People

Astrotech Spacehab Subsidiary Announces Management Changes

Spacehab Inc. said that John Satrom, senior vice president and general manager of its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary, decided to leave the company to pursue other interests. Jim Royston will take on the role of deputy general manager and until a new general manager is selected, he will be responsible for all strategic and tactical operations for Astrotech Space Operations.

Spacehab also announced the hiring of Don White as vice president of Florida operations at Astrotech’s Titusville, Fla., facility. He will oversee spacecraft processing for civil, military and commercial customers.

Connexion Appoints Commercial Aviation Business VP

Lianne Stein has been named vice president, commercial aviation business, for Connexion by Boeing, the company announced. In this position, Stein will be responsible for Connexion’s commercial aviation business, which provides high-speed satellite Internet services to commercial airlines. Stein most recently was vice president of Washington operations for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Stein replaces Stan Deal, who joined Boeing Commercial Airplanes as vice president of sales and marketing operations.

New Skies Names New Board Of Directors Member

New Skies Satellites Holdings Ltd. introduced Scott Schneider as the eighth member of the company’s board of directors. He will serve as a member of the company’s audit committee.

Schneider most recently served as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer of Citizens Communications and currently is a board member of that company.

Services

Noorsat Starts Operations In The Middle East

Noorsat recently launched operations in the Middle East with a new platform, which will offer customers voice, video, data and Internet satellite communication solutions. Noorsat aims to put pressure on established satellite pay-TV operators such as Showtime and Orbit in the region.

Arab investors from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region created the platform, which can provide transponder capacity from five satellite locations including 26� East co-located with Arabsat, and 7� West co-located with Nilesat. Noorsat, based in the Kingdom of Bahrain, also plans an initial public offering within the next two years.

Spacenet Adds Backup Function To Connexstar

Spacenet Inc. recently introduced a satellite backup solution to its Connexstar On-Demand suite of services. As an extension to Spacenet’s Connexstar VSAT and DSL offering, Connexstar Backup provides a physically diverse backup network plan and allows for usage-based billing on a per-site basis. Connexstar Backup includes full Internet/intranet/e- mail access, supports a range of business applications and is available with Spacenet installation and support.

Contracts

Audible Partners With XM

Audible, a provider of digitally-delivered spoken audio, and XM Satellite Radio, announced the launch of the XM Audible Store featuring exclusive XM programming available for individual purchase or download subscription.

Using the XM Audible Store, consumers can download XM content to digital media players and mobile devices. XM programs, including "The Bob Edwards Show" and "Opie and Anthony," are among the 25,000 to 30,000 audiobooks, audio magazines, newspapers and radio programs available for download.

The e-commerce initiative is part of a strategic relationship XM and Audible announced earlier this year.

BSkyB Signs Mobile Content Deal

BSkyB, the U.K. satellite pay-TV operator, has continued its push to make its content available on different platforms. In its latest deal, BSkyB announced that Vodafone has teamed up with Sky Sports to show live coverage of the Gillette Soccer Saturday television program on Vodafone Live. 3G Vodafone customers will be able to access the show between 3:00 p.m. local time and 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

CACI Receives Contract to Support U.S. Army Trojan Satellite Communications

CACI International Inc. announced that it won a delivery order contract by the Intelligence and Information Directorate of the U.S. Army Communication- Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center to continue supporting the Army’s Trojan satellite communications systems. Trojan is a family of systems that enables the Army to manage and disseminate critical intelligence information.

The seven-month effort has a potential value of $31 million. With this award, made under the $500 million, multiple-award technical, engineering, fabrication and operations support contract vehicle that CACI announced in 2000, CACI will support the Army in its efforts to integrate, test and deploy Trojan systems worldwide. This is the fourth consecutive delivery order awarded to CACI in support of the Trojan.

Caprock Tapped For Disaster Recovery Communications System

Caprock Communications announced that BHP Billiton would use Caprock’s disaster recovery solution for its back-up communications system to ensure that constant communications are maintained during the hurricane season in the United States.

BHP will use the Caprock DR-250 communications package as a stand-by system at its shore bases for operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The DR-250 is a transportable, self- contained business communications kit that provides satellite-based telephone, fax and broadband Internet access. The system includes all the equipment necessary to set up a remote satellite communications connection.

Comtech Receives $30 Million in Movement Tracking System Orders

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced that its Maryland-based subsidiary, Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp., recently received orders totaling $30 million related to its Movement Tracking System contract with the U. S. Army Logistics Command. These orders encompass purchases of mobile satellite transceivers, ruggedized computers, spares, satellite capacity, as well as installation, training and engineering support. Total orders received to date against the $418.2 million contract increased to $189 million.

The orders include $18.5 million for purchases of Comtech’s next generation satellite transceiver, which features embedded RFID and secure GPS capabilities. The satellite capacity portion of the order includes bandwidth and network management services in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The remaining orders are for installation, training, and general support activities in Kuwait, Iraq and at selected U. S. Army bases in the United States.

EMS Receives NPOESS Contract

EMS Technologies Inc. received a contract to provide components for the U.S. government’s National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite Systems (NPOESS), EMS announced recently.

