People

Kingston inmedia Names Chairman

Kingston inmedia appointed Richard Vos as chairman of the board.

Vos was formerly chairman of Inmarsat, which he led following privatization in 1999 through a private equity buyout in 2003 for $1.5 billion.

Lockheed Martin Elects Corporate Officer

Lockheed Martin’s board of directors elected Joanne Maguire as its newest corporate officer. Maguire joined the corporation in March 2003 as vice president of special programs. She was appointed to her current position, deputy of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., in July 2003.

Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, Maguire served as deputy and vice president of business development for TRW Space and Electronics, now Northrop Grumman Space Technology.

ND Satcom Expands Executive Team

ND Satcom appointed Siegfried Schlabschi as its new chief financial officer.

Before joining ND Satcom AG, Schlabschi was CEO of the international Corrugated Cardboard Group of Papermill Palm GmbH and Co. KG.

Radyne Comstream Selects Chairman

Radyne Comstream’s board of directors elected Dr. C. J. Waylan as its chairman.

Waylan has been a director since February 2000 and is a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees of the board. He is currently an advisor to several telecommunications and satellite companies.

Sirius Taps Two Presidents

Sirius Satellite Radio appointed Scott Greenstein as president of entertainment and sports and James Meyer as president of operations and sales. Greenstein will oversee all programming, marketing and corporate marketing for the nationwide satellite radio broadcaster. Meyer will be responsible for overseeing and directing all operations and sales, including its automotive OEM business, retail markets, product management, strategic partners, engineering functions and geographical expansion.

Greenstein has been a consultant to the company on the recent NFL and Penske agreements, as well as other entertainment and sports transactions. Meyer, who also served as a consultant to Sirius, was previously president of Aegis Ventures, a general management consulting company.

Contracts

AGS Wins Contract For Satellite Network

Americom Government Services Inc. (AGS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES Americom, won a five-year contract to provide satellite network services to U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). The combined AGS and Northrop Grumman team from Korea designed the Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) network along with the customized terminals. AGS will provide and maintain a customized teleport hub that will serve as a main commercial satellite communications center for USFK, and will supply all needed space segment to meet mission requirements and VSAT terminals in Korea.

AGS’ solution will provide USFK with Defense Department Internet connectivity, videoconferencing and general telecommunications capabilities through its secure and non-secure networks, to and from Korea.

ASCENT MEDIA Signs Deal With Fox

Ascent Media Systems and Technology Services (a unit of Ascent Media Network Services) was awarded a multi-year contract by Fox Networks Engineering and Operations to provide ongoing system support and maintenance for the satellite earth stations at all Fox Broadcasting Co. affiliate locations. Additionally, Ascent Media will assume responsibility for the upgrades, which Fox Digital initiated in 2002, which includes a migration path from a single antenna to a dual antenna satellite system. Ascent will install a new Andrew 4.5- meter antenna at approximately 125 Fox sites.

COMTECH Receives Equipment Orders

Comtech EF Data Corp. received a $4 million order from a leading global satellite service provider. The order is a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA), providing for purchases of $2 million per year for two years. The BOA covers purchases of Comtech EF Data’s satellite communications equipment ranging from digital and IP-centric satellite modems to frequency up and down converters and transceivers. The satellite service provider will deploy the equipment to support its global satellite communications infrastructure and connectivity solutions. The company also received a $1.3 million order from a major telecommunications service provider in South America.

The order includes satellite modems, frequency converters and transceivers. The equipment will be used in the customer’s network infrastructure expansion and also to support Global System for Mobile Communications applications. The satellite modem solutions selected by this customer include the CDM-600 Open Network Satellite Modem and the CDM-550 Digital Satellite Modem, both configured with Turbo Product Coding.

ECHOSTAR Adds To Its HDTV Package

Echostar Communication Corp.’s Dish Network and Turner Network Television (TNT) are partnering to offer Dish Network satellite TV customers TNT in high definition.

The 24-hour HDTV presentation of TNT’s East Coast feed will offer Dish Network customers programming in HDTV format, including sports, movies, TNT originals and other shows.

GLOBALSTAR Extends VPN Contract

Equant extended its IP VPN services contract with Globalstar through Feb-ruary 2007.

Currently, Globalstar leverages the any-to-any connectivity of Equant IP VPN at 15 earth stations in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. The IP VPN plays a critical role in Globalstar’s ability to manage and control its low-earth-orbit satellite constellation.

GLOBECAST Distributes X Channel

GIobecast began providing extreme sports channel "The X Channel" with a turnkey cable distribution package of full-time satellite distribution, studio production and network origination services from the company’s Miami digital broadcast center.

Launching in the United States later this year, The X Channel will broadcast extreme sports programming. As part of the multi-year agreement, Globecast is providing the extreme sports network with a customized 4,000 sq. ft. origination center, featuring dedicated master control and playout facilities, studio space and control room, post-production and management offices, in addition to transmission and space capacity on Globecast’s AMC 1 digital cable distribution platform.

