People

Caprock communications Appoints New Marketing VP

Houston-based CapRock Communications, a global satellite communications provider, has expanded its offerings to a variety of new vertical markets and has chosen a new vice president of marketing, David Myers, to lead the effort.

Under Myers’ direction, CapRock will target other global verticals that can benefit from the company’s unique ability to deploy reliable satellite communications to remote locations and in harsh environments.

CPI Promotes Tafler

Communications and Power Industries Inc. (CPI), a designer and manufacturer of equipment for broadcast, communications, medical, scientific and defense applications, announced the promotion of Andy Tafler to the position of president and general manager of the company’s Satcom Division.

Tafler was most recently the vice president of Operations for Satcom Division. Previously he has held various marketing and operations positions for the company throughout the past 20 years, in the power electronics and microwave systems units of CPI Canada.

Eumetsat Appoints New Director General

Lars Prahm is the new director general of Eumetsat, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, replacing Tillmann Mohr.

Prahm came to Eumetsat from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), which he headed from 1987 until 2004. In terms of the main challenges facing Eumetsat, Prahm says, "It is my intention to continue developing Eumetsat and its operations, ensuring we maintain our reputation for delivering cost-effective, high-quality operational Earth observation satellite data and products to Europe’s meteorological services."

Panamsat Promotes Antonovich

Panamsat Corp. announced the promotion of Mike Antonovich to executive vice president of global sales and marketing. In this role, Antonovich will continue to aggressively lead the company’s global sales and marketing program which includes: program distribution, broadcast contribution, telecommunications and networking services.

Since joining Panamsat in 1989 as a manager of broadcast services, Antonovich has served in a wide variety of senior leadership positions including in North American sales, Pacific Ocean Region sales, global sales and most recently, assumed the responsibility of leading the Company’s marketing initiatives worldwide, serving as senior vice president of global sales and marketing.

Paradise Datacom Expands Sales Team

Paradise Datacom LLC brings on board Tony Radford to head up the newly opened regional sales office in Atlanta, GA. Radford has spent the past 25 years in Atlanta serving the satcom industry while employed by such companies as Scientific Atlanta, Telecom International, STM Wireless and TriPoint Global Communications. John Restivo, Paradise Datacom CEO, states, "Though Tony will be largely focused on customers in the southeast region of the US and reporting directly to Gary McGovern, VP sales and marketing, he brings an extensive global contact base and will be assisting in the establishment of our worldwide market strategy. I’ve known Tony for many years and look forward to receiving his contributions to our company."

Tachyon Names New CEO

Tachyon Network Inc., provider of high-speed broadband satellite communications for commercial enterprises based out of Vienna, VA, has appointed Yaniv Oz to a newly created position of vice president of distribution channels. Oz joins the Tachyon team in an effort to expand the company’s reach to new markets and support reseller relationships concentrated on the first responder and homeland security markets.

To that end, Oz will primarily be responsible for the strategic marketing of Tachyon Express, a satellite communications system designed to meet the requirement of small and medium enterprises (SME).

Oz brings to Tachyon more than 11 years of engineering, military and sales experience, most recently serving as the director of channel partner programs at Gilat Satellite Networks’ Spacenet.

Services

Digitalglobe Launches New EPA Service

Digitalglobe released an information product it says will help various government and private entities measure and manage storm-water runoff and help support the compliance of storm-water management regulations as required by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The DGStormWater uses satellite images from Digitalglobe’s Quickbird satellite to calculate the impervious surface area of a property to help assess storm water-related user fees as well as to contribute to the assessment of flood risks and the protection of habitats from erosion and pollution.

Echostar Expands Asian Programming

Echostar Communications Corp. announced that its Dish Network satellite television service will exclusively broadcast The Mabuhay Channel, a Filipino/Tagalog-language channel.

The addition of this Filipino channel reinforces DISH Network’s leadership in international programming. DISH Network offers more than 60 international channels in more than 20 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Polish, Japanese and Russian.

Eutelsat Establishes Broadband Network

Eutelsat, a global satellite operator and Europe Online, one of the world’s largest satellite broadband networks, will combine their satellite broadband Internet networks, operations, services and customers to create what they believe will be the world’s largest mass-consumer satellite broadband network, stretching from the United Kingdom to the Middle East.

The resulting merged platform will also be made available to other satellite and telecommunication operators throughout Europe and the world for content delivery to DSL and cable headends and for video on demand.

In the framework of the merged network, operations and services, Europe Online will bring its entire customer base, operations and services, intellectual property rights, patents, network, content and billing management system to combine it with Eutelsat’s Opensky technology and network. The resulting service will bring mass-consumers a complete DSL broadband via satellite offering of high-speed Internet, turbo-downloads, video streaming and video on demand.

