People

EMS SATCOM Appoints Account Manager

EMS Satcom, a division of EMS Technologies Inc., appointed Tony Caruso as account manager of EMS Satcom’s Commercial and Corporate Aviation Sales division. Caruso will be responsible for all sales activities with EMS Satcom’s dealers and commercial and corporate aircraft operators located throughout Canada.

Caruso comes to EMS Satcom with more than 18 years of aviation-related sales and marketing experience and has worked for companies such as Perkinelmer, Avcorp, Allied Signal and Lucas Aerospace.

GILAT Names Chairman and CEO, Announces Board Changes

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. announced the nomination of Amiram Levinberg as the company’s chairman and CEO, in conjunction with York Capital Management gaining an interest in Gilat.

Shlomo Rodav resigned at Gilat’s chairman and CEO along with company board members Robert Bednarek, Pinchas Buchris, Gideon Chitayat, Abraham Neyman and Linda Harnevo. New members of Gilat’s board include: York Vice President Jeremy Blank, Aeronautics Defense Systems Chairman Udi Ganani, Orex Computed Radiography Ltd. General Manager Karen Sarid and Orckit Communications Ltd. President and Director Izhak Tamir.

IAI Appoints New Chairman

The board of directors of Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. (IAI), a developer of military and commercial aerospace technology, appointed Yair Shamir as the company’s new Chairman.

Shamir is a former Israel Air Force pilot and commander, and served as the head of the Electronics Department. He is currently chairman of Shamir Optical Industries and chairman and co-manager of the Catalyst Fund.

He has held a number of senior industry positions including Chairman of El-Al, CEO and director of VCON Communication, executive vice president of the Challenge Fund-Etgar L.P., CEO of Elite Foods and executive vice president and general manager of Scitex Corporation.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN Names Vice President, Payloads and Sensors

Northrop Grumman Corp. named David Ryan vice president of payloads and sensors for its space technology sector. He will be responsible for all of the space technology sector’s subcontracting activities and will lead strategy development and implementation for payloads and sensors.

Ryan rejoins Northrop Grumman from Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, where he was vice president and general manager.

Prior to joining Boeing in 1990, Ryan spent 13 years designing and operating satellite systems for the former TRW Space and Electronics Group in Redondo Beach, Calif., which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002.

ORBITAL SCIENCES Appoints Board Member

Orbital Sciences Corp. named Ronald Kadish, the former director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, to the company’s board of directors.

Kadish retired from the U.S. Air Force in September 2004, leading U.S. missile defense efforts for the final five years of his career.

Since retiring from the Air Force at the rank of Lieutenant General, Kadish has served as vice president and partner of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.

SEGOVIA Names Director for Netcentric Research

Segovia Inc., a provider of secure global voice, data and video broadband satellite services to U.S. military forces operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, named Steven Groves director for Netcentric Research.

Groves will lead the development of leading-edge technology and service initiatives in support of Segovia’s current and future U.S. Defense Department-related deployments.

Prior to joining Segovia, Groves served as an emerging and disruptive technology analyst with the Space and Missile Defense Battle Laboratory in Colorado Springs, Colo. He received the Commanders Award for Civilian Service by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command for exceptionally meritorious service in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

SPOT IMAGE Names New CEO

Spot Image announced that its board of directors named Herve Buchwalter as the company’s new chairman and CEO. He succeeds Jean-Marc Nasr, who left Spot Image to take a position with EADS.

Buchwalter most recently served as head of international business development in the Earth Observation, Navigation and Science Business Division of Astrium.

Services

DIRECTV Expands Into Filipino Market

DirecTV Inc. added ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.’s Filipino entertainment and services package to DirecTV’s lineup. DirecTV also acquired ABS-CBN’s current direct-to-home satellite service subscribers.

The deal between the two companies adds more than 80,000 ABS-CBN TFCdirect subscribers to DirecTV’s subscriber base. The TFCdirect package: The Filipino Channel (TFC), Cinema One, ABS-CBN News Channel, Pinoy Central TV and two audio channels, previously were available only through ABS-CBN.

The package now will be available exclusively on DirecTV. Existing subscribers to the package will be switched to the DirecTV international programming platform for free.

GLOBALSTAR Opens Satellite Gateway In Florida

Globalstar LLC, opened a gateway in Sebring, Fla., designed to enhance its coverage in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

The Sebring Gateway originally was expected to be operational Aug. 1 but construction was accelerated in order to ensure that Globalstar service and coverage would be available during hurricane season in the southeastern United States. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission granted Globalstar temporary authority to operate the gateway while the application for permanent operational authority remained under consideration.

