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Worldwide Satellite Magazine Vol. 5 No. 2May 2007

The Enterprise Market

http://www.isce.com

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SATMAGAZINE.COMMay 2007

Vol. 5 No. 2, May 2007

TABLE OF CONTENTSClick on the title to go

directly to the story

COVER STORY

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REGULAR DEPARTMENTS

By Virgil Labrador By John X. Dwyer

25 / EuropeanDARS – Doesit Have aPrayer?

Business losses due tothe lack of backupsystems might be largerthan you think.

by Chris Forrester by Tim Farrar

FEATURE VIEWPOINT

36 / Competition in the Handheld MSS Market

22 / The BusinessCase for

lite Industry's Business'El Dorado'? Continuity

20 / The EnterpriseMarket: The Satel-

The enterprise market, whilea huge segment on its own,has not really worked outquite as well for the satelliteindustry.

Prospects for theEuropean satellite radiodevelopment might not bea bowl of cherries.

FEATURE

The prospect of Globalstarending its mobile satelliteservice in 2008 has thrownthe MSS industry in turmoil.

Bryan McGuirk , a seasonedveteran of the broadcast andsatellite industry spoke toSatMagazine on a variety of issuesduring the recent NAB in LasVegas.

35 / Interview with SES Americom’s President of Media and Enterprise Business, Bryan McGuirk

3 / Notes from the Editor

4 / Calendar of Events

5 / Featured Event: ISCE 2007

7 / Industry News

12 / Executive Moves

17 / New Products and Services

33 / Regional Update: The Brazilian E-Gov Project GESAC by Bernardo Schniederman

37 / Market Intelligence: Energy and Communications: Imperatives and Solutions— “Take 2” presented by the Global VSAT Forum

40 / Stock Quotes/ Advertisers’ Index

EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT

SATMAGAZINE.COM

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May 2007

Satnews Publishers is the leadingprovider of information on theworldwide satellite industry. Formore information, go towww.satnews.com

Cover Design by: Simon Payne

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Published monthly bySatnews Publishers800 Siesta Way,Sonoma, CA 95476 USAPhone (707) 939-9306Fax (707) 939-9235E-mail: [email protected]: www.satmagazine.com

David Hartshorn, Martin JarroldContributing Writers, EuropeBaden WoodfordContributing Writer, Africa

Jill DurfeeAdvertising [email protected]

Copyright © 2007Satnews PublishersAll rights reserved.

EDITORIALSilvano PaynePublisher

Virgil LabradorManaging Editorand Editor, North [email protected]

Chris ForresterEditor, Europe, Middle Eastand Africa

Bernardo SchneidermanEditor, Latin America

Peter GalaceEditor, Asia-Pacific

John Puetz, Bruce ElbertDan Freyer, Howard GreenfieldDan MackinsterContributing Writers,The Americas

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Interference from WiMax

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As with any technology that uses the radiofrequencyspectrum, satellites are not immune from interference fromother services using other frequencies, or in some casesthe same frequency . This year the International Telecom-munications Union (ITU), which regulates the use of the radiofrequency spectrum, will be holding its World Radio-communications Conference in October. One of the key issues on the agenda to be decided is whether they

will allow terrestrial mobile networks (such as WiMax) the use of the 3.4-4.2 GHz frequency range, previously reserved for satellites.This frequency range is called C-Band by satellite operators and is usedby the majority of transponders in the geostationary arc for broadcast,telecom and other applications. The implications of potentialinterference from WiMax and other terrestrial sources to C-Band satellitetransmissions are far-reaching and potentially catastrophic. That’s whyindustry organizations such as the Global VSAT Forum, the Cable andSatellite Broadcasting Association of Asia and even individual satellitecompanies up in arms on this issue.

Curiously, even the WiMax industry group, the WiMax Forum, admittedthat it would be difficult to implement the sharing of the C-Bandspectrum with satellite operators due to the prohibitive cost ofretrofitting thousands of C-Band satellite dishes now in operation.

This issue, seems like a no brainer, but there is no predicting howindividual governments and ITU representatives will vote on this impor-tant issue. So industry organizations and companies such as SES News Skies have launched a concerted letter-writing and lobbying campaign to ensure that the concerned people are well-informed on the issue and will not allow any sharing of the C-Band spectrum.

Article Contributions to SatMagazine

Satmagazine accepts article contributions from the industry. Weencourage contributions that deal with issues affecting the industry asopposed to company or product-specific articles. We are specificallyinterested in case studies, opinion (op-ed) pieces, features or marketstudies and trends. To submit proposals for possible articles , send aone-paragraph or less abstract of the proposed article or to obtain moreinformation on our editorial calendar, publishing guidelines and deadlines,please send an e-mail to [email protected]

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May 15-17, Asia Pacific Forum on Telecom Policy and Regulation/ Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Kulala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel:+662-573-0044 [email protected]://www.apt.int/meetings/2007/PRF/default.htm

May 15-16, IPTV World Forum Eastern EuropePrague, CZECHOSLOVAKIAIngrid AnusicTel: +44 1173 116 220 / Fax: +44 1173 116 221E-mail: [email protected]://www.iptv-easterneurope.com

May 17-18, Building the Broadband Economy:The Intelligent Community Forum’s annual conferencePolytechnic University, New York CityLouis Zacharilla, Co-Founder+1-646-291-6166 (x102) or +1-212-249-0624Fax: [email protected]://www.intelligentcommunity.org

May 21-23, 2007, IDGA’s Military Satellites 2007Arlington, [email protected]://www.idga.org/us/milsat

May 21-23, Mobile Satellite Users AssociationInternational Conference and Exhibition Baltimore,MD, USATara Blair / Betsy KulickTel: 1-757-747-2342E-mail: [email protected] / http://www.msua.org/msua4

May 25-28, International Space DevelopmentConference 2007 Dallas, TexasBrett SilcoxTel: (202) 429-1600E-mail: [email protected]://www.isdc2007.org

May 29-31, 2nd Annual Conference: Oil and GasCommunications: North Africa and theMiddle East Cairo, EgyptEmail: [email protected]

Jun. 5-7 ISCe 2007: Satellite and Hybrid NetworkSolutions for the Entertainment and Military/Government MarketsSan Diego Hilton Resort atMission Bay, San Diego, CaliforniaDavid BrossTel: +1.301.916.2236E-mail: [email protected]

Jun. 11-12, Mobile TV World Forum, Prague,CZECHOSLOVAKIAIngrid AnusicTel: +44 1173 116 220Fax: +44 1173 116 221E-mail: [email protected]://www.mobiletv-forum.com

Jun. 14-16, 3rd International Conference on recentAdvances in Space TechnologiesIstanbul, TURKEYTel: +90-212-6632490, Ext. 4365Fax: +90-212-6628551E- mail: [email protected]://www.rast.org.tr/

http://www.milsatmagazine.com

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May 2007

FEATURED EVENT

The sixth annual ISCe 2007 Conference and Expo to be held from June 5-7 in San Diego, California is a must-attend event

for the satellite industry. “This year ISCe’s ̀ gone vertical.’ said ISCe Chairman David Bross. “ We have streamlined the program into three full days (rather than 3-1/2 days) and focused each day on a particular vertical market. We also have trimmed the exhibitionto two days and focused much more time in the program on exhibit-only opportunities,” he added.