Under the $4 million contract, EMS Defense and Space Systems division will deliver different types of intermediate frequency modules, which are part of the satellite’s Advanced Technology Microwave sounder. The division will deliver five flight sets through 2007.

HCL Comnet Adopts Linkstar For Shared Hub Services In India

ViaSat is supplying a Linkstar broadband network-to-network service platform to HCL Comnet Ltd, a subsidiary of HCL Technologies, for shared hub network services in India. The services are targeted at banks, stock brokers and gaming applications that need fast access and low-rate transactional data, as well as enterprise customers looking for high- speed, secure client-server connections.

Ku-band transponders on the INSat 3C satellite will carry the network traffic. Data rates will begin at 256 kilobits per second inbound and 4.4 megabits per second from hub to remote site. The new network adds on to previous ViaSat installations of Skylinx and Starwire mesh networking systems, as well as a 9-meter ViaSat antenna at the hub.

Paradigm Announces Skynet 5 Tie-Up

Paradigm Services signed a deal with its Skynet 5 partner, Serco, for a new operations building on the Paradigm Services Hawthorn site in the United Kingdom.

The operations building is scheduled for completion in February. The new building at Paradigm’s Main Operations Centre will accommodate Paradigm Services and its subcontracted staff, together with Defense Communications and Services Agency staff managing the Skynet 5 contract. Paradigm won the GBP2.5 billion ($4.5 billion) contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defense in 2003 for the provision of military satellite services until 2018.

SES ASTRA Signs U.K. HD Deal With BSkyB

U.K. satellite pay-TV operator BSkyB signed a new transponder deal with SES Astra as it steps up its plans to introduce high-definition (HD) television service in the United Kingdom.

SES Astra will provide BSkyB with three additional transponders at 28.2� East on a long-term contract. BSkyB plans to launch HD services in the first half of 2006 and will be one of the first operators to launch a service of this kind in Europe.

The deal is a boost for SES Astra as this is another sign of the potential demand for capacity related to HD services.

Westar Inks Strategic Alliance Agreement

Westar Satellite Services and Helius Inc. signed a strategic alliance agreement under which the two companies will offer a service that allows for the delivery of high-quality video streams to locations around the world.

The companies said the new service would be targeted to companies looking for distance learning, digital signage, videoconferencing and equipment monitoring applications. The service will be available in the fourth quarter.

Xantic Signs Deal With NATO

Xantic received a contract from NATO to provide Inmarsat services for deployed forces.

Under the agreement with the NATO Consultation, Command & Control Agency, Xantic will provide Global Area Network and Regional Broadband Global Area Network services to the NATO headquarters in Sarajevo, the Kosovo Force in Kosovo, the International Stabilization and Assistance Force in Afghanistan and the NATO Training Mission in Iraq.

Technology

Harmonic Introduces HD Encoder

Harmonic Inc., a provider of broadcast-grade, real-time, advanced codec-enabled compression solutions, announced the introduction of its Divicom MV 3500 encoding platform. The MV 3500 brings the performance, video quality and proven interoperability – from the headend to the subscriber premises – needed to offer high-definition transmissions at low bit rates.

The MV 3500 supports constant bit-rate and variable bit-rate encoding and can deliver digital content in a variety of formats – including 1080i and 720p – and resolutions. The platform incorporates compression technology such as MotiotTrack that provides full-field motion estimation, multi-pass Lookahead analysis and advanced video filtering in order to yield high-definition video at low bit-rates. The MV 3500 also features advanced pre-processing functions such as motion compensated temporal filtering. (Harmonic Inc., 549 Baltic Way, Sunnyvale, CA 94089; Tel: 800/788-1330; Fax: 408/542-2511; Web: http://www.harmonicinc.com)

XM Satellite Radio Announces New Receivers

XM Satellite Radio unveiled two new receivers: the plug-and-play Audiovox Xpress Radio and the Delphi XM RoadyXT.

The Xpress receiver is described as "the smallest satellite radio receiver to offer a five-line display screen." It has a tuning knob that allows users to search all of XM’s channels with just one knob, as well as a remote control. The display has a customizable stock ticker, customizable sports ticker and features that alert subscribers when their favorite songs or artists are playing on an XM station. The Xpress will be available in October at retail outlets and carries a suggested retail price of $99.99. Additional accessories will be available as well, including vehicle kits, home stereo kits, a portable rechargeable battery and headphones kit. Prices for the accessories were not released.

The XM RoadyXT is described as the "smallest, thinnest" satellite radio currently available, measuring 3.7 inches wide, 2.2 inches high and .61 inches deep. The RoadyXT has a built-in FM transmitter, allowing a standard FM car receiver to pick up and broadcast XM programming, along with the stock and sports ticker and the song/artist alert features. It will be available in retail stores in September and also carries a $99.99 suggested retail price. It has available accessories similar to the Xpress. (XM Satellite Radio, 1500 Eckington Place, NE, Washington, DC 20002; Tel: 202/3800-4000; Fax: 202/380-4500; Web: http://www.xmradio.com)