As someone who works in the industry I was surprised to find a listed ATM system provider listed on the ASX. I thought I would share my views as to why I won't invest in ADA to help other members better understand the industry.

ATM systems are not replaced very often due to the safety, organisational change and capital requirements of an ATM system. System lifecycles are normally at least a 10+ year commitment (for basic systems and 20+ years for complex) and will undergo continual upgrades during that time. 

Adacel seems to play at the very bottom end in terms of scale and capability. There is definately a market for smaller Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) to have off the shelf type solutions. However, once you get to an ANSP with any level of decent traffic the system is built to spec as per the ANSP requirements from a baseline software. For example, I was blown away that Seychelles can replace their current ATM system for only $3.6 mil US. Much larger providers would be spending 100x this to upgrade a system.

There are only so many of these small ANSP providers, with the long product lifecycles of the systems purchased from Adacel, long term growth is very limited in my opionion.

Adacel's simulators seem extenstively used worldwide including Australia. These appear to be very popular and the most interesting part of the business to me. However, again, there is only so many simulators required. Most ANSPs that need simualtors will already have one. There is no new market you can create so growth longer term is limited to replacement plus industry growth in the training of ATCs.

General observations:

• ATM is a very speciallised industry, however, the board only appears to have a founder with experience in the industry. I would like to see some more relevant experience.
• The simulators appear to be a great product.
• The Aurora ATM appears very basic (which suits smaller ANSPs due to lower cost). For example, the interface looks a bit backyard operator like compared to other systems used by large ANSPs. 
• Adacel is competing against some very large engineering companies that have already deployed their very advanced systems to multiple ANSPs and have the skills, knowledge and personel to keep improving their offering.
• There is just not enough of a market for Adacel to become a fast growth company. If growth is achieved it is unlikely to be maintained long term as they will run out of customers imo.