One new feature of the program is a "Navy Satcom Users Workshop" to be hosted by the U.S. Navy PEO C4I and the Satellite IndustryAssociation (SIA). The Workshop to be held on the second day,will feature discussion on use of satellite technology over the oceans.

On Day One (June 5) the World Teleport Association (WTA) andGlobal VSAT Forum (GVF) are coming together to produce, aday-long track of sessions titled: ̀ Profiting from HybridSolutions: How SatelliteUsers and Service ProvidersIntegrate Satellite Into Fixed,Mobile and WirelessCommunications.’ Thesesessions will provide theattendee with a high-levelexploration of opportunities,discuss technical challengesand how they are overcomeand offer case studies offield-proven applications inSatcoms.

On Day Two (June 6) ISCe is, again, presenting—in conjunctionwith The Carmel Group—the 12th Annual Five BurningQuestions Seminar along with the Cable, Satellite & TelcoEntertainment Forum. This day is designed specifically for thosecompanies that do business in the profitable worlds of consumerservices, SME and SoHo markets and in broadbandcommunications of all types. “All of the content on this day willbe exclusive to this marketplace segment, hence the verticalnature of the program, and will feature many more generalsessions, said Bross.

Finally, on Day Three (June 7) ISCe will present its annualMilitary & Government Requirements Forum. This is the largestone-day forum on the West Coast dedicated solely to the

interplay between the commercialcommunications satellite industry and themilitary. As with the program on Day Two, thisis day is organized for those companies that dobusiness with the Defense Department, U.S.and foreign governments and the FirstResponder Community. “The day will featurekeynotes with from top military leaders,exclusive general sessions and a streamlinedprogram which promises direct access to themovers and shakers in this field. This is anISCe signature program,” said Bross.

“Whether you are an executive from thesatellite industry, cable TV business, a contentprovider, equipment manufacturer, end user ofservices or a competitor (cable TV or telco

executive),ISCe 2007 isthe meetingplace togain thecompetitiveintelligenceon where the converged,hybrid telecoms marketplaceis headed in a relaxedatmosphere filled with

networking opportunities, a world-class exhibition and a must-attend program. There is no other event like this in the UnitedStates,” added Art Paredes, Chairman of ISCe organizer,Hannover Fairs, USA.

“ISCe is an intimate, vertically-integrated show that providessenior executives access to the highest-level executives in themarketplace along with unequaled social and networkingopportunities via the conference program, bustling exhibition,SSPI Beach Blast (now in its second year) and the signature ISCeAwards Dinner Program and International Reception,” concludedBross.

For more information on ISCe 2007 Conference and Expo contactthe Conference Chairman, David Bross at +1-301-916-2236 ore-mail at: [email protected] or go to www.isce.com

ISCe 2007: A Must Attend Event in the West Coast

ISCe Conference and Expo 2007

June 5-7, 2007, San Diego Hilton Resort at Misson Bay, California

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ISCE 2007 CONFERENCESchedule at a Glance

Tuesday, June 5

WTA/GVF Workshop: Profiting from HybridSolutions: How Satellite Users and Service ProvidersIntegrate Satellite into Fixed, Mobile and WirelessCommunications Forum Day 1

10:30–10:40 am Welcome Remarks

10:40 am–12:00 pm IP and the Hybrid SolutionsOpportunity

12:00–1:30 pm Luncheon Program

1:40–3:00 pm Hybrid Solutions for Mobility

3:00–4:15 pm Hybrid Solutions for Off-NetLocations

4:15–4:30 pm Refreshment Break

4:30–5:30 pm Hybrid Solutions for Multicasting

5:30 pm Closing Remarks

6:00–7:30 pm SSPI Beach Blast and ISCe 2007Welcome Reception

Wednesday, June 6

Cable, Satellite & Telco Entertainment Forum

7:15–8:15 am VIP and Speaker Breakfast

8:30–10:00 am SIA “State of the Industry”Report Welcome and Keynote Address: TBA

10:00–11:30 am Telecom Leaders Speak: Bringingthe Internet, Telcos, Cable and Satellite Together

11:30 am–12:30 pm Coffee Break in Exhibit Hall

12:30–2:00 pm International Welcome LuncheonSpeaker: the Hon. Susan Schwab, U.S. Trade Representative

2:00–3:15 pm Upstart Techies, Cable, Satelliteand The Telcos: Where Are Cisco, Google, Yahoo and Ebay?IPTV: The Entertainment and Commercial Focus

3:15–4:30 pmRefreshment Break in Exhibit Hall

4:30–6:00 pmHollywood, Satellite, Cable and The Telcos: Linking Disney,Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount, Fox and UniversalMobile Content: Entertainment and Commercial

6:30–7:30 pm ISCe Awards Reception

7:30–10:00 pm ISCe 2007 Awards Dinner

10:00 am–5:00 pm Exhibit Hall Open

Thursday, June 7

Military & Government Requirements Forum

7:45–8:45 am VIP and Speaker Breakfast

9:00–10:00 am Futron Corp. ISCe 2007 SurveyResults Welcome and Military Keynote Address Speaker: RearAdm. Michael C. Bachmann, SPAWAR Commander

10:00–11:30 am Transitional CommunicationsArchitecture – Anywhere and Any Time – Maybe!

11:30 am–12:30 pm Coffee Break in Exhibit Hall

12:30–2:00 pm Leadership Luncheon KeynoteSpeaker: Robert Joseph, Under Secretary for Arms Control andInternational Security

2:00–3:15 pm Homeland Security/FirstResponders Technology Update: Helping Those Who HelpIntelligence and Communications – You Can’t Have OneWithout The Other!

3:15–4:30 pmRefreshment Break in Exhibit Hall

4:30–5:30 pmTechnology and the Long War Against Terrorism – Looking forAnswersTransformational Satellite Communications Mission OperationsSystem

10:00 am–5:00 pm Exhibit Hall Open

FEATURED EVENTFor the fullconference programgo towww.isce.com/conference_program

http://www.isce.com/conference_program

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Private Equity Firm BlackstoneSets Sights on Intelsat

NEW YORK - New York-based privateequity firm The Blackstone Group LP,which bought satellite operator New SkiesSatellites N.V. in 2004 for $956 million incash, is reported to have triggered whatcould become a bidding war for Intelsat,Ltd, offering $6 billion to buy the world’slargest commercial satellite operator.

