People

ANDREW CORP. Fills New Position

Andrew Corp. named J.C. Huang new chief technology and strategy officer. In this position, Huang will provide overall technology leadership for the company and oversee the development of corporate strategy.

Most recently, he was a managing director and general partner of Ericsson Venture Partners.

ASCENT MEDIA Names VP Sales, North America

Ascent Media Network Services appointed Thomas Cameron to the new position of vice president, sales-North America.

Cameron will be responsible for overseeing sales and facilitating communications internally and externally. He will also take a leading role in establishing a universal sales strategy to maximize new business.

Most recently, he served as vice president, east area, for Vyvx.

GILAT Appoints Sales Vice President

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. appointed Avihu Bergman executive vice president for sales. Bergman will be directly responsible for sales in Africa, Asia and Europe as well as worldwide coordination of the company’s sales efforts including North and Latin America.

Bergman most recently served as vice president at Ascend Technology Ventures.

GLOBECAST Welcomes Senior Sales VP

Globecast appointed Mary Frost senior vice president of sales at Globecast America. In this new role Frost will be responsible for overseeing both domestic and international sales in the United States.

Most recently, she served as president of NewMedia Technology Inc. and CSI Inc.

HELIUS Appoints CFO

Helius Inc. appointed Alan Taylor as its senior vice president and CFO. He will be responsible for financial planning, management and reporting.

Most recently, he served as director of finance and group controller for the product development organization at Novell.

ORBITAL Makes Management Changes

Orbital Sciences Corp. appointed W. Jean Floyd as the new senior vice president and general manager of its Transportation Management Systems (TMS) division. The company also named Bhavesh Patel as the new senior director of finance at TMS.

In his new role, Floyd will provide leadership to the TMS division, with a particular emphasis on product quality and timely delivery to customers. Floyd previously headed Orbital’s Technical Operations group.

Patel will be responsible for program finance, cost accounting, and financial planning and reporting at TMS. Previously, he was assistant director of Orbital’s Technical Operations Group.

PANAMSAT Names Global Marketing Director

Panamsat Corp. appointed Jodi Morelli director of global marketing. In this role she will manage marketing activities for Panamsat’s core satellite business and for G2 Satellite Solutions, Panamsat’s government services division.

Before joining Panamsat, Morelli was the director of marketing for Comcast’s Outdoor Life Network.

PARADISE DATACOM Expands Executive Team

Nigel Mills is now chairman of Paradise Datacom. Along with this new role, Mills continues as executive director of Intelek plc, but also gains the responsibility of the Intelek Group Technical directorship position.

Ron Titchener was promoted to the position of director and general manager. He is responsible for the daily activities of Paradise Datacom Ltd.

Services

IMMEON Expands Range Of Services

In addition to its bandwidth-on-demand connections and access shared-hub services, Immeon, the satellite services business operated by Viasat Inc., has grown to include managed network services for private customer networks.

Customers use Immeon high-speed data and voice services for applications such as retail operations, business continuity, disaster recovery, network capacity augmentation, connections to remote or temporary locations and satellite newsgathering.

KINGSTON INMEDIA Gives Customers Control

Kingston inmedia released its Customer Controlled Playout solution. This new playout platform allows customers to control program scheduling from their own premises using a VPN connection. As the channel matures, operators can decide to outsource more complex playout requirements to Kingston as well as adding new functionalities such as subtitles, teletext, live events, voice overs and multiple audios, for example.

TELENOR Unveils New E-mail Service

Telenor Satellite Services unveiled E-Mail Advanced, a new e-mail communications service.

According to the company, Telenor E-Mail Advanced reduces user e-mail costs by up to 80 percent and features full duplex communications enabling users to send and receive e- mails simultaneously, increasing communications efficiency while reducing airtime costs.

This new remote e-mail service works with Telenor’s Inmarsat A, B, M, Mini-M, Fleet and GAN technologies and serves maritime and land-mobile users.

Contracts

BBC TECHNOLOGY Signs Contract With Globecast

BBC Technology signed a five-year contract with Globecast as the latest media communications customer to use its London media gateway.

