Frontline fleet to public safety officials, providing them the opportunity to explore its capabilities, including:
- Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response (THOR) platform, a cutting-edge vehicle equipped with private 5G Ultra-Wideband (UWB), mobile edge compute, and multiple backhaul options for seamless connectivity.
- Satellite Picocell on Trailer (SPOT), a mobile solution supporting up to 400 users with satellite backhaul and Wi-Fi access.
"By integrating ST Engineering iDirect's satellite solutions, we're able to deliver reliable, resilient connectivity that first responders can count on in any situation," said Stuart Burson, Director of Satellite Solutions at Verizon. "This partnership is transforming public safety communications, setting a new standard for how we support those on the front lines."
"ST Engineering iDirect is honored to partner with Verizon Frontline to deliver high-performance satellite communications for mission-critical operations," said Darren Ludington, Regional VP Americas at ST Engineering iDirect. "This partnership is a testament to our shared commitment to empowering first responders with the tools they need to protect and serve, even in the most challenging environments."
In 2025, Verizon began modernizing its satellite network by upgrading to ST Engineering iDirect's Intuition virtualized, cloud-native hub architecture. This modernization fundamentally transformed how satellite resources are managed, reducing the physical footprint at the teleport, simplifying operations, and enhancing performance. These advancements help enable faster deployment of mission-critical resources while ensuring uninterrupted services during emergencies and natural disasters.
ST Engineering iDirect, a subsidiary of ST Engineering, is a global leader in satellite communications (satcom) providing technology and solutions that enable its customers to expand their business, differentiate their services and optimize their satcom networks. With over 40 years of delivering innovation focused on solving satellite's most critical economic and technology challenges we are committed to shaping the future of how the world connects. The product portfolio, branded iDirect, represents the highest standards in performance, efficiency and reliability, making it possible for its customers to deliver the best satcom connectivity experience anywhere in the world. ST Engineering iDirect is a leader in key industries including mobility, broadcast and military/government. In 2007, iDirect Government was formed to better serve the U.S. government and defense communities. For more information visit www.idirect.net.
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ST Engineering iDirect and Verizon Frontline Partner on Public Safety
HANGZHOU, China, April 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A team led by principal investigators Bobo Dang and Ting Zhou at Westlake University/Westlake Laboratory reported in Science a high-throughput platform for engineering fast-acting covalent protein therapeutics. Their work, titled "A high-throughput selection system for fast-acting covalent protein drugs," opens new avenues for next-generation biologics.
Covalent small-molecule drugs have shown great success in cancer therapy by forming irreversible bonds with their targets. This has inspired efforts to extend covalent strategies to protein therapeutics, especially engineered miniproteins. However, their development is limited by a kinetic mismatch: Miniproteins are rapidly cleared in vivo, whereas covalent bond formation is typically slow. In addition, high-throughput platforms for systematically optimizing covalent protein reactivity have been lacking.
To address this challenge, the researchers proposed that precise spatial positioning of chemical warheads within protein scaffolds could enable molecular preorganization, thereby accelerating covalent bond formation without increasing intrinsic reactivity (Fig. 1).
Based on this concept, the team developed a high-throughput platform that combines yeast surface display with chemoselective protein modification to screen diverse crosslinkers and millions of protein variants. By optimizing warhead placement and the local chemical environment, the platform enables rapid and irreversible target engagement.
Using this platform, the researchers developed a covalent antagonist targeting PD-L1, termed IB101. Structural analysis revealed that IB101 forms a defined binding pocket that precisely positions the warhead in a reactive conformation, greatly accelerating covalent bond formation. Functionally, IB101 effectively blocks the PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint pathway and demonstrates strong antitumor activity in mouse models. Notably, despite its short in vivo half-life, IB101 achieves durable target engagement and tumor suppression, outperforming conventional antibody-based therapies under comparable conditions.
The platform was further applied to cytokine engineering, leading to the development of a covalent IL-18 variant, IB201. This engineered cytokine rapidly forms a covalent interaction with its receptor, enhancing signaling strength and duration. In vivo studies showed that IB201 induces potent antitumor immune responses without detectable systemic toxicity. These results highlight the potential of covalent engineering to improve the efficacy and safety of cytokine-based therapies.
Beyond immunotherapy targets, the platform was also applied to develop a covalent inhibitor targeting the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2. This molecule achieves durable viral neutralization, demonstrating the versatility of the approach across different therapeutic modalities.
This study establishes a general strategy for engineering fast-acting covalent protein therapeutics. By enabling covalent bond formation on timescales compatible with rapid in vivo clearance, the platform overcomes a fundamental limitation in the field.
These findings provide a new framework for designing biologics with both rapid kinetics and sustained target engagement, with broad implications for cancer immunotherapy, antiviral therapy, and beyond.
Media Contact:
Chi Zhang
media@westlake.edu.cn
+86-15659837873
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Fast-Acting Covalent Protein Drugs From a New High-Throughput Platform