Globecast Expands Broadcasting Coverage

Globecast has begun distributing Algerian television station Canal Algerie as well as two radio stations via multiple satellites, expanding the network’s coverage throughout Africa and the Middle East via Globecast’s C-band Direct-to-Home and cable distribution platform on NSS-7, and over North America via the Globecast WorldTV DTH platform through Intelsat.

New Skies Satellites N.V. Expands Teleport Gateway

New Skies Satellites N.V. signed a new agreement with Telenor Satellite Services, a global provider of satellite communications services, to expand its teleport gateway services out of New Skies’ Perth, Australia mediaport.

The agreement virtually doubles Telenor’s teleport services through New Skies, expanding and enhancing its capability to provide mobile communications services throughout the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. New Skies hosts a variety of VSAT hubs and communications circuits through the Perth facility, supporting primarily the oil, mining and mobile communications sectors.

This new agreement enables Telenor to expand its suite of leased and on-demand services available to users on land and at sea throughout both ocean regions.

Sirius Launches NFL Channel

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. unveiled the first 24-hour radio channel dedicated to the National Football League (NFL). CEO Joe Clayton says that he expects the multi-year NFL contract to result in "several million additional subscribers."

New York City based-Sirius has an exclusive seven-year deal with the NFL–for which it paid $220 million–to provide radio coverage for all league games in all markets.

Swe-Dish Expands Its Offerings

Europe*Star and Swe-Dish Satellite Systems have cross-certified each company’s offers, using a new high-performance co-polar feed designed by Swe-Dish to enable its IPT Suitcase terminal to be optimized for use with the Europe*Star 1 satellite. The performance of the terminal, with a 90cm elliptical antenna, exceeded expectations with an Eb/No of 10.5dB.

Tachyon Networks Adds Additional Gateway

Tachyon Networks announced that it has increased its network reliability by adding a second gateway in the Washington, D.C., area. The company’s primary gateway in San Diego, CA, with additional gateways in Mexico City and Amsterdam.

The redundant East Coast gateway in part will help to ensure that government agencies such as the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) and the U.S. Army will be provided with the highest quality of service essential to their mission-critical communications.

Contracts

Comtech EF Data Lands $1.1 M Contract

Comtech EF Data Corp. received a $1.1 million order from an undisclosed United States defense contractor. The order is for satellite communications products from Comtech EF Data’s offerings, including the KST-12025 Ku-band satellite terminal, the SLM-3650 satellite modem and the SMS-301 modem protection switch. This equipment will be deployed as part of a satellite communications infrastructure.

The KST-12025, a redundant Ku-band System, is a 25w satellite earth station and electronics terminal. When used in conjunction with Comtech EF Data’s modems, the KST-12025 can accommodate a single or multiple carrier digital operation over a 36 MHz bandwidth.

Comtech EF Data’s modems are designed to communicate with the world’s major satellite systems, including the Defense Satellite Communications Systems (DSCS). The SLM-3650 Satellite Modem with Turbo Product Coding (TPC), offers the industry’s most bandwidth efficient forward error correction.

Crawford Provides Services To DoD

Crawford Satellite Services, a service area of Crawford Communications, Inc., has announced a multi-year agreement with the U.S. DoD’s Third Army Public Affairs to provide turnkey satellite services for its Digital Video and Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS). The mission of the DVIDS project is to provide video, imagery and print products from public affairs units in Iraq and Afghanistan to U.S. and international media outlets.

The DVIDS project is intended to offer transport capabilities of broadcast-quality video, two-way data, news stories, live interviews, stills and other content from various satellite transmissions within Iraq and Afghanistan back to Crawford’s Teleport in Atlanta. The U.S. domestic distribution is provided by Crawford’s CableSTAR platform, located on Panamsat’s Galaxy-11 satellite. Crawford serves as the hub for video and data content transmitted from Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Gilat Wins Contract In Africa

Gilat Satellite Networks Inc., a worldwide provider of satellite networking technology, announced that it will supply to Koochi Communications Ltd. an additional 300 Skystar 360 degreesE terminals to deliver broadband communications to SOHO and SME users in Nigeria and West Africa.

A rollout of 50 terminals was completed in the fourth quarter of 2003, with shipment of the additional 300 terminals currently in process. Koochi’s purchase of the Gilat satellite network-based solution will enable the company to deliver an efficient broadband alternative to its customers. Koochi will provide its satellite network via a shared hub facility based in Fuchstadt, Germany.

Globecomm Wins Infrastructure Contract

Globecomm Systems Inc., a provider of end-to-end satellite-based communications solutions, announced that one of its customers has completed the financing process related to implementing a previously announced $15 million contract.