BBC Technology’s London media gateway is a fully resilient fiber ring in London that enables the London broadcast community to exchange content and access BBC and EBU feeds, as well as access international gateways and BBC Technology’s teleports at London and Brookmans Park. The service is now developed as a commercial proposition for BBC Technology, enabling other broadcast organizations to benefit from BBC Technology’s experience and skills in the creation, management and distribution of content.

CONNEXION BY BOEING Selects Intelsat

Connexion by Boeing will use Intelsat satellite service for the implementation of in-flight broadband Internet and data services for passengers on trans-Atlantic airliners starting in 2004.

Connexion by Boeing signed a contract with Intelsat for satellite connectivity that will enable airborne travelers to access high-speed Internet and data services via Intelsat’s 907 satellite at 332.5 degreesE.

The contract includes two transponder leases using 907’s Ku-band Spot 1 beam for real-time transmission and reception of Web pages, e-mail, data and entertainment content.

CAPROCK Teams Up With Eutelsat

Eutelsat Inc.’s Sesat satellite was selected by CapRock Communications to deliver integrated network solutions to CapRock’s global drilling, shipping, chemical, cruise line, natural resource production and government customers.

CapRock provides telecom access to onshore and offshore customers, specializing in connectivity to extreme and hard-to-reach locations. By accessing Eutelsat’s Sesat satellite, CapRock will provide access to Internet and e-mail capabilities, video and content streaming, data transmission and voice calling applications from the North Sea to India.

GLOBECOMM Awarded Infrastructure Contract

Globecomm won a $13.8 million fully- funded contract to provide a foreign customer with a satellite-based communication solution for the transfer of wideband data and telephony information.

Under the terms of the contract, Globecomm will provide multiple satellite communication terminals, which will be incorporated into vehicles to support mobile communications, two fixed satellite communication ground stations, four "fly away" ground stations and full program management.

ILC Centralizes Control For UNC TV

Public Broadcaster UNC TV selected ILC’s MaxView network control software to perform remote management for North Carolina’s statewide broadcast network. UNC TV will deploy MaxView to centrally control 14 sites, including both legacy analog and new digital transmitters.

INTELSAT Joins Forces With TVNZ

Intelsat Global Sales and Marketing Ltd. and TVNZ Satellite Services Ltd. will join forces in the occasional use broadcast services business. This alliance is designed to leverage the strengths of each company by offering a global network of satellite and terrestrial infrastructure, complemented by a portfolio of television broadcast and enterprise services.

In addition to its global network of ground resources, Intelsat will contribute dedicated capacity on eight of its satellites, with additional capacity available. TVNZ will contribute occasional use services and television broadcast solutions expertise.

SUREWEST Selects Irdeto Access

SureWest Communications signed an agreement with Irdeto Access to purchase Irdeto’s conditional access technologies to support transmission of digital video and video-on-demand programming over its new IP-based video network.

Under the terms of the agreement, Irdeto Access will provide SureWest with the Irdeto PIsys large-scale conditional access system and Irdeto Access Content Protection for IP.

LANDSEA SYSTEMS Acquired By Thrane And Thrane

LandSea Systems Inc. signed a purchase agreement with Thrane and Thrane, a manufacturer of terminals and land earth stations for global satellite communication. LandSea Systems will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thrane and Thrane to further develop the North American market.

The acquisition will be used as the base to launch the coming aeronautical high-speed terminal, Aero-HSD+, directly to the North American market.

NEW SKIES SATELLITE Signs Deal With EBU

New Skies Satellites N.V. will provide the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) with full-time satellite capacity and special events transmission services to guarantee coverage of some of the world’s most prominent events taking place throughout the next 18 months.

Specifically, the EBU chose New Skies’ global network for the delivery of live video footage from the Athens Olympics, the UEFA Euro 2004 competitions and the U.S. presidential elections.

STM Chosen For Rural Telephone Project

STM Networks Inc., along with its service affiliate STM Communications Services Inc., was selected for implementation and operation of a VSAT-based network in the eastern development region of Nepal.