INTELSAT Launches European DTH Platform

Intelsat and Globecast are expanding the reach of international broadcasters across Europe through the launch of a new Ku-band direct-to-home (DTH) television platform on the Intelsat 905 satellite, located at 335.5 degrees East. Globecast will provide uplink, multiplex and conditional access services from Europe. The new offering provides global programmers, particularly those from Asia and Africa, with the opportunity to reach a number of foreign nationals from those regions who are residing in Europe.

The platform initially will support 12 or more digital channels and will grow as the international television community develops. The platform will support free-to-air and subscription-based services.

SPACENET Extends Reach To Mexico

Spacenet Inc. announced that Globalsat, a Mexican satellite services provider, joined Spacenet’s global services alliance.

The agreement between Spacenet and Globalsat enables Spacenet to extend its global broadband service offering to Mexico, as well as allowing Globalsat to offer services worldwide through Spacenet.

The Spacenet alliance brings together satellite and terrestrial connectivity providers to offer their combined management and network integration services across the globe.

Contracts

ABB Wins Contract For NEC Toshiba Space Systems

ABB of Quebec City, Quebec, received a contract to supply the primary components for a Japanese satellite that will measure greenhouse gases in support of the Kyoto protocol.

Under the Cdn. $10 million ($8.3 million) contract from NEC-Toshiba Space Systems, ABB will supply the Michelson interferometer of the Fourier Transform Spectrometer for Japan’s Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. The instrument will collect data up to 30 times per day that will be used to chart and evaluate carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere.

NEC-Toshiba Space Systems is the primary equipment supplier for the spacecraft, which is being funded by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Institute for Environmental Studies and Japan’s Ministry of Environment.

The satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2008 by JAXA, which manages the space program for the Japanese government. The launch has not yet been assigned to a specific vehicle.

ASTRATA Closes Contract with North Securities of Denmark

Astrata Group Inc. signed an agreement with Denmark’s North Securities ApS to provide a GPS-based vehicle tracking system.

Under the $3 million contract, Astrata will provide hardware and software for the tracking system. North Securities provides asset management services in the Nordic and Baltic regions. Astrata also agreed to jointly develop new technology and systems targeting other industries such as mail delivery, property development, transport, electronic security, police and defense.

EADS ASTRIUM Wins Satellite Manufacturing Contract

SES Astra awarded the manufacturing contract for the Astra 1M television broadcasting satellite to EADS Astrium.

EADS Astrium will supply the payload and the platform, basing the satellite on the Eurostar E3000 platform. Astra 1M will carry 36 transponders for its first five years of operation, before dropping to 32 for the remaining 10 years of its planned lifetime.

Astra 1M will replace Astra 2C at the 19.2 degrees East orbital slot. Astra 2C is slated to be moved from its current position to 28.2 degrees East to serve the high-definition television market in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The move is scheduled to take place following the launches of Astra 1KR and Astra 1L, which are scheduled to launch in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The new fleet configuration also will provide an additional 18 transponders for the African market.

SES Astra has not selected a launch provider yet.

EUTELSAT Signs New Horizon Deal

Eutelsat signed a capacity agreement with telecom services provider Horizon Satellite Services (HSS), which plans to use the capacity to boost broadband connectivity in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

HSS acquired capacity on Eutelsat’s W6 satellite and will provide Internet backbone connectivity for Internet service providers in the Middle East and central Asia, including Afghanistan and Iraq. HSS has an ongoing relationship with Eutelsat and has been using Eutelsat’s W5 satellite since 2003 and last year contracted with Eutelsat for capacity on its Sesat 2 satellite.

GLOBECOMM Wins Contract From Afghanistan Ministry of Communications

Globecomm Systems Inc. will provide teleport services for Internet and Voice over Internet protocol traffic for the Afghanistan Ministry of Communications.

Under the one-year contract, Globecomm Network Services Corp. will provide the services via a teleport in Hong Kong.

HNS Partners With Covad

Hughes Network Systems LLC (HNS) selected Covad Communications Group Inc. as a primary DSL broadband supplier for HNS’ Direcway Unified Broadband service offering. Through this relationship, Hughes is able to offer mid-tier and large enterprise customers managed network service solutions, including both satellite broadband and DSL.