Reports are rife in world financial circlesand media that the four private equity firms

that took control of Intelsat in 2004 for $3.1 billion are deter-mined to part with their prized investment for a hefty profit. ABloomberg report cites two unnamed sources close to the dealas the source of the Blackstone bid. Should they acceptBlackstone’s offer, Madison Dearborn Partners Llc, ApaxPartners Worldwide LLP, Permira Advisers LLP and ApolloManagement LP, stand to make over 10 times the $515 million incash they paid for Intelsat in 2004.

Each also bought a 25 percent stake in Intelsat, valuing theequity at some $3.1 billion. They also agreed to refinanceIntelsat’s $2 billion debt. Currently, Intelsat has a long-term debtload of $11 billion, which the new owner will absorb. Intelsathas reportedly hired Credit Suisse to seek other potentialbuyers,according to various media reports..

A few months after the change in ownership, Intelsat boughtrival PanAmSat Holding Corporation for $3.2 billion, creatingthe world’s largest commercial satellite operator with 51 satel-lites. Luxembourg-based SES Global SA, the second largestsatellite operator, has 43 satellites.

Commercial satellite operators are favorite targets for privateequity firms since they generate long-term cash flows frombroadcasters and governments.

Intelsat issued a statement at the NAB show in LasVegas saying that “our company policy is not to comment onmarket rumors and on potential strategic or capital marketactivities.” Blackstone and the four equity partners haverefused to confirm or deny the planned sale.

Reporting on the company’s operating results for 2006, CEODavid McGlade reported Intelsat revenues of $1.7 billion, a rise$491.2 million, or 42 percent year-on-year. Intelsat’s PanAmSat

business, acquired in July 2006, contributed some $456.7 to therevenue increase, including $37.0 million for the operations ofthe government business of G2 Satellite Solutions Corporation.

Intelsat, however, took a net loss of $368.7 million in 2006. Thenet loss reflected the impact of an asset impairment charge of$49.0 million to write down the net book value of one of thecompany’s satellites that experienced an anomaly in September2006. It also reflected the impact of restructuring costs of $26.5million related to the PanAmSat acquisition.

Anik F3 Launch Successful

BAIKONUR COSMODROME -Telesat Canada’s Anik F3 satellitewas successfully placed into orbitby an International LaunchServices (ILS) Proton Breeze Mlauncher, the 40th successfulmission for ILS. Including Anik F3,Proton has carried out 325 missionsfor the Russian government andcommercial customers in over 40years.

The three-stage Proton launcherclimbed through the atmosphere

for nearly 10 minutes before sending the Breeze M upper stageand its satellite payload on to continue the nine hour mission.This was the fourth ILS Proton launch for Telesat. ILS alsolaunched Telesat’s Anik F1R in 2005, Nimiq 1 in 1999 and Nimiq2 in 2002.

Anik F3, built by EADS Astrium, is to add to telecommunica-tions service in North America and to supplement Anik F2services. It is expected to provide service for direct-to-hometelevision (DTH) in the United States , broadband Internetservices and telecommunications for Bell Canada and otherBCE, Inc. companies. Anik F3, a 4,634-kilogram broadcastingand telecommunications satellite, will also broadcast TV signalsto northern Canada and remote areas of Canada .

“We are grateful to both ILS and Astrium for their flawlessexecution of this important mission for Telesat,” said DanGoldberg, Telesat’s president and CEO. “We deeply value ourassociation with these two premier organizations and lookforward to joining with them in Baikonur next year for thelaunch of our Nimiq 4 satellite.”

Intelsat CEODavid McGlade.

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Anik F3 uses an Astrium Eurostar 3000 bus, and is the sixth ofthis model to be launched by Proton. The Nimiq 4 spacecraftalso is a Eurostar 3000. ILS has also launched two Eurostar 2000models.

Google Takes Aim at TV Advertising

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - Searchengine giant Google, Inc. sees TV asbecoming more like the Internet andhas taken a huge first step in itsattempt to take the lead in offlineadvertising.

In partnership with satellite TV firmEchoStar Communications Corpora-tion, Google will sell commercials for

the TV network based on a system similar to its hugely popularAdWords and AdSense programs that allows businesses toadvertise on web pages on a pay-per-click basis. Google andEchoStar said they were introducing the first automated systemfor buying, selling, delivering and measuring TV ads onEchoStar Dish Network’s 125 national satellite programmingnetworks. The agreement is the first of its kind for a nationalpay-TV provider and Google.

Google will deliver advertising to 13 million DishTV subscribersthrough a new TV advertising system that works along thesame lines as AdWords. Analysts said Google’s foray into thetough world of TV advertising underlines its ambition tobecome a leader in providing advertising for the Internet, TV,radio, print publications and other media.

With Google’s automated online system, marketers can uploadtheir ads and target an audience by choosing shows that match

INDUSTRY NEWS

Dr. Eric Schmidt,Google CEO.(Google photo)

http://www.comtechefdata.com

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INDUSTRY NEWS

the demographic group they want to reach. They can also selectthe time of day or region in which the ads run. Google is bettingits advertising innovations will enable it to become a force tocontend with in offline advertising.

Google has made deals in recent months with radio broadcast-ers and major newspaper publishers in a bid to widen its reachin the offline world outside the Internet. The pickings are richerin TV advertising than they are on the Internet: the former is a$70 billion a year market as against the $17 billion Internetadvertising market. Google earns some $5 billion yearly fromAdWords and AdSense.

“Dish Network is focused on improving all aspects of ourbusiness, and advertising is no exception,” said Charlie Ergen,EchoStar chief executive officer. “Through this groundbreakingpartnership with Google, we are confident we will be able tobring increased efficiencies to Dish Network’s advertising salesand more accurate, up-to-date viewer measurement with easilyaccessible online reporting to advertisers.”

BT Continues Americas Expansion

LONDON - The acquisition by BT Group plc ofComsat International, Inc. and its established network in SouthAmerica expands the group’s ever widening presence in theAmericas. It follows by a scant two months BT’s acquisition ofInternational Network Services, Inc. (INS), a provider of ITconsulting and software solutions in the USA.

The INS acquisition increases BT’s presence in NorthAmerica—a long sought BT objective—and is also expected tosignificantly enhance BT’s consulting capabilities. Analystssaid acquiring Comsat complements INS while strengtheningBT’s regional presence and global reach.

Comsat International has a track record in the delivery ofcomplex projects and the management of network solutions forenterprise, public sector and carrier customers. It has anextensive regional network and also provides customers withdata center, hosting and security services.

Comsat International provides local, national and pan-regionalnetwork services and solutions for some 2,000 enterprise,government and service-provider customers over integratedterrestrial and satellite network facilities throughout LatinAmerica. It employs over 700 professionals with deep knowl-edge of Latin American markets and provides services directlyin 15 countries.

BT International president François Barrault said the acquisitionwill be an exciting milestone in the execution of the group’sstrategy of well-targeted acquisitions around the world, and willstrengthen BT’s position as one of the global leaders in thedigital networked economy.

