+57%
digital business growth
3 frontends
powered by 1 CMS
+67%
increase in website traffic
About Airbus Space Digital
Within Airbus Defence and Space, Airbus Space Digital addresses the growing need for information superiority by providing geospatial and secure connectivity solutions. The operate the largest commercially available constellation of optical and radar earth observation satellites, providing data and information to customers in a wide range of markets. They are also a global leader in satellite communications and terrestrial infrastructure networks, providing governments, militaries, and international agencies with mission-critical high-speed voice and data communications on land, at sea, and in the air.
The Challenge: A Fragmented Ecosystem
Over the years, Airbus Space Digital's ecosystem had become increasingly fragmented and extremely expensive to maintain. Dozens of platforms served different audiences, and each came with its own publishing tools, content models, and technical limitations.
This complexity limited the Airbus Space Digital team's ability to deliver content quickly, adapt to changing needs, and engage users across a unified experience.
“Our marketing ecosystem was fragmented. We had multiple platforms, disconnected databases, high webmastering costs, and inconsistent web pages. It was hard to manage, even harder to scale.”
Pauline Petitprez, Digital Marketing Manager at Airbus
The Solution: A unified Content Management Layer powered by Strapi
In 2021, Airbus Space Digital partnered with Adeliom to completely rethink its user experience and quickly realized it needed to revamp its architecture. The goal was to align the business goals of increasing lead generation and streamlining its application portfolio. To that end, Airbus Space Digital decided to build a modern, scalable system centered around Strapi, enabling:
- A unified content management layer
- Multiple frontend technologies
- Seamless collaboration between developers and content editors
Strapi now powers three key applications:
- The public-facing Space Solutions website (Next.js)
- MyServices, an authenticated customer portal (AngularJS)
- A new Partner Portal for Geospatial Resellers (Next.js, in progress)
The new architecture runs on Google Cloud Run and Kubernetes, allowing each frontend to scale independently while sharing a single CMS.
Why Strapi?
Multi-Frontend Architecture
Composable architecture powered by Strapi, running across GCP with three independently scalable frontends.
Airbus’ frontends are built with different technologies but share one Strapi backend. This headless setup gives editors a centralized workflow and developers the freedom to ship fast.
Developer Experience and Custom Plugins
Airbus Space Digital is a Strapi Enterprise Edition customer and uses its extensibility to support domain-specific needs at scale. A prime example is their custom plugin for Deep Zoom Images (DZI), developed to handle satellite imagery files over 1 GB in size.
This plugin enables editors to upload, tile, and preview massive image assets directly in the CMS without friction. Strapi enabled developers to focus their energy on features that deliver real value, leveraging plugins to go faster and keep things flexible.
Content Modeling and Editorial Speed
Editorial setup enabling fast, flexible publishing.
Strapi’s component-based content modeling allowed Airbus Space Digital to give editors complete control over how pages are built and published within minutes without relying on developers.
- 42 Collection Types for structured content
- 37 reusable components using Dynamic Zones
- Over 1,000 pages created in just 3 months
- Publishing time reduced to under 15 minutes per page
“We created a content system with 42 collection types and 36 reusable components. It’s like a powerful page builder that allows the Airbus team to focus on content, not page layouts"
Jordan Sutter, Proxy Product Owner at Adeliom
The Results
SEO and Discoverability
- 17% more pages ranked on Google’s first page
- 40% increase in visibility
- 67% increase in total traffic
Lead Generation and Product Engagement
- 2.3× more free trial requests for archive satellite data
- 2.5× more downloads of sample data
- 207% increase in ad click-through rates
- 52% more digital leads
Business Impact
- 57% growth in digital revenue one year after the revamp
- 10 new features shipped per month
- 7 months to launch a new reseller portal
- Less than 3 months to integrate with a new business entity
“This wasn’t just a tech upgrade. For us, it was a business accelerator.”
Pauline Petitprez, Digital Marketing Manager at Airbus
Collaboration at Scale
The project was delivered in close collaboration between Adeliom and the Airbus Space Digital team. From UX research to technical implementation, the focus remained on unifying experience and business outcomes.
What’s Next
The team is currently migrating to Strapi 5 and building out the new Partner Portal. Strapi’s flexibility continues to support Airbus Space Digital in scaling its digital presence, launching features faster, and and empowering many stakeholders from Marketing, Engineering, Operations, Sales, Corporate & Customer Service.