Under the terms of the agreement, Covad will wholesale its ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line) and SDSL (symmetrical digital subscriber line) services to HNS. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

JSC IP NET Taps HNS To Expand Satellite Service Businesses

Russian satellite services provider JSC IP Net acquired a Hughes Network Systems LLC (HNS) Direcway network operations center and DW7700 routers, enabling IP Net to deliver an expanded range of capabilities to Russia.

IP Net offers services and applications, including broadband Internet access, virtual private networks, voice-over-Internet protocol (IP), IP multicasting, streaming media, video and audio conferencing and Wi-Fi access. IP Net will use the HNS network operations center and routers to expand its performance options and open all markets, including enterprises, governments, small office/home office customers and individual consumers.

The installation of the network operations center was completed in June.

IRIDIUM To Provide Equipment For Automated Flight Following

Iridium Satellite LLC said the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service fitted 200 primarily contract aircraft with Iridium equipment. The aircraft are part of the interagency Automated Flight-Following (AFF) program and are mainly helicopters and light and transport fixed wing-airtankers used for wildland firefighting and other agency missions.

The AFF system automatically tracks and displays location and other associated information for aircraft on operational missions.

Under visual flight rules, aircraft on official missions are required to establish positive contact and report aircraft position at least once every 15 to 30 minutes, depending on individual agency requirements.

Iridium partners Blue Sky Network, Latitude Technologies, Sky Connect and Skytrac Systems provided the Iridium equipment and airtime. The aircraft crews use Iridium for flight- following as well as cockpit voice and data communications.

MAINSTREAM DATA Receives Movie Theater Distribution Contract

Mainstream Data signed an agreement with Thomson and its Technicolor Digital Cinema business to provide a high-speed digital satellite network that will distribute content to movie theaters across North America.

Mainstream Data will provide the satellite distribution services for Technicolor’s Skyarc system, which distributes pre-show programming for Screenvision, the largest cinema advertising company in the United States.

As part of the system roll out, Technicolor Digital Cinema will deploy Mainstream Data DVB+ satellite receivers and associated applications, as well as digital projectors in Screenvision partner theaters.

NETDISH Taps Encore Networks To Back Up VPNs Throughout Europe

Encore Networks, a developer of virtual private network (VPN) security solutions, said that Italian service provider Netdish deployed Encore’s VSR-30 broadband routers to provide satellite backup for terrestrial VPNs and private networks in remote locations throughout Europe.

According to Encore, if a terrestrial connection becomes unavailable, the network is automatically switched to a satellite link via the VSR-30 with no transmission delay.

PACE Wins Another U.S. Deal

U.K.-based set-top box manufacturer Pace Micro Technology signed a deal with DirecTV to supply next generation set-top boxes in 2006, strengthening Pace’s position in the U.S. set-top box market. DirecTV has more than 14 million subscribers.

Earlier this year, Pace signed a three-year deal worth up to $550 million to produce set-top boxes for cable operator Comcast.

SES ASTRA Concludes Polish Internet Deal

SES Astra reached an agreement with eTel Polska to provide Internet access services to small and medium enterprises, large corporations and public institutions throughout Poland. The service will be delivered via the Astra satellite system.

SES Astra will provide the downlink. The return path (uplink) will be handled by either a general packet radio service wireless network provided by mobile telephony operator Polkomtel or by a dial-up connection provided by eTel Polska.

SES AMERICAOM Tapped For North American Distribution

SES Americom announced it signed a deal to provide satellite distribution services to G4, a television channel dedicated to video games.

G4 programming will be delivered to cable head ends throughout the United States via Americom’s AMC-10 satellite, located at 135 degrees West. Eleven cable operators, including Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable and Charter, as well direct-to-home satellite service television service providers DirecTV and Echostar Communications Corp., carry G4.

SPACENET Inks Supplier Deal With Servicio Satelital

Spacenet Inc. signed a supplier agreement with Servicio Satelital S.A., a satellite service provider in Argentina, which enables Spacenet to extend its global broadband service offering to Argentina.

SPOT IMAGE Inks Channel Partnership Agreement

Spot Image and Imageone announced the signing of a commercial partnership agreement under which Imageone gains exclusive rights to distribute Formosat-2 data to the Japanese market. The agreement also grants three minutes per day priority reservation of the satellite’s imaging time over Japan.

Taiwan’s National Space Organization launched the Earth observation satellite in May 2004. The spacecraft provides black-and-white images at 2-meter resolution and color images at 8-meter resolution.

