People

CASBAA Appoints New Vice President

The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) appointed John Medeiros as vice president for government relations and regulatory affairs.

Medeiros will be responsible for oversight of the association’s anti-piracy and regulatory activities across an Asia-Pacific footprint covering 14 markets. This new post is part of an expansion of the association’s campaigns to counter piracy of pay-television broadcasts and to advocate modern regulatory practices for the broadcasting industry.

Medeiros joins CASBAA following a career with the U.S. government, most recently as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore and deputy U.S. consul general in Hong Kong. With 12 years of experience in Asia, Medeiros’ responsibilities have included assisting media and telecommunications companies to overcome regulatory and anti- competitive barriers, such as piracy.

Eagle Broadband Appoints Vice President of Sales, Satellite Communications

Eagle Broadband, a provider of broadband, Internet protocol and communications technology and services, appointed Marc Surette to the position of vice president of sales, satellite communications.

Surette will assume global sales responsibility effective immediately for Eagle’s Satellite Communications Media Extender technology for civilian government, military, law enforcement and commercial/enterprise markets.

Previously, Surette worked for Marconi Communications Federal, Silicon Graphics and Electronic Data Systems.

Echostar Names New President, Vice Chairman

Echostar Communications Corp. appointed Michael Neuman president and COO. In this position, he will oversee day-to-day operations of Echostar.

Neuman most recently served as president of Bell Canada Enterprises subsidiary Bell Mobility, leading the wireless carrier to profitable growth in its 19-year history. Neuman also served as president of Bell Expressvu Satellite Television.

Echostar also appointed Carl Vogel as vice chairman, where he will focus on financial and strategic initiatives. Vogel has been with the Echostar board of directors since May and most recently served as president and CEO of Charter Communications. Previously, he held various senior executive positions with companies affiliated with Liberty Media Corp.

Telesat Names National Sales Director

Telesat appointed Peter Concelmo director of sales for the U.S. broadcast market.

Concelmo will be based in New York and be responsible for expanding Telesat’s work with various industry partners. He has more than 30 years of experience in the broadcasting and telecommunications industries, most recently serving as northeast regional sales manager for Tandberg Television.

Services

Caprock Launches Disaster Recovery Service

Caprock Communications launched a satellite communications services program intended for use following natural disasters.

The DR-250 communications package contains equipment needed to provide telephone and broadband data services if terrestrial options are unavailable in the aftermath of natural disasters.

The system includes a trailer-mounted satellite antenna, integrated satellite networking gateway, power supply and telephones. The system provides direct access to the public telephone network and always-on broadband Internet access with speeds up to 256 kilobits per second.

C-Com Delivers Mobile Unit To Nigerian Distributor

C-Com Satellite Systems Inc. delivered its first iNetVu Mobile unit to Netcom Africa Ltd., a communications infrastructure provider of satellite and wireless broadband in Western Africa.

Netcom will be reselling the iNetVu Mobile platform using iDirect Technologies modems. Vehicles equipped with the technology will be able to connect to the Internet via satellite at speeds of up to 18 megabits per second downstream and 4.2 mbps upstream to receive and transmit video, voice and secure data communications.

KDDI To Offer Iridium In Japan

Iridium Satellite LLC announced that KDDI Network and Solutions Inc. received authorization from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to offer mobile phone and data services in Japan through Iridium’s global satellite network.

Panamsat To Supply Satellite Internet Connectivity

Panamsat will supply satellite-based Internet access to New Caledonia. Under the contract from the Office des Postes et Telecommunications New Caledonia, Panamsat’s PAS-2 satellite will provide Internet access as well as a connection to the U.S. Internet backbone and teleport uplink and downlink services under the Spotbytes service. The service offering extends a previous relationship between the two organizations dating back to 1999.

Paradigm Debuts Communication System For Soldiers

Paradigm Services Ltd. unveiled its portable system designed to allow British soldiers to communicate with family and friends via the Iridium satellite network.

The system, dubbed Textlink, consists of an Iridium 9505 satellite phone and a pair of ruggedized laptop computers that can send and receive e-mail, short text messages, Royal Mail and British Forces Post Office letters as well as receive news updates in text format. The data is bundled for transmission via Iridium satellites.

Textlink was developed under a contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defense to allow deployed military personnel to communicate from regions where terrestrial infrastructure was not available.

Scopus Enables DTH In Sri Lanka

Scopus Network Technologies, a provider of digital television video networking, equipped Sri Lanka’s CBNSat with digital broadcast capabilities for its direct-to-home services. CBNSat’s new platform will distribute up to 18 digital video channels with two embedded audio channels per video channel, increasing the network’s capabilities for transmitting content. The system is fully redundant, combining incoming feeds to generate streams for up to 18 channels per transponder.

Contracts

Antrix Sign Satellite Communications Agreement With EADS

Antrix Corp., the marketing arm of the Indian Space Research Organization, and EADS Astrium will combine their technologies to develop commercial communication satellites.

Communication payloads developed by EADS will be placed aboard India’s Insat platforms to address the market for communications satellites with a launch mass between 2 tons and 3 tons and payload power of less than 4 kilowatts.

EMS Wins In-Flight Internet Connectivity Deal

EMS Satcom will provide its Enfusion HSD-128 high-speed data technology to ASIQ Pty Ltd. for use on an in-flight Internet system ASIQ is delivering to Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Under the agreement, ASIQ will combine Enfusion with an Inmarsat broadband satellite delivery system and a cellular network to deliver high-speed data to aircraft.

GCI Taps Glowlink For Satellite Monitoring Equipment

Glowlink Communications Technology Inc. announced that GCI, a provider of local cellular and long distance telephone, cable television, Internet and data services in Alaska, awarded the company a contract for a spectrum monitoring system based on the Glowlink Model 1000.

