[Satellite Today 10-01-08] Hughes Network Systems has rolled out a new broadband backup service plans for small- and medium-sized businesses, providing automatic satellite backup in the event of a landline failure, the company announced Oct. 1.
    Two types of HughesNet Broadband Backup plans are available, depending on the type of primary landline service — Internet access or private network. For Internet-based backup, uplink speeds are up to 1 megabit per second (Mbps) and downlink speeds are up to 5 Mbps. For private network-based backup, data rates are up to 2 Mbps for the uplink and up to 8 Mbps for the downlink. The services also can be configured to offload network traffic in a load balancing configuration, alleviating network congestion and postponing upgrades.
     "The best time to respond to a disaster or any outage is before it happens," Sam Baumel, assistant vice president at Hughes, said in a statement. "A relatively small investment of time and money now, especially with hurricane season in full swing, may make the difference in a business staying in business, and not losing its private network or Internet connectivity when it occurs."