Real-Time Innovations, Inc.

Real-Time Innovations, Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is a small business software company that supplies distributed systems and industrial internet of things connectivity middleware to the federal government, primarily as a prime contractor (83% of recent awards) on software licensing, developer subscriptions, maintenance, and engineering support contracts. The company does not hold SBA set-aside certifications and competes predominantly on full-and-open, non-set-aside procurements, with work distributed across software publishers, research and development, and system integration roles under primary NAICS codes 511210 (Software Publishers) and related research categories.

RTI's dominant offering is its flagship Connext Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware platform, a proprietary real-time data-sharing architecture serving mission-critical defense, aerospace, and government applications. Recent representative prime contracts include a $2.6 million firm fixed-price NASA Kennedy Space Center engineering support services contract (September 2022, extended through August 2025) for Launch Control System project work; two Air Force Research Laboratory Small Business Innovation Research Phase II awards valued at $1.25 million each for data-centric distributed agentic frameworks and threat-detection systems (August 2024); and recurring Naval Sea Systems Command purchase orders for Connext DDS Professional software, developer subscriptions, and maintenance ranging from approximately $15,000 to $475,000 (ninety-plus awards since 2022). RTI also recently received a $500 delivery order under the Missile Defense Agency's $151 billion Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ (December 2025), structured to support multi-domain defense prototyping and acquisition through 2035.

RTI's customer concentration is heavily Navy-centric but increasingly diversified. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) accounts for 273 awards and $24.5 million in combined potential value, dominating 42% of the tracked award count; the Naval Air Warfare Center contributes 55 awards ($2.2 million), and Naval Information Warfare Systems Command contributes 32 awards ($1.7 million). By potential value, however, the Air Force dominates: a single $950 million Joint All Domain Command and Control Support multiple-award IDIQ (June 2022, extending through May 2030) and a $900 million Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Architecture and Integration Directorate IDIQ (December 2022, extending through November 2027) together account for $1.85 billion of RTI's $1.91 billion combined portfolio value. The Air Force Research Laboratory accounts for 32 SBIR and research contracts ($13.9 million). NASA Kennedy Space Center, NASA Shared Services Center, and the Missile Defense Agency collectively represent approximately $8 million in awards. Across 57 distinct federal agencies, awards are heavily weighted toward defense and aerospace mission-critical systems development.

RTI places task orders under three primary government-wide or agency vehicles: the AFLCMC/XA IDIQ ($900 million), the Joint All Domain Command and Control Support contract ($950 million), and one single-award Indefinite Delivery Contract (N6893619D0007) with six task orders. The vendor also appears on GSA OASIS small-business and unrestricted pools, indicated by subcontract work under Torch Technologies, Science Applications International Corporation, and other primes. Work is predominantly perpetual software licensing, annual maintenance renewal, developer subscriptions, and short-cycle engineering support rather than large system-integration contracts.

Activity has grown from 34 awards in 2022 to a recent peak of 76 in 2024, with 68 awards tracked for 2025 and 6 awards closed in the partial 2026 year represented in the source. Only 14 awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months (combined potential value $1.4 million), indicating minimal recompete pressure in the near term and a long-tail obligation profile anchored by the two Air Force IDIQs and SHIELD. Obligated dollars total $89.7 million against $1.91 billion in combined potential value, reflecting the subscription and task-order nature of RTI's work, where ceiling values are high but annual invoicing is modest.

RTI subcontracts to major defense integrators as a software component or licensing provider. Recurring prime relationships include Lockheed Martin Corporation (60+ sub-awards for Connext DDS software support across naval combat systems, aegis systems, and fire-control programs), Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (15+ sub-awards for SEWIP Block 3, IBCS, and aircraft-integration platforms), Raytheon Company (8+ sub-awards for risk management frameworks, cooperative engagement capability, and DDG-1000 systems), Science Applications International Corporation (HWIL aviation systems engineering with RTI Connext licenses), and emerging engagements with Torch Technologies, J.F. Taylor, and others under GSA OASIS vehicles. The subcontract footprint shows RTI functioning as an embedded middleware and real-time connectivity layer rather than a systems-integration prime, with subscriptions and support embedded in cost-plus or fixed-price research and development efforts.

RTI operates across 176 prime awards coded to Information Technology Software (PSC 7030) and 69 coded to application development software-as-a-service or subscription models, with secondary concentrations in perpetual-license software (32 awards) and annual maintenance plans (27 awards). The vendor holds no exclusive or single-award vehicles of its own in the source, competing instead for individual task orders and purchase orders on open vehicles, and maintaining incumbent sole-source status through proprietary software compatibility and lack of functional alternatives in naval and aerospace command-and-control systems. This posture creates high switching costs for Navy and Air Force programs but does not generate large individual contract values; the median award is a low-six-figure subscription renewal rather than a million-dollar systems contract.

RTI Connext DDS is the first intelligent connectivity framework designed to control, monitor, secure and optimize demanding industrial IoT systems.

Connext DDS Professional is the leading connectivity framework for demanding IIoT systems. It shares information between devices and applications in real-time, delivering performance, reliability, scalability and security while reducing development and integration time.