Hughes’ Spaceway 3 Ka-band satellite system helps establish connectivity during an emergency situation such as a hurricane. Photo: Hughe

[Via Satellite 06-12-2015] Hughes Network Systems has announced the availability of Hughes Emergency Services, a suite of satellite network solutions for emergency preparedness, restoral and post-event response. Hughes Emergency Services delivers high-speed downloads from 5 Mbps up to 15 Mbps, and can be rapidly deployed. It is designed for government users to stay connected when natural disasters jeopardize terrestrial networks.

Hughes released these solutions at the beginning of the 2015 hurricane season, which stretches from June 1 to Nov. 30. The company offers three solutions: Hughes Emergency Response Solutions for satellite broadband during emergency response and recovery scenarios; Hughes Continuity of Operations (COOP) Solutions for emergency communications preparedness via path-diverse solutions; and Hughes Emergency Network Restoral (ENR) Solutions, which combines pre-disaster planning and set-up with rapid post-event deployment, offering a completely diverse Virtual Private Network (VPN) backup service for locations connected by Wide Area Networks (WAN).

“All terrestrial networks are vulnerable when disaster strikes — whether cable, fiber or wireless — and satellite offers the only true alternate path solution to ensure essential voice and data connectivity for public safety officials and first responders, especially in those first critical hours when lives are stake,” said Tony Bardo, assistant vice president for government solutions at Hughes.