Europe Developing SpaceMissions for 2015-2025

PARIS, France - The European Space Agency said it hadreceived a large number of enthusiastic responses from theEuropean scientific community in answer to its call for propos-als to help define ESA’s scientific programs for the period 2015-2025.

ESA said it had accepted more than 60 Letters of Intent from theEuropean scientific community. Through these, Europeanspace-science research teams expressed their intention tosubmit proposals for new scientific missions and provided theirpreliminary concepts. The amount of responses is 50 percentmore than at the previous call in October 1999.

The mission concepts range from the exploration of Jupiter andits satellite Europa, to satellites studying radiation from the BigBang and testing theories concerning the inflation of theUniverse. The concepts also include missions studying near-Earth asteroids, satellites looking for liquid water on Saturn’smoon Enceladus and spacecraft to verify the truth about gravityas one of the fundamental forces of Nature.

“These concepts will now have to be consolidated into detailedproposals and submitted to ESA by 29 June 2007,” said SergioVolonte, head of ESA’s Science Planning and CommunityCoordination Office.

On June 29, ESA will receive detailed missions proposals. Andfrom October 2007 until mid-2009, ESA’s Space Science Advi-sory committee and scientific working groups will assess theproposals and pre-select three ‘class-M’ missions and three‘class-L’ missions.

Class-M missions are medium-size projects, where the costs toESA do not exceed 300 million euros. Class-L missions are largerprojects, with cost envelopes not exceeding 650 million euros.

GE Takes Control of SIH

PARIS, France - The General Electric Company has completedits split with satellite operator SES and now fully controls SES

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INDUSTRY NEWS

International HoldingsInc. (SIH) and assetsthat include a telecom-munications satellite.GE also took its 34.1percent share inregional satelliteoperator Asia SatelliteTelecommunicationsHoldings, Ltd (AsiaSat),which is being priva-tized.

In February, SES re-acquired the 19.5percent stake held byGE for $1.63 billion inassets and cash in arestructuring bid toboost earnings pershare and optimizeassets. Under theagreement, SEScontributed certainassets and cash to SIHand exchanged sharesof this company forGE’s entire holding of103,149,900 shares inSES. GE exchanged itsshareholding in SES forshares in SIH, compris-ing assets and $722million in cash. Theassets of SIH includethe AMC-23 satelliteand its related busi-ness; 100% of Satlynx;49.5% of Bowenvale(representing a 34.1%interest in AsiaSat);19.99% of Star One and5.5% of Orbcomm.

GE now holds bothcash and SES’ 34.1%economic interest inHong Kong-basedAsiaSat. CITIC Group,AsiaSat’s founding

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INDUSTRY NEWS

shareholder, continues to hold 34.8% in AsiaSat. GE and CITIChave equal voting rights in AsiaSat and through Bowenvale Ltdcontrol 68.9% of the share capital. A number of new appoint-ments have been made at AsiaSat following the resignation ofthe SES board members. The new team at AsiaSat includesRonald Herman as deputy chairman, John Connelly, Mark Chenand Nancy Wu as non-executive directors.

Satellite Conference at the NAB 2007Highlight Opportunities in IPTV,HDTV and Enterprise Markets

Las Vegas, NV -The SatelliteBusiness Tech-nology Theaterheld at the CentralHall of the annualNational Associa-tion of Broadcast-ers (NAB) Expo inLas Vegas,Nevada from April16-19 highlightedthe many oppor-tunities for thesatellite industryin the growingHDTV, IPTV andenterprisemarkets.

The broadcasting market, which has traditionally been one ofthe mainstays of the satellite services market, is undergoingrevolutionary changes with the demand for high bandwidthservices such as IPTV, Mobile TV and HDTV. The was theoverarching theme of the NAB show this year and the SatelliteBusiness Theater conference held in the trade show floorexplored various ways in which the satellite industry cancapitalize on the many opportunities in the new media environ-ment. As one speaker put it “people want their video, anywhere,anytime and to any device.”

“Bandwidth begets bandwidth,” said David Myers, Senior Vice-President of Spacenet, emphasizing that new mobile and IPapplications would only drive more demand for satelliteservices. Speakers at various sessions addressed many differ-ent themes including “Capturing IPTV Opportunities in Satel-

lite,” “Terrestrial Wireless Carriers Want Your Satellite Band-width,” “ How Satellite Service Providers Can Win the Value-Added Game,” and many others.

In the session on “Business Fundamentals for Reaching NicheTV Audiences via Satellite” chaired by ATCi President GaryHatch, he said a new paradigm has evolved for deliveringcontent to various devices. Satellites can play a vital role indelivering this content to the consumer according to thevarious speakers which included Andrew Dale of the Any DaleCo.’ Emrah Ozcan , CEO of Home2US Communications andJonathan Feldman, SVP of GlobeCast Americas. “Niches areriches,” said Andy Dale, emphasizing the need for reaching theright niche audience for a satellite delivered channel to besuccessful.

Satellite Market Set to Soar, PredictsTeal Group

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -Two mutually reinforcing growthcycles—one in the commercialspace, the other in the military—are fortuitously coming togetherto create what could be the startof a robust up cycle in thecommercial satellite industry.

In its new report, “Prospects forGrowth in the Satellite Market,”the Teal Group said indicatorsseem to point to the commercialsatellite industry finally exitingfrom the doldrums inflicted byevents over a decade ago.

Teal senior space analyst MarcoCaceres noted that the emerging cycle within the commercialsatellite market is coinciding with an up cycle in the militarysatellite market, which has over 200 new-generation US militarysatellites valued at about $120 billion. “Many of these militarysatellites have been delayed and are severely over budget, butthey will be built and launched because the requirements forthem exist regardless,” said Caceres.

Launches are on the rise as it investor interest in the industry.Caceres said 2006 was a year of positive change, with 107satellites launched.

From left: David Myers, Senior Vice-President, Spacenet; Joe Amor,General Manager, MicrospaceCommunications; Mahesh Bhave,President, AAE Systems and LarryTaylor, ViaSat, speaking at the “HowBusiness and Government GetPayback from MultimediaApplications” session at the Satelliteand Business Theater conference atNAB.

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Atlas V heavy liftlauncher. (Satnewsarchives)

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EXECUTIVE MOVES

MSV Appoints Larry Haughey,Group Vice President,Government Sector

RESTON, VA - Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) has appointedLarry Haughey to Group Vice President, Government Sector. Inthis newly created role at MSV, Haughey will lead thecompany’s U.S. federal government sales and marketinginitiatives, and the important transition from its existing govern-ment sales to its next generation platform.

Haughey, a 20-year veteran of telecommunications programswith the federal and military sectors, has been integral to anarray of significant telecommunications sales initiatives to theDepartment of Defense (DoD), Department of State, Departmentof Homeland Security, Defense Information Systems Agency,GSA and other infrastructure, IT telecommunications andaerospace agencies both domestically and abroad.

