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Contrivian has completed its merger with networking software company Big Network, bringing Big Network’s proprietary networking software into Contrivian’s technology portfolio.
The combined company creates what Contrivian describes as a vertically integrated provider that combines connectivity, hardware, software, orchestration and managed service delivery within a single solution. The merger gives Contrivian direct ownership of the orchestration software at the centre of its platform rather than relying on third-party components.
What Changes
The merger moves Contrivian from a managed connectivity provider to a software-led model. By owning the orchestration software internally, the company can develop services and iterate on its platform without assembling separate third-party products.
Grant Kirkwood, Founder and CEO of Contrivian, described the merger as a structural shift for the company.
“The merger changes what Contrivian is and what we’re capable of becoming,” Kirkwood explained. “The Big Network software was engineered from the ground up for intelligent, multimodal connectivity, and it now lives inside our platform. Software, hardware, carrier and engineering now work as one system. It’s a network engineer in a box, and that’s what lets us move faster, serve more customers and scale as demand for this kind of connectivity keeps growing.”
Active-Active Versus Traditional Failover
The technical argument behind the merger centres on how traffic is managed across multiple network connections.
Most enterprise networks still depend on a primary connection with a secondary connection on standby. When the primary degrades or fails, traffic switches to the backup. Contrivian argues this approach only reacts after performance has already been affected.
The Big Network software replaces this traditional failover model with an active-active architecture in which multiple connections – fibre, broadband, LTE/5G and LEO satellite – operate simultaneously. Traffic is continuously routed according to real-time conditions rather than waiting for a failure event to trigger a switch.
Tom Daly, Principal Technologist at Contrivian, outlined the technical difference.
“Failover means failure has already happened,” Daly stated. “Traditional architectures wait for the primary connection to degrade or go down before moving traffic to a backup. We continuously measure every available path across fibre, wireless and LEO satellite and optimise traffic according to real-time performance. That makes separate connections behave as one system, reducing the brief outages and performance gaps associated with traditional failover.”
LEO Satellite Integration
The merger positions Contrivian to integrate LEO satellite services alongside terrestrial connectivity in a single managed platform. This includes Starlink and other LEO constellations.
Earlier this year, the company launched Contrivian Constellation, a multi-constellation LEO connectivity offering that brings Starlink and other LEO satellite networks together with terrestrial connectivity through one managed platform. Rather than treating each satellite service as a standalone connection, the software orchestrates performance across multiple constellations and terrestrial paths simultaneously.
The approach is designed to reduce dependence on any single network for enterprises and government organisations operating in environments where connectivity needs to remain consistently available.
Scale And Markets
The combined company operates across more than 160 countries through a network of more than 600 carrier relationships. It serves enterprise and government customers in public safety, healthcare, energy, financial services and government.
The platform comprises three components: Lighthouse, which measures real-time path conditions and selects routing; NorthStar, which provides centralised visibility and lifecycle management across global deployments; and Horizon, which extends the same capability to rapid, field-deployable environments.
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Demand Drivers
The merger comes as AI workloads, cloud applications and remote operations are increasing demand for connectivity that remains available and performs consistently across distributed environments. Organisations are spreading applications across cloud platforms, edge environments, remote sites and connected devices while supporting teams across wider geographies.
For Contrivian, owning the orchestration software rather than licensing it creates what the company argues is a more scalable operating model. The approach is designed to be repeatable across global markets without requiring the integration of separate third-party products at each deployment.
The combined solution is available for enterprise and government deployments. Further information is available at www.contrivian.com.
Last Updated on July 21, 2026 by Nick Ross
