The Future of Wavefront Systems
The last twelve months have heralded some exciting changes for Wavefront Systems. As we take a sideways step from Sonardyne International, we’ve implemented some significant, yet positive changes to how we bring our world-leading sonar products to the market and how we work with our customers.
Paul Badger, our managing director, explains more about these changes, how Wavefront Systems relate to Sonardyne and why the future is looking bright in this Q and A session.
Tell me about Wavefront Systems?
Although Wavefront is a new company name to many of our customers, we were actually formed in 2004. In 2008 Wavefront was acquired by Sonardyne and operated under the Sonardyne banner. The original Wavefront founders remained working under Sonardyne’s ownership. They developed the core technology in several of Sonardyne’s most successful sonar products; Sentinel Intruder Detection Sonar, Vigilant Forward Looking Sonar, Solstice Multi Aperture Side Scan Sonar and Sentry Integrity Monitoring Sonar. Sonardyne turned this technology into the leading products we sell today.
Why did Wavefront separate from Sonardyne?
Since the purchase of Wavefront, Sonardyne has grown and acquired a number of other companies, forming the Sonardyne Group. This group was then renamed the Covelya Group in 2021. To stay ahead of the competition and ensure appropriate focus on Wavefront’s products, it was decided to spin Wavefront out of Sonardyne International. Promoting Wavefront as an independent company, within Covelya Group, enables us to take ownership of the current products. We will make the appropriate re-investment to further improve and develop new products and market and sell our existing products.
How will this affect our customers?
Our customers will see a positive change. We will continue to sell through Sonardyne. However, customers will work with Wavefront personnel during the quote and installation stages. Wavefront will provide proactive and bespoke maintenance services to our existing customers. We’ll be working on new product development and innovations to further satisfy our customer’s needs.
Customers with ongoing Sonardyne relationships can still purchase all Wavefront products through Sonardyne. Where appropriate, customers can come directly to Wavefront. Whether they come through Wavefront or Sonardyne, customers will continue to get world-class quality products and services as always, supported by the strength of the Covelya Group.
What does the separation mean for Wavefront?
It is an exciting time for us. The spin out from Sonardyne and the ten-month transition period was completed in December 2021. For the Wavefront team, we have gained more freedom to invest in the products and services which support our customers. Several key personnel from Sonardyne are now working directly for Wavefront to ensure we have all the competencies required to drive the products forward independently.
Tell me more about the Covelya Group
Covelya Group (formerly Sonardyne Group) is a group of aligned businesses, including Sonardyne International, EIVA, Chelsea Technologies and Voyis. Being part of the Covelya group brings considerable benefits to each individual company. It enables us to act independently, autonomously and have a unique identity while also providing core skills, experiences, resources and worldwide facilities. For Wavefront, we can retain our small company ethos while using the exceptional manufacturing capability and market access of Sonardyne. Working within the Covelya group also allows us to collaborate on several new exciting product developments across Voyis, EIVA and Sonardyne.
What is the vision for the future of Wavefront?
As an autonomous company, Wavefront will drive product and commercial innovation within the sonar industry. Each of our single sonar products will evolve into product families, tailored to our customer’s specific needs. There will be new ways to own our products, from direct purchase to long-term hire or data as a service. We will also offer more integrated logistic support and proactive maintenance agreements.
Customers will see an impressive change with a more extensive catalogue of world-leading solutions aligned to their needs. Our roadmap of product development is full. Keep an eye out for products being launched this year.
We’ll announce our new product developments on our social sites, so follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Youtube.