“Larry brings to MSV a deep understanding of federal procure-ment developed over 23 years of driving successful telecommu-nications sales organizations across the breadth of the federalarena,” said Alexander Good, vice chairman, president and CEOof MSV. “I am thrilled that Larry has joined us and will lead ourexisting team effort in continuing to grow and transition ourexisting business to meet the critical government public safetyand emergency needs with our next generation satellite sys-tem.”

“MSV’s next generation, transparent terrestrial-satellite systemwill be ready for any telecommunications need of the federalgovernment, and with Larry’s arrival MSV is better prepared tomeet those needs,” Good said.

Travis Slocumb is Raytheon SASVice President for Strategy andBusiness Development

EL SEGUNDO, CA - Travis Slocumb III has been appointed vicepresident for Strategy and Business Development of RaytheonCompany’s (NYSE: RTN) Space and Airborne Systems (SAS)business. Slocumb reports to Jon Jones, Raytheon Companyvice president and president of SAS.

Prior to joining Raytheon, Slocumb held executive positions atScience Applications International Corporation (SAIC) since1993. Recent positions with SAIC include senior vice president,

director of Business Development, RDT&E Group vice presi-dent, and Chief Technology Officer for the same group.

Slocumb brings knowledge of key strategic areas such asinnovation and technology, business development and capture,and mergers and acquisitions. He has experience workingclosely with DARPA, the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force,NASA and the Department of Homeland Security.

He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in mathematics from theCollege of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Raytheon SAS is a provider of sensor systems for militaryforces. It posted 2006 revenues of $4.3 billion and has 12,000employees.

Vislink Appoints Michael Payne toGroup Chief Technology Officer

LAS VEGAS - Microwave Radio Communications (MRC) andparent company, UK based Vislink PLC, has appointed MichaelPayne to the position of Group chief technology officer (CTO)reporting to the CEO.

With over 20 years of experience in the microwave communica-tions industry, Payne formerly held the position of VP, market-ing and business development for Microwave Radio Communi-cations (MRC), a Vislink company. He spent the majority of hiscareer at MRC located in Billerica, Massachusetts where prior tohis last role, he held various positions including director of R/Dand VP of Operations.

“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mike to GroupCTO,” said Ian Scott-Gall, Vislink CEO. “Vislink’s strategy is fororganic growth by capitalizing on new product and technologydevelopments and initiatives from our three industry leadingcompanies, Link, MRC and Advent. Mike will lead theseinitiatives from a group perspective as well as play a key role inthe group’s strategic planning, utilizing his many years ofexperience in R/D and his cumulative industry and marketknowledge.”

Mike has been with MRC since 1987 when he joined as anElectrical Engineer becoming in turn R&D Director. After his 13-year career in R&D he then moved into operations as Director/VP until his most recent assignment as VP of Marketing andBusiness Development at MRC. Mike received his BSEE fromWentworth Institute of Technology and an MBA from SuffolkUniversity, both located in Boston.

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EXECUTIVE MOVES

Boeing Names Denson-Low InternalGovernance Leader; Soodik to Retire

CHICAGO - Boeing Chairman, President and CEO JimMcNerney named Wanda Denson-Low to replace BonnieSoodik as head of the company’s Office of Internal Governance,effective May 4. Soodik will retire June 30 after a 30-year Boeingcareer.

Denson-Low, who leads the legal staff supporting BoeingIntegrated Defense Systems (IDS), will hold the title of seniorvice president, reporting to McNerney. She also will replaceSoodik as a member of the company’s Executive Council.

“Bonnie set Boeing on a path building an ethics and complianceprogram that is among industry’s best,” McNerney said. “Shehas exemplified the best in leadership as she established a neworganization and set high expectations for her team and ourentire company along the way.

“As we continue our journey, I am looking to Wanda to keepdriving our commitment to making ethics and compliance acompetitive advantage for Boeing. She is a strong, talentedleader with the right background and experience to furtheradvance our internal governance programs,” he added.

As leader of the Office of Internal Governance (OIG), Denson-Low, 50, will be responsible for internal audit, ethics andbusiness conduct, import- and export-related activities, as wellas overall compliance requirements. She brings 25 years ofbroad functional experience in corporate law and humanresources management, serving as vice president and assistantgeneral counsel for IDS since 2003 and previously as IDS vicepresident of Human Resources.

Boisvert, Former Telesat CEO,Appointed President of CanadianSpace Agency

OTTAWA, Canada - The Canadian federal government hasappointed former Telesat Canada CEO Laurier “Larry” Boisvertthe new president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

He replaces former astronaut Marc Garneau, Canada’s first manin space, who ran for election in the last federal election butlost.

Boisvert joined Telesat in 1972. He was appointed vice-presi-

dent of Network Services in 1998 and became president andCEO of Telesat Mobile, Inc.in 1997 while continuing hisresponsibilities with Telesat Canada. Boisvert was TelesatCanada CEO from 1993 to 2006, when he retired.

Boisvert is a graduate from the Carleton Honours CommerceProgram and also holds a Radar Technician CertificationDiploma from the Royal Canadian Air Force.

CSA was established in 1989 by the Canadian Space AgencyAct. The agency operates like a government department. Thepresident is the equivalent of a deputy minister and reports tothe Minister of Industry.

As CSA president, Boisvert oversees five core functions: SpacePrograms, Space Technologies, Space Science, CanadianAstronaut Office, Space Operations. He also looks after sixexecutive functions (Audit, Evaluation and Review; CorporateManagement; Communications; Strategic Development;External Relations; Government Liaison) and three Corporatefunctions (Legal Services, Administration, and Human Re-sources). He is supported by the senior vice-president and thevice-president, Science, Technology and Programs.

Wegener Appoints LeffingwellSales Director

DULUTH, GA - Wegener Corporation, a leading provider ofequipment for television, audio and data distribution networksworldwide, announces the promotion of Ken Leffingwell todirector of sales. Ken has been in a management role inWegener’s sales department for the last two years and will nowfill the vacant position of leading the sales team.

Leffingwell has been with Wegener for the past two years, 15years in total. Prior to his recent return to Wegener, he was DTVtechnologist with the Broadcast Solutions Group at TechnicalInnovation, where he assisted broadcasters and cable televisionoperators in their transition to digital technologies. Earlier Kenworked for BarcoNet, Wegener Communications and Scientific-Atlanta. During this 25 year combined tenure he held positionsof applications engineer, quality engineer, systems engineer,program manager, and customer services manager.

“Ken has been a steady force in the sales department,” statedRobert Placek, chairman and CEO of Wegener. “He will providestrong leadership for the sales team. His nearly 30 years ofexperience in the broadcast and cable industry provides us with an excellent vision of our customers’ needs for the future."

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Mike Bristol is Senior Vice President,TCS GovernmentBusiness Group

ANNAPOLIS, MD -TeleCommunication Systems,Inc. has appointed MichaelBristol, Sr. to senior vicepresident of its NetworkSolutions Group. Bristol isresponsible for overseeing thegroup’s overall businessoperations, sales and marketing,and research and developmentefforts.