Under the terms of the contract, Globecomm will modernize an existing facility enabling its customer to provide state-of-the-art services in the region, including Internet access via satellite and international voice with country-wide distribution. The modernization of the facility includes upgrades of existing ground infrastructure equipment, supplying new ground systems, microwave distribution capabilities, and training and support services.

Globalstar Secures Maritime Contract

Globalstar, announced that Wavecall Communications Inc. will become the company’s preferred fixed maritime satellite product supplier. Wavecall intends to make its Wavecall 3000 and Wavecall MCM3 fixed maritime units available in all areas served by the Globalstar satellite network. Both products are manufactured by Wavecall’s parent company, Sea Tel Inc.

The Wavecall 3000 product provides voice and data speeds of up to 56 kbps using data compression, with the added ability to interface with permanently installed shipboard systems. The Wavecall MCM3 uses three simultaneously connected channels to provide voice and data speeds of up to 144 kbps using data compression. An RJ45 Ethernet connection also makes the product easy to integrate into networks.

Intelsat Expands Contract With Axesat

Intelsat announced that Axesat, a Colombian provider of satellite access services, has renewed and expanded its broadband service contract. The additional capacity is being used to extend Axesat’s regional presence to serve existing as well as new customers in areas it previously had not served, such as Central America, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Axesat is utilizing Intelsat’s managed broadband service, including space segment on the IS-805 satellite located at 304.5�E in conjunction with a broadband hub located in Bogota, Colombia, to provide the expanded services.

ND SatCom Wins Eastern European Contracts

ND SatCom, a leading global supplier of satellite-based broadband VSAT, broadcast and military communication network solutions, recently announced that the Ministry for Communication and Informatics of Hungary has chosen to use the services of a satellite-based communications network utilizing ND SatCom platforms. The contract comprises 500 remote stations as well as one redundant hub station. It will be operated by the Hungarian Service Provider Hungaro DigiTel (HDT) and was going to be implemented in summer 2004.

In addition, ND Satcom recently won a multimillion USD contract to provide the national electric power company in Kazakhstan with a satellite-based communications network to improve its infrastructure. The VSAT network, will be financed by a loan from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development ( EBRD).

The turnkey solution covers the delivery of more than 70 VSAT stations, a powerful network management system for planning, controlling and monitoring the overall system as well as various engineering and service packages. A satellite network is ideally suited to provide end-to-end services with high availability.

The complete network, which supports different applications such as voice and data simultaneously, is operated by ND SatCom’s local partner TNS-Plus, a leading telecommunications operator in Kazakhstan, and will be ready for operation by the end of 2004.

Norsat Delivers Satellite Terminals

Norsat International Inc. announced that Jsat Corp of Japan has purchased and taken delivery of three Norsat Newslink portable satellite terminals. Introduced late last year, the Norsat Newslink portable satellite terminal enables broadcast quality video transmissions from practically anywhere. It is easy to use and can be set up and operational in less than 10 minutes. The Newslink terminal has also proven its ruggedness through deployments in Iraq, where it’s flexibility and transportability has enabled on-the-spot live news coverage in the most demanding conditions.

Space Imaging Signs With IATA

Space Imaging has signed an exclusive agreement with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), of Montreal, Canada, to sell a new family of aviation geospatial products derived from Space Imaging’s Ikonos satellite, and the Indian remote sensing (IRS) and Landsat satellites. These products, marketed and sold through IATA, will increase air transport safety and efficiency for airlines and airports. Space Imaging will manufacture the products by utilizing the company’s multi-source satellite imagery, imagery- derived products, IATA’s proprietary geospatial information and other public domain sources.

Wildblue Taps Convergys

Wildblue Communications Inc. took another step toward its commercial launch when it selected Convergys Corp.’s Infinys software.Through this contract, Convergys’s software will handle rating, billing, order management and inventory management control for Wildblue. Convergys is one of a select few billing houses of choice in the wireless industry. Wildblue plans to launch its consumer broadband Internet service by late this year, early 2005 in smaller cities and throughout rural America.

Technology

ARINC Provides In-Flight Phone Technology

ARINC Inc. and Telenor ASA will soon market new technology to allow airline passengers to use personal phones aboard commercial flights. The new technology initially will leverage the Inmarsat Satcom systems many airlines have already invested in. These systems are already deployed on more than 3,000 aircraft worldwide. The system is also flexibly designed to accommodate evolving technologies such as the Inmarsat Swift/BGAN. (ARINC Inc., 2551 Riva Road, Annapolis, MD 21401-7465; Tel: 410-266-4000; Web: http://www.arinc.com)