Category: Press Releases

Results-driven leader to optimize financial processes and systems for sustained growth

Fuse today announced that financial growth executive Peter J. Gondek has joined the company as CFO. A results-oriented financial leader, Gondek brings to the role nearly 30 years of success, guiding defense contractors and technology-focused commercial companies to achieve their growth and profitability milestones. As CFO, he will develop and guide strategies for Fuse’s economic success.

“Fuse is on a steep growth trajectory, as more of our tactical edge networking solutions move into production and support defense programs of record,” said Sumner Lee, CEO of Fuse. “Peter is an astute leader with a wealth of financial acumen and his expertise will be crucial as we move through this significant period of expansion.”

Gondek joins Fuse from Systems Technology, Inc., where he served as head of finance and treasurer. While there, the company achieved record growth and profitability. Previously, he served as director of finance and controller at Referentia Systems in Honolulu.

“Fuse has a strong foundation and a clear growth path,” said Gondek. “I’m looking forward to helping the company achieve its long-term goals while continuing to deliver exceptional value to its defense customers.”

He holds an MBA from the University of Arizona and a BBA from San Diego State University. Gondek is an active member of Financial Executives International and the CFO Leadership Council.  He is also a certified International Mergers and Acquisitions Expert through the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (IMAA).

Fuse was recently awarded a $16 million production contract from NAVAIR for its CORE® 4.0 virtualized network systems on the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program and earned a place on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime and ground environments. Founded in 2010, Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

Fuse today announced that it has earned a place on the 2024 Washington Technology Fast 50 list of the fastest-growing small businesses in the government market. Honorees are ranked based on their annual growth rate from 2019 to 2023.

“Over the past five years, Fuse has matured our advanced tactical edge networking capabilities to meet the persistent and evolving needs of our defense customers,” said Sumner Lee, CEO of Fuse. “Earning a spot on the Washington Technology Fast 50 reflects our team’s ability to rapidly scale and successfully deliver communications and networking solutions that support our customers’ programs of record and, ultimately, our nation’s warfighters.” 

2024 is the first time Fuse has appeared on the Fast 50 list. The full list of companies and their rankings are available online.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime and ground environments. Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

Live demo showcases flow of data across a Tactical Edge Network in flight

Fuse Integration has completed a live, over-the-air demonstration of its TENTaCLE network capability for U.S. Navy operators. The three-day demo in a desert environment included multiple airborne nodes receiving mission-relevant data from mission commanders thousands of miles away. TENTaCLE successfully enabled remote, globally sourced ISR and C2 data to flow between dispersed nodes and a remote mission operations center.

“Combat search and rescue, close air support, ISR, and strike missions all rely on a flexible tactical edge network that seamlessly interconnects many different users,” said Sumner Lee, CEO of Fuse. “Working closely with the warfighter, we’ve been able to deliver and demonstrate a flexible yet resilient network. As we ramp up production this year, we are regularly testing and flying our systems in live events to evaluate the performance of our capabilities in dynamic, operationally relevant environments.”

Each demonstration provides insights on the challenges that warfighters face in critical missions, and how Fuse systems can address network and communications gaps. This most recent test demonstrated measurable improvement compared with the performance of just legacy radios.

This demo enabled successful mission execution on all three days, employing both TENTaCLE ground and airborne nodes with the Fuse CORE® multifunction network controller and T3 network management software.

Distribution A – distribution unlimited SPR2024-0660.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking, and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text, and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime, and ground environments. Founded in 2010, Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

Innovative defense technology firm earns a place on prestigious list for second year in a row

Fuse today announced that it has earned a place on the 2024 San Diego Business Journal’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies list. The company is ranked No. 29 out of 50 companies in the Medium category, with a revenue growth of 66.3% from 2021 to 2023. This is the second year in a row that SDBJ has recognized Fuse for its rapid growth.

“In today’s dynamic battlespaces, our nation’s warfighters rely on advanced communications and networking capabilities to gain decisive advantage,” said Sumner Lee, CEO of Fuse. “Recognition on the SDBJ Fastest-Growing Private Companies list for the second straight year underscores our team’s exceptional ability to deliver innovative tactical edge networking solutions that are increasingly being integrated into defense programs of record.”

Earlier this year, Fuse announced double-digit growth and record-high revenue in 2023. More recently, the company announced a $16 million production NAVAIR contract for CORE® on the U.S. Navy’s E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes.

Firms on the Fastest-Growing Private Companies list must be privately held, based in San Diego County, and have earned at least $300,000 in revenue in 2021. Businesses in the Medium category have gross revenue between $10 million and $99.9 million in 2023.

A full list of companies on this year’s list is available online.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime and ground environments. Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

In program of record award, Fuse’s virtualized network systems will support E-2D BLOS upgrade  

Fuse Integration today announced that the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command Program Executive Office of Tactical Aircraft E-2/C-2 Airborne Command & Control Systems Program Office (PMA-231) has awarded the company a prime contract for Fuse CORE 4.0 virtualized network systems. Fuse will produce and deliver the CORE systems for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program of record as part of the Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) upgrade program.