The majority of the group’scurrent customers consist offederal, state and local govern-ment agencies. Prior to thispromotion, Bristol served asvice president of the NetworkSolutions Group, a position heheld since March 2004.

Bristol has played a significantrole in building the NetworkSolutions Group into a leader insecure satellite-based communi-cations and outsourcedinformation technologyservices. Under his leadership,TCS was selected as one of sixvendors by the U.S. Army’sWorld-Wide Satellite Systems(WWSS) Program ManagementOffice to participate in a five-year, $5 billion World-WideSatellite Systems (WWSS)Indefinite Delivery IndefiniteQuantity (IDIQ) contract — thelargest TCS contract ever. Todate, should all option years beexercised, the total WWSScontract awards to TCS areworth more than $33 million,with more task orders under way.

Prior to joining TCS, Bristol worked six years at Oracle Corpora-tion, the world’s largest provider of database products and

http://www.advantechamt.com

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business applications, where he was senior director responsiblefor all business development activities of Oracle’s Navy/MarineCorps Consulting Business. He also served nine years as vicepresident and COO of Infocus Communications, a privately heldmultimedia technology company, where he was responsible forall operating divisions. Bristol served on the Infocus Board ofDirectors and participated in its pre-Initial Public Offeringpositioning.

Bristol is an alumnus of the U.S. Military Academy at WestPoint, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Heserved as a Captain, U.S. Army Military Intelligence, managingan Information Technology support center that providedcustom software development, systems integration services,documentation and maintenance.

Stratos President Named Chairmanof Mobile Satellite Users Association

WASHINGTON DC - Stratos Government Services, Inc. (SGSI)president Bob Roe has been named chairman of the MobileSatellite Users Association (MSUA), a non-profit organizationthat promotes the interests of Mobile Satellite Services (MSS)users worldwide.

Roe is a leading expert on government applications with 30years of experience in the commercial and government satellitesectors, including 22 years in the U.S. Navy where he worked inthe communications fields for maritime, land mobile, aviationand intelligence commands.

“The steady growth of the MSS industry has been led byimpressive new technologies, as well as new applications in themilitary and government segments,” said MSUA president TimFarrar. “Bob Roe’s deep understanding of these importantmarkets will help us fulfill our mission to promote dialog withend users and provide them with insight into key MSS develop-ments.”

Dr. Peter Scovell is new CoB forInternational Datacasting

OTTAWA, Canada - International Datacasting Corporation haselected director Dr. Peter Scovell chairman of the board ofdirectors, effective immediately. Longtime chairman DenzilDoyle resigned the post and will continue as an active director.

The announcement came after IDC’s fiscal year-end board

meeting and coincides with the release of financial results forthe year which highlight a third consecutive year of profitabilityand revenues up more than 30% over the previous year.

Doyle said IDC is a great company and found it a pleasure toserve as its chairman for the last 12 years. “The company hasjust finished a good year and is poised for great things. This isa good time for new leadership to help take us to the next step.I’m pleased that Peter Scovell has accepted the role of chairman.He’s been an important contributor to the Board over the lastfew years and has the corporate experience and technologyexpertise we need in a chairman. For my part, I look forward tocontinuing to participate actively in the board as a director.”

Dr. Scovell, who holds a PhD in theoretical physics, said he waspleased to accept the position of chairman of the board, andwas enthusiastic about the company’s accomplishments andfuture prospects.

“These are exciting times for technology-driven companies inthe broadband wireless space and IDC is ideally positioned, atthe forefront of one of the more interesting sectors withexcellent growth potential. On behalf of the board of directors,the employees of IDC and my fellow shareholders, I would liketo extend our sincerest gratitude to Denzil Doyle for hisleadership, investment and many personal contributions overthe years that he has served as chairman of the IDC Board. It isan honor to serve with him and I’m grateful we’ll continue tohave his wealth of experience and legendary insight on theboard.”

End II End Appoints SeniorAdvisor for India

CHARLOTTE, NC - End II End Communications has appointedColonel (retired) Tapan Das Sharma as its senior advisor on theIndian market. Col. Sharma has 30 years of honorable militaryservice providing leadership to regimental teams and mainte-nance of high-tech systems during both peace and war.

Following his retirement from active duty, he held various seniormanagement and operational positions including generalmanager at Narang Industries & Sugar Mills and as vicepresident, Security and Intelligence Services, India Ltd. He iscurrently chairman and managing director of BraveheartsSecurity and Intelligent Services, a private company sponsoredby India’s Ministry of Defense.

Known for his ability to create and articulate corporate vision

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and for customer-centric leadership, Col. Sharma will assist EndII End in developing opportunities in both the enterprise andgovernment sectors in India.

“We’re honored to be associated with Col. Sharma,” said DougTriblehorn, End II End’s vice president for sales. “His decadesof experience in military service and private industry make himideally suited to represent End II End in this important market.”End II End CEO John X. Dwyer said India has a robust andsophisticated satellite industry, and the company looks forwardto building relationships with service providers and educatingtheir customers about their breakthrough network optimizationtechnology, which is the first to make Citrix and other highlyinteractive applications really work over satellite.

End II End develops products that optimize, secure and managewide area networks, while minimizing network costs anddowntime. The company delivers LAN-like performance formission-critical applications like Citrix, SAP, MS Exchange andOracle over high-latency connections including satellite.

Douglas Braun Joins Spacenetas VP of Product Management

McLEAN, VA - Douglas Braun has joined Spacenet, Inc. as itsnew Vice President of Product Management. In this new role,Braun is responsible for the overall management of Spacenet’sproduct development and lifecycle management strategy, aswell as overseeing existing product lines, including the high-performance Connexstar service designed for enterprise andgovernment clients and its value-oriented StarBand linedesigned for residential and small office customers.

Braun brings nearly 20 years of product management andtelecom experience to Spacenet, including his most recentposition as Director of Product Management for iDirectTechnologies. Previously, he held a range of marketing andproduct management positions including: Director of ProductManagement for Telcordia Technologies; Senior ProductDevelopment Manager for Facilicom International; andpositions with Cincinnati Bell and Hershey Foods. Braunholds a BA in Business Administration and Communicationsfrom Rutgers University and an MBA from Fordham Univer-sity Graduate School of Business Administration.

Spacenet Senior Vice President of Marketing & CorporateDevelopment David Myers said they look forward to Dougapplying his impressive skills and experience to help Spacenetexpand its leadership in customer-focused and performanceoriented satellite networking solutions.

Boeing Florida Operations VP Retires

LOUIS - Former NASA astronaut and space shuttle flightengineer Bruce Melnick, vice president of Boeing FloridaOperations, retired from The Boeing Company yesterday.

Melnick led the company’s Florida team for more than 10 yearsin providing engineering, facilities and maintenance support toNASA and the U.S. Department of Defense for the SpaceShuttle, International Space Station (ISS) and Delta rocketprograms.