TWO WAY TV Lands Sky News Deal

Interactive TV solutions provider Two Way TV signed a two-year deal with Sky News, which will enable Sky News to boost its interactive capabilities in Australia and New Zealand.

Two Way TV will create an interactive service that will allow viewers to vote on issues via their mobile phone. Two Way TV will deploy a mobile technology called Simcast, which handles incoming mobile telephone messages and voting to the studio personnel and allow voting results and messages to be displayed in real time.

VIACOM Inks Long-Term Satellite TV Deal

Viacom Inc. and DirecTV Inc. announced a long-term agreement that secures the continued carriage of a variety of Viacom-owned channels on DirecTV’s direct-to-home satellite television service platform. The deal also provides DirecTV with the rights to provide CBS high-definition programming produced within local markets to customers in those markets.

Among the channels covered as part of the deal are CBS, UPN, BET and several MTV Networks channels.

Technology

DIGITALGLOBE Introduces Citysphere Product

Digitalglobe announced the availability of a product aimed at helping mappers, planners and geographic information systems specialists improve geospatial applications with current high-resolution satellite imagery data.

Digitalglobe Citysphere is an off-the-shelf collection of Quickbird satellite imagery covering 200 global urban centers. Offered as 60-centimeter (two-foot) resolution, color orthomosaics with 1:4,800 scale map accuracy, Citysphere products featuring these urban centers will be updated on an annual basis. Digitalglobe will release new cities monthly throughout the next year. (Digitalglobe, 1601 Dry Creek Drive, Suite 260, Longmont, CO 80503; Tel: 800/655-7929; Web: http://www.digitalglobe.com)

GARMIN Unveils Portable Navigator,Introduces IQue M3 And StreetPilot I-SERIES

Garmin International, a unit of Garmin Ltd., recently released details on the GPSMAP 376C, a portable GPS navigator designed for maritime use that displays graphical weather data directly on the unit’s display. Weather information is supplied by XM Satellite Radio’s XM WX Satellite Weather service.

The unit can overlay weather data, such as storm cells, wind speeds, surface temperatures and more than 12 other weather attributes, onto the maps that the unit displays. The unit also serves as a receiver for XM’s subscription satellite radio service.

The unit will be available through Garmin’s authorized dealer network.

Garmin also introduced the IQue M3, an automotive GPS navigator based on the Pocket PC design. The IQue M3 features large on-screen icons that allow consumers to select navigation applications using their index finger rather than a stylus.

The IQue M3 features Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 2003 Professional Edition software package, Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, which supports portrait and landscape orientation.

In separate news, Garmin introduced the StreetPilot I2 and I3, a new line of automotive GPS navigators. The I-series features a click-to-enter scroll wheel and a back button to allow for easy navigation of its menu-driven interface. It also offers voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions through a built-in speaker. (Garmin International Inc., 1200 East 151st Street, Olathe, KS 66062-3426; Tel: 913/397-8200; Fax: 913/397-8282; Web: http://www.garmin.com)

GLOWLINK Introduces The Model 3010 Uplink Power Control System

Glowlink announced the introduction of the model 3010 uplink power control (UPC) system. The Model 3010 is a new generation of digital signal processing (DSP)- based UPC systems with vastly improved speed and accuracy. The model 3010 will help combat signal degradation by providing automatic and safe power management to compensate for uplink rain and atmospheric attenuation. It is designed to work with both moderate and severe atmospherically induced degradation. (Glowlink Communications Technology Inc., 333 Distel Circle, Los Altos, CA 94022; Tel: 650/237-0226; Fax: 650/237-0225; Web: http://www.glowlink.com)

 

Sirius To Introduce New Ultra-Low Profile Antenna

Sirius Satellite Radio and Sirenza Microdevices announced they are introducing a small, ultra-low profile antenna for Sirius, which, according to the companies will be the "thinnest ever" antenna produced for satellite radio.

The disc-shaped antenna, designed by Sirenza, will receive signals from Sirius satellite as well as the satellite radio service provider’s network of terrestrial wireless repeaters. The antenna is magnetically mounted to the roof of vehicles and is designed to operate with a number of Sirius radio receivers. The dimensions of the new antenna were not disclosed.

The new antenna will be available with multiple Sirius radios and also will be sold separately. (Sirius Satellite Radio, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020; Tel: 212/584-5100; Web: http://www.sirius.com)