ILC Selected By PBS

PBS will use ILC’s Maxview software at its primary and back-up broadcast facilities to monitor and control program delivery to its 349 member stations. Maxview will serve as the PBS earth station control system, through which PBS will configure, monitor and control all functions of its existing satellite operations center, technical operations center and emergency back-up uplink site. PBS will use Maxview to manage a mix of satellite, fiber, microwave and power equipment to monitor and control its C-band and Ku-band uplink chains, DS-3 fiber links, digital microwave links and power supply, as well as to perform carrier monitoring.

INTELSAT Agrees To Acquire Comsat

Intelsat Ltd. signed an agreement to acquire the assets of end-to-end communications services integrator Comsat General Corp. and certain of its affiliates. Comsat General is a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., which owns 24.1 percent of Intelsat Ltd.

The total agreed purchase price is approximately $90 million, including approximately $40 million that may be paid in the form of ordinary shares of Intelsat Ltd. Intelsat will also purchase an Atlas launch vehicle from Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services Inc., an affiliate of Lockheed Martin, for the launch of a future satellite.

Under the transaction terms, Intelsat has agreed to acquire the customer contracts and vendor contracts associated with Comsat General ‘s business, as well as FCC and other governmental licenses, leased business premises and other related assets.

L-3 COMMUNICATIONS Wins Contract From Viasat

L-3 Communications ESSCO, a division of L-3 Communications Corp., was awarded a contract by Viasat Inc. to design, develop and test 17 advanced composite radomes to protect the antenna subsystem components of the new Communications Data Link (CDL) system to be used for the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

The CDL system is a wideband common data link for the transmission of signal and imagery intelligence data between national/tactical reconnaissance aircraft sensors and their associated surface ship processing systems. The five-year contract also contains options for additional unit deliveries.

MICROSPACE Offers Customer Flexibility

Stagepost, a new-age media and marketing firm, will use Microspace’s Velocity satellite service in its new Excelevision system. Excelevision delivers real-time marketing, training and corporate communication content via satellite to retail and banking locations, such as Flagstar Bancorp.

MOBILE SATELLITE VENTURES Receives Additional Funding

Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) closed on additional optional funding rounds with its original investor group, which includes affiliates of Telcom Ventures and Columbia Capital, providing $21.3 million in new capital. The funding occurred in two phases that closed over the past several months. The proceeds are being directed toward MSV’s next- generation network development, including the first over-the-air trial of MSV’s network transparency concept.

NEW SKIES SATELLITES N.V. Seals Deal With Indian Space Research Organization

New Skies Satellites N.V. and the Indian Space Research Organization signed an agreement for multiple high-powered 36 MHz Ku-band transponders on the NSS 6 satellite. The capacity will support the launch of DTH service for Doordarshan, one of India’s national broadcasters.

The DTH service will provide an initial bouquet of 30 free channels, 15 from Doordarshan and 15 from private broadcasters, as well as 20 radio channels throughout India. Additionally, one of the transponders is expected to be used for digital satellite newsgathering.

PATRIOT Granted Hispasat Type-Approvals

Hispasat, the Spain-based satellite communications operator, type-approved three of Patriot Antenna Systems’ Ku-band antennas for use with its satellites. These approvals are the first for Patriot to receive from Hispasat. The approved antennas range from 1-meter to 1.8-meters in size and are approved for use with the Hispasat satellites throughout all coverage areas.

SCOPUS Chosen By Hughes

Scopus Network Technologies Inc., which it markets under the Codico brand, has supplied Hughes Network Systems Inc. (HNS) with a comprehensive video distribution network to support the HNS Direcway broadband satellite network for Ethiopia Telecommunications Corp. (ETC).

The system Scopus installed for HNS and ETC included a master headend delivering a multiprogram transport stream to a remote teleport through an ATM network, where the Direcway IP Gateway was integrated and then uplinked.

TANDBERG Receives Order From BSkyB

Tandberg Television secured an order from BSkyB to provide the broadcaster with a range of digital compression solutions. The deal will see BSkyB introduce a new Tandberg Television MPEG-2 headend installation with 16 compression systems for its Advanced Technology Center, which is being created to supplement BSkyB’s existing broadcast facilities. As part of the contract Tandberg will provide end-to-end systems based on its industry leading MPEG-2 compression engine. The compression systems will each contain Tandberg E5710 encoders, MX5640 multiplexers and TT1220 receivers, as well as control and monitoring.

UDCAST Powers VPN Service

Bentley Telecom is using the UDcast UDgateway-VPN to power Bentley’s new satellite VPN service for sites throughout the Middle East and Europe. Through the use of UDcast’s UDgateway-VPN, Bentley Telecom is providing site-to-site VPNs for both satellite and hybrid (satellite plus terrestrial) connections with terrestrial-like security and performances. U.K.-based Bentley Telecom has a major presence throughout the Middle East delivering Internet connectivity solutions to a wide customer base–from Internet caf�s in Baghdad to connecting remote sites for large corporations and international organizations.