“Bruce Melnick has done a tremendous job in leading Boeing’sFlorida Space Coast efforts,” said Brewster Shaw, vice presidentand general manager, Boeing Space Exploration. “He hasdemonstrated strong leadership and an unwavering dedicationto Space Exploration and a commitment to successful programexecution.” SM

http://www.nardamicrowave.com

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MRC Introduces MRX4000 Plus

LAS VEGAS, NV - Microwave Radio Communications hasintroduced MRX4000 Plus, a new ENG central receiver based onthe original MRX4000 demodulator-decoder platform.

MRX4000 Plus retains all the capabilities the MRX4000 offers,with the addition of a new, highly linear RF and IF system thatprovides high dynamic range and improved MER performancein a compact, easy to install rack mounted shelf. Other newfeatures include four IF bandpass filter selections as standardequipment; high and low IF outputs for spectrum monitoring;standard RS-232 serial remote control or optional 10/100 baseTcontrol interface; NTSC or PAL options and AGC and LinkQuality data outputs

The original MRX4000 integrated demodulator-decoder wasdeveloped by MRC to support narrow channel analog anddigital operation in the 2 GHz Broadcast Auxiliary Services(BAS) band. The company will continue to offer its CodeRunner4 central receiver, but with an extended warranty incentive, andpackaged with the original MRX4000 decoder-demodulator as aBAS companion.

Tony Finizio, the president of MRC said the MRX4000 Plus, isthe natural evolution of a highly successful product, and onethat makes good sense for our customers Moving to this newplatform gives MRC the ability to support SD and HD decodingin addition to alternate modulation formats in future releases.

Advantech Unveils Next GenerationOutdoor Satellite AcquisitionController

MONTREAL, Canada - Advantech AMT, Inc., a Canadian firmthat designs, manufactures and markets equipment for satelliteand wireless communications, has launched the IPOINTSatellite Acquisition Controller.

Advantech said its controller is suitable for antennas up to 2.4meters, features an antenna mounted outdoor unit and has anintegral 24V, 12A motor drive. It is also suitable for vehiclemounted and fly away antennas, provides single buttonoperation for acquisition and can be integrated into C, Ku, L, Kaand X-Band systems. In addition, it is fully compliant with theReduction Of Hazardous Substances European Union regula-tions.

The design of the IPOINT enables simple, rapid and reliableacquisition of the required satellite resulting in low operationalcosts. The controller has been designed to be easy to integrate,only requiring two cables. IPOINT uses industry standardposition transducers found on many small antennas andincludes a compass for initial auto orientation.

It uses a GPS receiver for accurate geographic location anddirectly drives 24V DC motors (for Az, El and Pol). As theinternal drive units can provide up to 12A, customers do notneed a separate motor drive unit even in instances whererelatively high current motors are required.

Dr. Martin Smith, Advantech’s head of Antenna Tracking, saidthis new auto acquisition product compliments the company’sexisting line of INTRAC antenna tracking controllers. “With itsadvanced features our clients can reduce their operating costsand reliably initiate their satellite links in a very short time. TheIPOINT controller takes full advantage of the many benefits ofusing an integrated antenna mounted approach.”

IDC Announces Expanded DVB-S2Line and New Multimedia Products

LAS VEGAS - International Datacasting Corporation a leader inproducts, systems, and services for the distribution of video,audio, and data, has launched new additions to its SuperFlexline of DVB/IP products.

SuperFlex is IDC’s family of advanced, open-standards, prod-ucts for end-to-end distribution of broadband content viasatellite and/or terrestrial networks. It is among the first tosupport the latest digital satellite transmission system, DVB-S2that makes use of state-of-the-art modulation and codingtechniques to deliver performance that approaches the theoreti-cal limit for these systems. The corresponding increase inperformance (and potential reduction in cost) is enabling next-generation applications such as IPTV and digital cinema.

IDC’s expanded DVB-S2 performance includes support for VCMAND 16APSK. The new SFX 2102/3102 receiver models offerVariable Code Modulation (VCM) giving networks the ability tochange modulation and forward error correction dynamically pertransport stream. This breakthrough greatly improves networkefficiency and significantly reduces operating costs. In additionthese models offer expanded data rates from 100 KS/s to 45 MS/s and adds 16APSK modulation. The SFX 3100 versions of thereceiver can output up to 190 Mb/s!

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New IDC new audio and video products include:

SFX Pro Audio for Radio Networks: The latest SFX Pro Audioreceivers with integrated Datacast XD offer live IP audiodecoding plus the ability for time-shift audio file playout foradvanced radio networks. The upgraded dual-channel SFX ProAudio now features MPEG-4 AAC decoding as well as Livewire,which allows the receiver to convey low-delay and high-reliability audio over switched Ethernet.

Professional SD/HD Video: The new SFX Pro Video receiverfeatures real-time hardware decoding of MPEG-4 AVC (H.264)SD and HD video in a single unit while also offering MPEG1 andMPEG2 hardware decoding to make converting legacy networkseasy. The receiver offers a choice of DVB-S or S2 satellite inputsas well as IP and/or ASI input and comes complete with a built-in hard drive for local content insertion. The product alsofeatures a choice of industry standard outputs which include

HD multimedia interface (HDMI), HD serial digital interface (HD-SDI), and component video.

Multimedia Server: The new SFX Media Server receivers have arange of advanced features including managed content play-back and store-and-forward capabilities. Like other receivers inthe SFX series it includes IDC’s comprehensive contentmanagement and distribution and software client, Datacast XD.

Low-cost data receivers: IDC’s lowest-cost edge receiver, theSR2001Plus, has been upgraded to support both DVB-S andDVB-S2 operation. It also includes built-in decryption as well asIDC’s proven in-band network management.

Push VOD IPTV: IDC’s latest addition to its IPTV solutionsrepertoire, Datacast XD, embedded in a consumer grade Set-Top-Box (STB) complete with built-in hard drive for programstorage and hardware decoding of SD and HD video. Datacast

http://www.miteq.com

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XD provides guaranteed content delivery along withdecryption, digital rights management and Video-on-Demand(VOD) playout control. The STB is available with standardEthernet (IP) input as well as DVB-S/S2 satellite or ATSC inputs

PROFLine professional audio: the latest family of professionalradio network products from PROFLine, including FM radiodemodulators, stereo encoders and RDS encoders as well assolutions for CATV radio distribution and FM emergencywarning systems. The updated family of receivers, including anew triple channel receiver, now features MPEG-4 HE-AAC forthe highest professional audio quality.

Easy-to-Use Satellite AntennaSubsystem from ND SatCom

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany - ND SatCom is now marketing

the SkyRAY Light antenna subsystem notable for its mobility,light weight, ease of use and fast deployment.

SkyRAY Light offers instant, geographically independentcommunication in three easy steps: mount the antenna systemon a car, SUV or truck, then start the autopointing and theautoacquisition process.

