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True to its roots
V Systems focuses on aerospace, telecommunications & information technology

By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

Ken Vilardebo, President of V Systems, Inc., sits by a control computer for an advanced reconnaissance system for an F-18 fighter. Photo by Emily Barnes, © 2003.

Landing on a couple lists of fast-growing companies won Ken Vilardebo's company some attention, but that didn't impress him. "Fast doesn't mean anything. Being here means something," said Vilardebo, president of V Systems Inc., an engineering services company in Satellite Beach. The company has made the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 and landed on the Florida 100 in 2001 after recording a 221 percent increase in revenue.

Many companies that appear on those lists aren't around a year or two later, Vilardebo noted. He attributes the company's staying power to its employees and high-quality, loyal customers.

V Systems also was able to transition to more government work during the commercial telecommunications slump. The company's workload used to be split about 50-50 between commercial and government work. "Now I say we're 99 percent government with the other 1 percent being government," he said.

Vilardebo started the company in 1990, working as a software consultant by himself for five years before adding employees. V Systems now employs 15 people in Satellite Beach and five in Washington, D.C.

The company has stayed true to its roots. Vilardebo's early work was in the space industry, creating embedded software for avionics boxes that go in spacecraft. The company continues to focus on embedded software and electronics development and pursues work in three main areas: aerospace, telecommunications and information technology.

V Systems does not release revenue figures; Vilardebo says sales have been flat.

The company's founder exemplifies a measure of staying power himself. Born in Satellite Beach in 1963, Vilardebo became the third generation of Florida natives in his family. He graduated from University of Florida with a degree in math and computer science in 1985, then returned to work for a Brevard County contractor. He'd always toyed with striking out on his own, and moonlighted for two years before he had enough work to make the break.

Awards for the accomplishments of the company share space in the lobby with another of Vilardebo's passions. Prominently displayed on a table of plaques is a trophy topped by a blue marlin, a prize from a tournament in the Dominican Republic.

"We're a fishing family," he said, words that could describe his family now or the one he sprang from. Vilardebo grew up fishing with his father and spent his free time in high school shark fishing off Satellite Beach.

The tradition continues: Included in a wall full of art created by his children is a newspaper clipping showing his son, Ken, with a tarpon he caught. "Really, truly with no coaching on my part, "boat" and "fish" were his first words," he said. Vilardebo and his wife, Kim, have four children: Brooke, 9; Shelby, 7; Ken, 5; and Ben, 3.

Big-game fishing fans can watch Vilardebo in his element on the Billfishing Xtreme Release League, broadcast on ESPN2 Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. Vilardebo serves as a judge for tournaments on the show. This season's tournaments will be broadcast through November.

V Systems, Inc. was established in 1990 by President Ken Vilardebo. He ran the company for five years before adding employees. V Systems now employs 15 people in Satellite Beach and five in Washington, D.C. Photo by Emily Barnes, © 2003.

The judge's role is critical to the competition and to the show, said league manager Mike Gautreaux. Billfishing Xtreme Release emphasizes conservation in addition to competition, so no fish are killed. Judges accompany teams - who are vying for more than $600,000 in prize money every year - to monitor their adherence to league rules and verify catch measurements. Fish are tagged for research before they're released. "It's a huge responsibility for the judge we put on that boat," Gautreaux said.

Vilardebo landed the spot after he met show host Norm Isaacs on a fishing trip to Hawaii. He now travels throughout the Caribbean to judge tournaments.

If that's not enough of an outlet for his passion, Vilardebo also operates Regular Guy Fishing Charters out of Port Canaveral. Gautreaux, who lives in Cocoa Beach, serves as captain for the company's Sunrise, a 31-foot Rampage twin diesel decked out for big-game fishing.

"Ken is very outgoing, very friendly, very dynamic," said Gautreaux, a retired Marine colonel. "He is that way whatever he does, whether that's on the boat or in his business."

Vilardebo keeps a reminder of his hobby at work, where fishing poles lean against a corner of
his office. He's not hopeful business will slow down enough to hang the "Gone Fishing" sign on the door; in fact, he held down the fort by himself on a recent Friday when everyone else had the day off. The poles are there "just because I'm a nut," he explains.

Some of V Systems' projects:

• SHARP system for the F-18. V Systems did the embedded software in the box and integrated all subsystems for the digital electro optic infrared reconnaissance package. The system replaces the painstaking process of sending pilots out on reconnaissance missions with cameras
  that use film. That film has to be returned and developed before intelligence can be accessed. The new system lets pilots view the data real-time so they can do quality checks or act on the information. Data can be stored or transmitted to planners so they have the information before the pilot lands.
• Dragon Warrior unmanned aerial vehicle. V Systems has the software and some custom interface design for the hardware on the unmanned helicopter. The company is working on the autonomous navigation, real-time data handing and image processing, and communications management aspects of the project.
• Weather co-pilot. The company is working on a prototype for commercial application. The product would deliver weather data to a global positioning system location to give the user a bird's eye view of current weather in an area. A user could check the weather in Chicago on the way to the airport, or see how wide a rain band is while waiting out a downpour in a parked car. There's even a fishing application: Offshore anglers could use the system to check the weather if they're outside their radar coverage.

On the Web: www.vsystemsinc.com