“The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is the Navy’s prime aircraft for early warning, airborne battle management and command and control functions. Having Fuse’s CORE system onboard will provide warfighters with modern, secure, and resilient networking,” said Sumner Lee, CEO of Fuse. “NAVAIR is at the forefront of modernizing systems to improve warfighting functionality and enabling the joint force to execute all-domain command and control. It’s an honor to support this effort.”

The Navy is constantly innovating with its upgrades to the E-2D through its Delta System Software Configuration (DSSC) builds. As part of DSSC 5, Fuse’s CORE will serve to update the E-2D external networking systems to a modern, software-based network. The CORE configuration employs the Fuse Tactical Edge Network Targeting in a Contested Long-range Environment (TENTaCLE) architecture and will help enable Navy’s Project Overmatch initiative.

Fuse will produce the CORE systems at its headquarters in San Diego and deliver them over the coming year.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime and ground environments. Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

Demand for defense communications and networking capability driving growth

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 13, 2024 – Fuse Integration, a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm, today announced that it has earned a place on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. This is the second time Fuse has appeared on the prestigious list.

“Fuse is experiencing tremendous growth momentum, fueled by increasing demand for field-ready communications and networking solutions that connect our nation’s warfighters and joint forces in the battlespace,” said Sumner Lee, CEO of Fuse. “I’m proud that Fuse is stepping up to meet that demand, as we move more of our solutions into production. It’s an honor to work with our incredible team that’s serving our defense customers well; this recognition is a testament to their diligence, innovation and success.”

Companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to their percentage of revenue growth from 2020 to 2023. Fuse is ranked #4016, with a 3-year growth rate of 113%.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime and ground environments. Founded in 2010, Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

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Media Contact

Joyce Bosc
On behalf of Fuse Integration
jbosc@boscobel.com
301-717-9529

Article highlights company’s use of military experience to improve real-time communications for active service members

“The average person still gets upset if their cellphone doesn’t have a strong signal or if the Internet goes down at their house; however, for the warfighter, losing communications, network connectivity, or computing function is a matter of life and death.”

That’s the opening of a Defense and Munitions cover story article from managing editor Jake Kauffman, who interviewed Fuse CEO Sumner Lee, about how the company is improving warfighter communications.

“The way we fight wars is no longer a single platoon or squad going out into the dark of the night and fighting its way to the objective,” Lee says in the article. “Now, the way we fight wars is a squad or platoon on the ground must talk to three different aircraft providing close air support, two bombers, and three ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) platforms looking at where the bad guys are. Your networked capabilities, that ability to communicate with each other in real time has become absolutely critical.”

In the article, “Connecting the warfighter,” Kauffman explores:

• The networking solutions Fuse is delivering to the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and USMC,
• How Fuse’s warfighter workshops collect crucial input from active military personnel, and
• The digital engineering process that has helped Fuse sprint to production.

It also touches on how Fuse has used the Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBTT) programs to deliver innovation. “SBIR is an excellent vehicle. It benefits the government because they’re able to reach into the innovation and agility of small businesses, and it benefits small businesses because it gives us a window to take risks on good ideas,” Lee says.

The full cover story is available now online. The June/July print edition will be mailed later this month.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking, and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text, and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime, and ground environments. Founded in 2010, Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com

Former Navy pilot discusses bringing data to tactical edge for warfighters in flight

Fuse today announced that its CEO, Sumner Lee, is a featured guest on the prestigious video podcast The Business of Defense by Federal News Network. The May 9 episode is entitled “Former Navy pilot brings data to tactical edge for warfighters in flight.” In it, host Rich Brady explores how Lee’s time as a U.S. Navy pilot led to running a company that puts military personnel at the center of how Fuse develops its airborne networking and data technologies.

“We spend a lot of time working with the warfighter. That’s really one of the things that drove me to start Fuse — staying focused on the warfighter,” said Lee in the podcast.

When asked about Fuse’s success with providing technology to the Defense Department, Lee pointed to Fuse’s product development approach as a key factor, combining commercial user-focused design thinking with agile technology development and flight expertise.

“That constant process is a cycle of building understanding, building the system and testing it in the hands of the user and then pulling those insights back into the process so you can iterate on that design,” Lee said.

Brady is CEO of the American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC), a nonprofit and educational and professional organization that helps to bridge the gap between the boardroom and the battlefield, while supporting transformation in the defense financial management sector. ASMC sponsors the Federal News Network The Business of Defense podcast, which brings viewers “inside the companies working to achieve this, to hear directly from the business leaders, and to understand how they create value for their companies and their customers.”

Watch the full The Business of Defense podcast conversation with Lee.

About Fuse Integration

Fuse is a warfighter-focused engineering and design firm providing innovative communications, networking, and computing solutions for defense customers. The company’s virtualized network systems, tactical edge network and airborne networking gateway products improve the sharing of information, video, text, and voice among warfighters throughout airborne, maritime, and ground environments. Founded in 2010, Fuse is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business with headquarters in San Diego and a corporate office in Washington, D.C. www.fuseintegration.com