Globalstar Sign Multi-Year Manufacturing Agreement

Globalstar LLC entered into a $140 million multi-year agreement with Qualcomm Inc. to manufacture next-generation satellite voice and data products.

The agreement secures Globalstar’s hardware requirements for the next four years and the investment will enable the company to continue offering satellite voice handsets and data hardware to domestic and international distributors, resellers and end-user customers at a competitive price point.

Lockheed Martin Taps Harris For Space-Based Radar Antenna

Harris Corp. received a contract from Lockheed Martin to continue development of the flight demonstration system radar payload for the Innovative Space-Based Radar Antenna Technology (ISAT) program.

The ISAT program includes the development of the technologies required to deploy extremely large antennas in space for tracking moving targets on the ground. Harris is responsible for the design of the radar sensor payload, which will track moving targets in areas aircraft cannot cover. Harris completed three prior contracts for earlier phases of the ISAT program.

The ISAT program is run by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Special Projects Office and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab’s Space Vehicles Directorate.

MDA Selects Magellan’s Small Satellite Bus For Cassiope Mission

MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) selected Magellan Aerospace’s MAC-200 small satellite bus for the Cassiope mission.

The terms of the 18 million Canadian dollar ($14.5 million) contract call for Magellan to design, assemble, integrate and test the MAC-200. The project is a follow-on to a contract award from the Canadian Space Agency, under which Magellan was selected to design the MAC-200 multi-mission satellite bus.

The Cassiope mission will demonstrate a potential new information delivery service called Cascade that will allow very large amounts of information to be delivered around the globe and also will include a scientific payload carrying a suite of eight instruments to study sun-Earth relations. The Cassiope mission is scheduled for a late 2007 launch.

New Skies Signs DTH Agreement In Asia

New Skies Satellites received a contract to distribute direct-to-home television programming for Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online.

Asia Times will use the NSS-6 satellite to distribute news, education, travel and entertainment programs across Southeast Asia.

Pace Signs Asian Deals

Pace Micro Technology signed two new set-top box deals in Asia, including a key PVR (personal video recorder) deal in New Zealand.

The company signed a deal with New Zealand’s leading pay-TV operator, Sky Network Television Ltd., to supply set-top boxes for New Zealand’s first PVR service. Pace will deliver the PVR units later this year and will continue to supply the units into 2007.

In separate news, Pace announced that it signed another deal with Galaxy Satellite Broadcasting Ltd. to supply subscribers of Supersun, the pay-television service of Galaxy in Hong Kong, with Pace’s latest Asia-Pacific STB, the DC235.

Spacenet Nabs Ace Hardware Contract

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Spacenet Inc., was selected by Ace Hardware Corp. to provide satellite broadband network solutions for Ace’s 4,800 independent hardware and building materials retailers throughout the United States.

The Spacenet broadband satellite network will provide high-speed Internet and intranet access and fast credit and debit card authorization for Ace members.

Speedcast Taps iDirect To Expand Satellite Networking Services

Speedcast Ltd. selected iDirect Technologies to provide the technology for Speedcast’s new satellite broadband platform. Speedcast will resell the capacity of its iDirect hub to service providers who can then act as virtual network operators (VNO) anywhere in the Speedcast coverage area.

The idirect VNO solution allows satellite service providers to operate their own VSAT network without the cost of buying the hub infrastructure. Each VNO rents network capacity form a host network operator, such as Speedcast.

Speedcast will deploy the iDirect hub out of Hong Kong to take advantage of the Internet protocol backbone communications infrastructure and the ability to access satellites located in the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions where there are free trade zones and progressive telecommunications regulations.

Technology

EADS Astrium, Alcatel Space To Build Alphabus

EADS Astrium and Alcatel Space will jointly develop a new platform, dubbed Alphabus, for next generation communications satellites under a contract from the European Space Agency and CNES, the French space agency. The companies plan to have the satellite ready by 2007.

The Alphabus platform is designed to provide 12 to 18 kilowatts of power to support up to 190 transponders. The satellite will have a launch mass between 6 and 8 tons and is aimed at large satellite operators who will be renewing their fleets and adding new services such as digital audio and high-definition television broadcasting.

EMS Satcom Unveils Prototype Search-And-Rescue Terminal

EMS Satcom, a division of EMS Technologies, unveiled a ground terminal intended to make search and rescue operations more efficient.

The medium earth orbit local user terminal, developed and tested in conjunction with the Communications Research Centre Canada for the Canadian Space Agency, is designed to work with the Cospas-Sarsat network of search-and-rescue satellites. (EMS Satcom, 1725 Woodward Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 0P9P; Tel: 613/727-1771; Web: http://www.emssatcom.com)

Polarsat Introduces SkyIP 600

Polarsat Inc. announced the market launch of its SkyIP 600 remote terminal, which provides satellite functionality for demand networks combined with TCP/IP functionality for Internet Protocol(IP)-based services and Web access. ( Polarsat, 18 105 Trans Canada Hwy, Kirkland, Quebec, H9J 3Z4, Canada; Tel: 514/694-2244; Web: http://www.polarsat.com)

Stellar Introduces DS100 Satellite Modem

Stellar Satellite Communications announced the availability of its new DS100 satellite modem. The modem is a two-way satellite communicator targeted specifically at machine-to- machine applications in fields such as utility meter reading, transportation tracking and oil and gas field monitoring that send data communications over the Orbcomm satellite network. (Stellar, 21700 Atlantic Blvd., Dulles, VA 20166; 703/433-6550; http://www.stellar-sat.com)