The World Bank financed project requires installation and operation of phone systems in at least two separate locations within each of 534 Village Development Committees in Eastern Nepal to offer public phone services.

TRIPOINT GLOBAL Wins $12 Million Contract

TriPoint Global Communications’ VertexRSI business in Duisburg, Germany, received a contract valued at more than $12 million to provide a very large (exceeding 30-meters in diameter) antenna for an international deep space research program.

Under terms of the contract, VertexRSI will provide the large parabolic reflector, support pedestals, control equipment and installation services. VertexRSI’s Kilgore, TX, facility will manufacture the reflector panels in support of the program.

When installed, the antenna will be able to transmit and receive high power signals for telemetry and control.

Technology

CPI SATCOM Introduces Outdoor TWTA

Communications and Power Industries Satcom Division introduced a 200 watt Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier (TWTA) designed for outdoor use.

This TWTA comprises a variety of frequency ranges, including Ka-band and output power from 125 watts to 750 watts. Options include integrated redundant switch control, a solid state IPA and an integral linearizer. (CPI Satcom Division, 811 Hansen Way, P.O. Box 51625, Palo Alto, CA 94303; Tel: 650/846-3803; Web: http://www.cpii.com/satcom )

POLARSAT Unveils Mini-Hub

PolarSat introduced the Mini-Hub, its latest advancement in the FlexiDAMA family of SCPC/DAMA VSAT products.

The Mini-Hub provides all the key features of a full FlexiDAMA Hub. Initially, it operates in what is termed a FlexWeb application, whereby a shared TDM outbound IP traffic stream is sent to all nodes in the network (up to 2 Mbs) and individual remotes have variable rate return channels using SCPC modems. The Mini-Hub is upgradeable to accommodate network expansion. (PolarSat Inc., 18, 105 Trans Canada Hwy., Kirkland, Quebec, H9J 3Z4, Canada; Tel: 514/694-2244; Fax: 514/694-5288; Web: http://www.polarsat.com )

SATSERVICE GMBH Introduces L-Band Reciever

SatService GmbH introduced its new sat-nms LBRX L-band beacon receiver for satellite ground station applications.

The beacon receiver is a tool which measures the RF level of satellite beacon signals behind a low noise converter and provides this information as output signal for control systems. The main application of this receiver is in satellite ground station antenna tracking systems where the receiver provides the tracking signal level to the step-track controller. Other applications are pilot measurement and control loops like uplink power control. (SatService GmbH, Hardstrasse 9, D-78256 Steisslingen, Germany; Tel: +49 7738 97003; Fax: +49 7738 97005; Web: http://www.satservicegmbh.de )

SWE-DISH Develops Newsgathering Package With Sony

Swe-Dish Satellite Systems and Sony introduced a new mobile newsgathering package, which will include Sony’s new MPEG optical XDCAM Camcorder and professional high capacity storage disc and Swe-Dish’s IPT suitcase, a mobile satellite terminal for IP transmission. (Swe-Dish Satellite Systems AB, Halsingegatan 40, P.O. Box 6495 SE-113 82 Stockholm, Sweden; Tel: +46 8 728 5000; Fax: +46 8 728 5050 ; Web: http://www.swe-dish.com )

TANDBERG Launches Multi-Pass Encoder

Tandberg Television launched the E5770, an upgradeable extension of the E5710. The new multi-pass encoder was designed for DTH satellite and terrestrial multi-channel TV systems.

The E5770 provides opportunities for satellite DTH operators to increase revenue by enabling additional services to be introduced into existing transponder space. The E5770 achieves this by minimizing the total bit-rate through a multi-pass pre-processing technique that constantly optimizes bit-rate allocation for critical scenes, ensuring the final encoded video has some of the best possible picture quality available. (Tandberg Television, 12633 Challenger Pkwy., Suite 250, Orlando, FL 32826; Tel: 407/380-7055; Fax: 407/380- 6691; Web: http://www.tandbergtv.com )