WCC Earns GSA Contract

World Communications Center (WCC), a provider of global satellite voice and data communications, is now an approved supplier of Iridium satellite phones, services and accessories to all U.S. federal government agencies. Effective immediately, WCC’s products are available through the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

WORLDSAT Enters Into Framework Deal

Worldsat, a wholly owned subsidiary of SES Americom, an SES Global Co., and KT Corp. (KT), one of Korea’s leading telecommunications services providers and an operator of a satellite fleet in the Asia-Pacific region, have entered into a long-term framework agreement to provide services through several high-powered Ku-band transponders on Worldsat 1 (formerly known as AAP 1) satellite.

Technology

Crawford Introduces ENCOMPASS

Crawford Communications Inc., introduced ENCOMPASS (encode, manage and protect your assets), a fully digital storage, archive and asset management system.

The first phase of ENCOMPASS went live May 1. This stage consolidates the workflow and storage for 18 of Crawford’s 32 full-time cable network clients. It provides a digital storage repository for securely accessing and managing client assets. The second phase will expand to other service areas at Crawford, including film, video and audio.

An additional service that ENCOMPASS offers is MPEG-4 proxy copies for remote client viewing. This allows Crawford’s network clients to view content that resides within the ENCOMPASS system via the Internet. (Crawford Communications Inc., 3845 Pleasantdale Rd., Atlanta, GA 30340; Tel: 408/876-7149; Fax: 678/421-6717; Web: http://www.crawford.com)

DEV Systemtechnik Redesigns Distributing Matrix

DEV Systemtechnik launched its completely redesigned Distributing Matrix DEV 1995/1996. According to the company, the new Matrix switches and distributes multiple signal paths safely and reliably and provides customers with outstanding performance regarding isolation, return loss and amplitude frequency response, all in a compact housing.

The Matrix is a multi-purpose solution instead of many single isolated applications, making it a useful tool for many different signal transmission tasks. (DEV Systemtechnik GmbH and Co. KG, Konrad-Adenauer-Strabe 25, D-61191 Rosbach, Germany; Tel: +49/6003 82780; Fax: +49/6003 827815; Web: http://www.devsystemtechnik.de)

Norsat Introduces Updated Newslink

Norsat International Inc. unveiled the newest model of its Newslink satellite newsgathering terminal. Responding to industry demands for an integrated 40-watt Solid State Power Amplifier terminal, this new version adds 2dB of link margin, providing broadcasters with increased power, higher quality transmissions and improved global access from anywhere in the world, according to Norsat. (Norsat International Inc., 300-4401 Still Creek Dr., Burnaby, BC, Canada; Tel: 604/292-9000; Fax: 604/292-9100; Web: http://www.norsat.com)

Scopus Debuts Universal Encoder

Scopus Network Technologies introduced a new professional video compression platform, the Codico UE-9000. The new encoder platform will enable digital TV operators to migrate smoothly from current MPEG-2 technology to future encoding technologies with minimal operational and development costs, according to Scopus.

The UniversalEncoder resolves the need for a separate encoding platform for each broadcast format by serving as a universal engine for MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and VC9 encoding in both standard-definition and high-definition formats. To enhance migration from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or VC9, the UE-9000 provides broadcasters with upgradeable modules for each separate standard. It is also backward-compatible for MPEG-2. (Scopus Network Technologies, 10 Ha’amal St., Park Afek, Rosh Ha’ayin 48092 Israel; Tel: +972/3-9007777; Fax: +972/3-9007888; Web: http://www.scopus.net)

Tachyon Delivers IP Transport

Tachyon Networks Inc. released IPTransport, its next-generation indoor unit. IPTransport is a compact, portable, streamlined component of Tachyon’s customer premise equipment (CPE) designed for permanent remote and temporary work locations and terrestrial-independent disaster recovery back-up. IPTransport continues to provide terrestrial-like performance backed by Tachyon’s T-Force, a satellite broadband performance optimizer. According to Tachyon, T-Force ensures fast, reliable packet delivery, maintains complete TCP/IP standards compliance and provides accelerated IPVPN secure data transport and guaranteed quality of service. IPTransport functions as an open-standards-compliant static router to the customer LAN, integrating with existing network infrastructures. (Tachyon Networks Inc., 8133 Leesburg Pike, Suite 450, Vienna, VA 22182; Tel: 877/589-3278; Fax: 703/821-2125; Web: http://www.tachyon.net)

Tandberg Launches Encoding Solution

Tandberg Television launched its Intelligent Compression Engine (ICE), a video and audio compression platform that provides a solution for implementations of Windows Media 9 Series Advanced Profile and MPEG-4 part 10 (H.264/AVC) technologies.

The EN5930 encoder is designed for MPEG-4 broadcast and telco applications, including improvements in picture quality at very low bit-rates and highly accurate bit-rate control; low bit-rate broadcasting over digital cable, satellite and terrestrial networks; archiving, clip capture and VOD authoring systems; and other applications using IP, ATSC or DVB based transmission. Existing users of the Tandberg E5710 MPEG-2 encoder can move to either Windows Media 9 Series or MPEG-4 AVC by upgrading existing equipment with the ICE card. (Tandberg Television, 12633 Challenger Pkwy., Suite 250, Orlando, FL 32826; Tel: 407/380-7055; Fax: 407/380-6691; Web: http://www.tandbergtv.com)