Celebrating the women helping shape Concurrent's future-ready technology

In engineering, progress doesn't happen by standing still. 

It happens when people ask better questions, challenge the status quo, and look at a difficult technical problem as something that can be solved — even if the answer isn't obvious at first. That kind of thinking is what drives innovation in some of the most demanding sectors in the world: defence, aerospace and critical infrastructure. And it's what drives the work happening every day at Concurrent. 

International Women in Engineering Day feels like an important moment to pause and celebrate the people behind that progress. At Concurrent, that includes engineers like Rachael Peterson, Principal Hardware Design Engineer, and Emma Foran, Senior Design Engineer — two people whose curiosity, technical depth and willingness to push boundaries reflect exactly the kind of engineering culture we want to be known for. 

Curiosity is where it starts 

For Rachael, engineering has always been about learning and never standing still. As a Principal Hardware Design Engineer at Concurrent, she has worked on some of the company's most advanced defence technology — including the first 3U VPX board with 128GB of memory, and projects that have since doubled that capacity to 256GB of registered DDR5 memory. 

But what stands out most from Rachael's story isn't just the technology she has worked on. It's her attitude. 

"Never be afraid to try something and push yourself to learn something that you haven't done before." 

That's the kind of mindset that matters deeply in sectors where technology needs to be reliable, long-lasting and ready for whatever comes next. Engineering in defence and critical infrastructure isn't about getting it right once — it's about building things that can be trusted, evolved and relied upon over time. 

For Emma Foran, Senior Design Engineer, engineering is where creativity, logic and innovation meet. Her background spans medical products, imaging and defence technology — fields where good design has a direct impact on people and safety. It's not just about performance. It's about technology that can be trusted when it matters most. 

"Stay curious. Keep learning. Be open to new approaches — sometimes the simplest solution is the best one" 

Both Rachael and Emma point to the same truth: engineering isn't about walking in with every answer. It's about staying open, asking the right questions, and building the confidence to work through problems you haven't seen before. 

Mindset in action: the thinking behind the technology 

That curiosity doesn't just shape how our engineers approach their work — it shapes the technology decisions that define our products. 

A good example of this is how Concurrent has approached FPGA technology. FPGAs play a critical role in embedded computing platforms, handling everything from power management and system control to, increasingly, the security architecture that mission-critical environments demand. As the threat landscape around cyber and electronic warfare has evolved, the ability to build secure, trusted platforms has become one of the most important capabilities in the sector — and FPGA technology sits right at the heart of that. 

Rather than simply maintaining existing approaches as requirements evolved, the engineering team at Concurrent asked a harder question: what would actually support where we're heading, not just where we are right now? That thinking led to a move towards a more modern, scalable FPGA platform — one that opens up greater capability, better integration and a stronger foundation for future development. 

It's the kind of decision that doesn't always make headlines, but it shapes everything that comes after. 

Building for what comes next 

That same thinking is helping shape the next generation of Concurrent products. 

Products like Hermes II and Magni II are being developed for some of the most demanding environments in the world — where performance matters, but so does security, reliability and trust. 

Built around the Intel® Core™ Ultra Processor Series 3, both products bring next-generation processing capability into SOSA aligned platforms. But what matters most is not just the performance they deliver. It’s the way that performance is being built into products designed for the realities our customers are facing now. 

Both Hermes II and Magni II feature a Secure Enclave using security FPGA technology. That matters because the systems our customers rely on are being designed for a more complex threat landscape, not just higher performance demands. 

The FPGA adds another level of protection alongside standard Boot Guard and Secure Boot. 

It's a practical example of the kind of engineering thinking Rachael talks about: not just solving the problem in front of you, but asking what will support where customers are heading next. 

Because in defence and critical infrastructure, technology doesn’t stand still. Requirements change. Threats evolve. Platforms need to keep pace. 

For us, building what comes next means combining curiosity with real technical judgement. It means developing products that are powerful today, but also ready for the challenges our customers will face tomorrow. 

A culture built on bold thinking 

What Emma values most about working at Concurrent is the fast-paced design environment, the push for technical excellence, and a culture that genuinely supports bold thinking. That culture doesn't happen by accident — it's built by the people in it. 

For young women considering engineering, both Rachael and Emma's perspectives carry a clear message: you don't need to have it all figured out from day one. Engineering is a field that rewards curiosity, resilience and a willingness to keep learning. There is space here to grow, to make an impact, and to work on technology that genuinely matters. 

Celebrating the women shaping what comes next 

International Women in Engineering Day is a chance to celebrate representation — but more than that, it's a chance to recognise the real impact women have across engineering, technology and innovation. 

At Concurrent, that impact shows up in the work our teams do every day. In the platform decisions that keep our products performing in the toughest environments. In the security architecture built into our next-generation products. In the questions engineers ask that lead to better answers. 

In Rachael and Emma, we see the qualities that drive engineering at Concurrent: curiosity, collaboration, technical depth and the confidence to keep pushing forward. Their stories are a reminder that the best engineering doesn't come from having every answer — it comes from asking the right questions, staying open to new approaches, and caring deeply about what you're building and why. 

As our technology continues to evolve, those qualities will remain central to how we innovate. 

This International Women in Engineering Day, we're proud to celebrate the women at Concurrent whose ideas, experience and determination are helping shape what comes next — for our products, our customers, and the future of engineering. 

Grow your engineering career with us. We're always looking for brilliant people to join our team.