Partner content: Annie Turner, Editor of Mobile Europe, speaks with SS8 Networks’ CEO Dr Keith Bhatia about the firm’s track record and looks to the next quarter century as the global leader in lawful location and data intelligence
SS8 Networks (www.SS8.com) was founded 25 years ago and has become the leading provider globally in lawful location and data intelligence and compliance. It does this by extracting, analysing and visualising critical data to provide real-time insights that help law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and emergency services save lives and telecoms satisfy regulatory mandates. SS8 is trusted by the world’s largest governments and communication services providers.
It has consistently remained at the forefront of innovation, successfully riding wave after wave of new technologies and challenges.
The inspiration behind SS8
Dr Bhatia shares how SS8 was inspired by the 1994 US Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). This law required telecoms to design their services to support legal requests for data. At the time, most providers lacked the technology to comply. “When we went into the digital era, all they could do was listen to ones and zeros and noise. Law enforcement couldn’t actually do the jobs they needed to,” he explains.
In 1998, SS8 began developing solutions to help the industry, leading to the company’s founding in 2000. “We were one of the first… and proved to law enforcement agencies, the FCC and to the industry as a whole, that it could be done, and the industry started adopting this capability. Since then, we’ve been a trailblazer in TDMA, CDMA and GPRS all the way up to 5G and now cloud solutions,” says Bhatia.
From TDMA to 5G and cloud solutions, SS8 has pioneered technologies that support legal intercepts while protecting citizens’ privacy. Bhatia emphasises that SS8 works only within a legal framework, with clear processes like warrants or subpoenas, and strict audits to ensure compliance.
Evolving from interception to intelligence
The rise of OTT messaging, social media, and encryption presented new challenges. SS8’s Intellego XT platform, launched in 2020, shifted from simple interception to empowering law enforcement with actionable intelligence. SS8’s value became finding the needle in the haystack as fast as possible, even though the scale of data was mind-boggling.
In critical situations like kidnappings or threats to life, real-time data saves lives. Every step must be lawful and auditable to ensure evidence holds up in court.
Standards, compliance and global impact
SS8 has played a key role in shaping global lawful interception standards, working with regulatory bodies in the US, Europe, and beyond. As new technologies like 5G emerge, SS8 has been proactive in shaping solutions that are easy to deploy and cost-effective for communication service providers.
“We’ve gone from this whole idea of proprietary to open information, to the entire ecosystem, and now we’re even moving into open-source capability,” says Bhatia. As SS8 leads the transitions from lawful intercept to lawful intelligence, it is also introducing new capabilities like augmented intelligence and enhanced cloud integration.
The future – efficiency and AI
SS8’s cloud-based solutions, launched several years ago, are now being enhanced with automated workflows to improve investigator efficiency. The next evolution will introduce AI-powered improvements in phased launches throughout 2026 and promises a 30% boost in efficiency, with potential to reach 60% over time.
“We’ve gone from lawful intercept to lawful intelligence, adding in location, adding in data fusion,” Bhatia says. “We’re also now moving to augmented intelligence, which is the next field and the next-generation platform.”
He continues, “We’ve had an incredible journey so far. We have amazing employees in the company, and we’ve been very lucky with the customers that we’ve had. I think the whole ecosystem is ready to make the next transition.
To learn more about SS8 Networks, visit www.SS8.com
