[Satellite News 03-09-10] Integral Systems will launch a division intended to offer smaller satellite operators, resellers and bandwidth users network monitoring services.
   IS3 (Integral Systems Service Solutions) will offer a turnkey subscription service which will allow subscribers to save the upfront capital investment and reduce annual operating costs. The service will use a global distributed network of sensor sites equipped with Integral’s satellite communications NetOps management products used for RF signal monitoring as well as interference detection and geolocation.
   “The launch of IS3 provides focus for the company in this new business segment,” Ernie Dickens, vice president and general manager of service solutions, Integral Systems, told Satellite News. “It’s not that these service endeavors were not taken seriously in the past, but I think this standalone operating unit provides a bit more focus. … Most of the large operators already use our products. Some of the larger teleport operators and resellers also use our products. Beyond that, when you get into other segments of the market and the user community, many potential customers are smaller and don’t necessarily want to invest in such a large scale infrastructure.”
   IS3 will offer customers service packages ranging from simple surveillance where networks are remotely monitored to full turnkey outsourcing service where networks are both remotely monitored and managed.
   “A lot of interference detection issues have cropped up over the last few years. The systems needed to resolve these issues can be costly and complicated to set-up for many users,” Dickens said. “We looked at the fact that we were probably only addressing 1 percent to 2 percent of what we thought the overall market was with our products. The other 90-plus percent of the market (the user community) usually relies on large operators to provide the capability or they do without. We created a service that is both affordable and scalable. By grouping these services and building the infrastructure up only once, we are able to sell to a much larger number of different customers in what we believe to be an underserved market.”
   Integral Systems hopes to secure enough commercial agreements this year, for IS3 to be profitable by its second year of operations, Dickens said. The company also sees an opportunity to capitalize on the government market. “With the United States government renewing the way it acquires bandwidth via the Future Commercial Satellite Communications Services Acquisition (FCSA) initiative, much of the current activity is focused on negotiating service agreements with many of the primes and extending some of that capability in terms of situational awareness, to the end customer, the U.S. government. Our commercial subscription services aid the prime contractors bidding the FCSA in meeting the expanded SLA requirements, which are expected under this new contract, while providing the U.S. government a consolidated and independent source for network status.”