SkyRAY Light supports broadcasters in integrating camera caroperation into the production workflow and enables fast newsand sports reporting in an affordable way. It extends the LANinto the field and provides a broadband communication infra-structure with always-on capabilities. Besides the broadcastand disaster recovery and business continuity vertical markets,SkyRAY Light also caters to the government market for home-land security and border control. SM

http://www.cpii.com/satcom

SATMAGAZINE.COM

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May 2007

The Enterprise Market: The Satellite Industry’s‘El Dorado’?

by Virgil Labrador

COVER STORY

Is the enterprise market the satelliteindustry’s ‘El Dorado’, as the World

Teleport Association recently put it? Youknow, like the mythical place that always on the horizon but never really reachable?

You would think with literally millions ofbusiness enterprises in the world andcommerce being more globalized thesedays, the enterprise market would be oneof the largest segment of the satelliteindustry. But that is simply not the case.In my interviews with CEOs of topsatellite service providers such asGlobeCast, BT and others, the enterprisemarket currently only accounts for a lowof five percent to maybe a high of 20percent of revenues for satellite serviceproviders. The industry which hastraditionally served the broadcast andtelecom market is finding the enterprisemarket a tough nut to crack. Onecommon theme, though, among the CEOsI’ve interviewed is that everyone wants tohave a bigger piece of the enterprisemarket pie.

Satellite service providers are facing stiffcompetition from telcos and providers ofterrestrial services which have beenserving the lucrative enterprise marketlonger than most satellite companies.Also, the enterprise market is not ahomogeneous market that but really anumber of many diverse markets such as oil and gas, mining, construction, banking, re-tail, hospitality and many other businesses--all with unique communications needsand service requirements.

Another unique feature of the enterprisemarket is that the companies who wouldmost likely use satellite solutions for theircommunication needs are large, usuallymultinational companies, who may

require initial turnkey and installationservices, but tend to operate their systemin the long run, which means lesser repeatbusiness for satellite service providers.

According to John Dwyer, CEO of End IIEnd Communications, the reason whycompanies are slow to adopt to satellite-based solutions is that in many casesthey do not understand the value ofsatellite communications as a viableoption and the lack of standards forservices by satellite service providers.“Every satellite provider has a differentspin on what is the best solution. The

enterprise customer is looking for areliable provider that has good supportand pricing,” he said.

The key might be in providing hybridsolutions that include satellite and otherdelivery mechanisms and by focusing ona specific niche market, according toDavid Myers, Vice-President, BusinessDevelopment for Spacenet, which hasbeen relatively successful in theenterprise market. Spacenet, whichprovide full turnkey solutions and operateon their own 99 percent of the networksthat they manage for enterprises, focusedinitially on what Myers calls the “small

and small retailers, who use satellites justfor financial transactions such as point-of-sale or credit card transactions.Spacenet, then migrated to serving biggerretailers such as financial companies andhealth-care providers who require both asatellite and terrestrial component to theirnetwork.

The satellite industry has certainly a lot tooffer to enterprises. Satellite technologyhas been proven to be the best solutionfor point-to-multipoint requirements thatmost enterprises need. In a panel at therecently-held Satellite Conference at theNAB in Las Vegas on this subject, thespeakers were unanimous in saying thatthe expertise and experience accumulatedby the satellite industry in serving thebroadcast and telco markets aretransferable to the enterprise marketwhich require more and moresophisticated private networks, businesstelevision, digital signage and disasterrecovery and back-up systems. Thepanelists, however, concede that the typical enterprise customer have very specificneeds and requirements that necessitatedifferent skill sets.

One company that specializes in just onesegment of the enterprise market isHouston, TX-based CaprockCommunications, which currently onlyserves the oil and gas industry and bydoing so, has a dominant position in thatmarket.

The view from the horizon bodes well forthe enterprise market. Research firm NSRforecasts total global revenues frommonthly service fees and sales ofcustomer premise equipment (CPE) willbreak the US$5 billion barrier by 2011,

box retailers” such as small restaurants

SATMAGAZINE.COM

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May 2007

COVER STORY

Virgil Labrador is the Managing Editor of Satnews Publishers. He isresponsible for all editorial activities worldwide. He edits the Dailysubscription service, Satnews Daily and the monthly e-magazine,SatMagazine and the quarterly, MilsatMagazine. He also managesthe web portal, Satnews.com. He is co-author of the book, HeavensFill With Commerce, a Brief History of the Satellite CommunicationsIndustry, for which he was nominated for the Eugene Emme Science

Literature award in 2005. He has worked in various capacities in the satelite industryand holds a master’s in communciations mamanagement from the University ofSouthern California. He can be reached at [email protected]

with enterprise & SME VSAT networksand single site satellite broadbandInternet access services leading the way.This is good news for equipmentmanufacturers and service providers suchas Hughes Network Systems and thebroadband Ka-band service, WildBlue,commercial satellite fleet operators,according to NSR.

NSR estimates that almost 900 36-MHztransponders will be needed to provisionthe global base of broadband VSAT sitesand satellite Internet access subscribersby 2011. This is almost a 40% increaseover transponders leased in 2006.

“Ku-band capacity will play a dominantrole in these markets over the entireforecast period,” stated Patrick French,NSR Senior Analyst. “Yet, manycompanies are seriously looking tocommercial Ka-band, not just dedicatedKa-band satellites like WildBlue-1 andSpaceway-3, for these markets, and thenext few years will prove critical indetermining just how rapidly the industrymoves down this path.”

The enterprise market will be driven bydemand for services such as digitalsignage, which is the delivery of videoand other content to screens in multiplelocations for retailers, according to GregHurt, Vice-President of MicrospaceCommunications, a leading provider ofbroadcast video, data and audio satelliteservices for business applications.

Another key area for growth is disasterrecover and backup solutions, accordingto Filip Gluszak, Vice-President ofMarketing of UDcast. UDcast providessoftware and hardware solutions fordelivery of IP services over satellitesystems. The introduction of IPtechnology to satellite networks is makingit more affordable for companies toimplement their own networks.

In conclusion, there is certainly nodearth of opportunities in the enterprisemarket for satellite companies. It’s amatter of finding the right niche and being

flexible enough to be able to the optimalsolution at the most cost-effectivemanner. That’s all enterprises really want.

Sounds easy doesn’t it? Not quite. Butthis industry has been through worsebefore and prevailed.

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FEATURE

Since 2001, a series of manmade andnatural disasters - from 9-11 inNew York to the tsunami in

Indonesia to Hurricane Katrina in theGulf – has focused the minds of execu-tives on the need to invest in businesscontinuity. A business issue once givenmore lip service than serious consider-ation has now become a priority.

Over the same period, the spread ofthe Internet and intranet into everycorner of business operations has madewide area networks (WANs) among thecritical assets of the enterprise most inneed of protection.

There is a certain irony in this,because one of the leading businesscontinuity risks identified by managersall around the world is their reliance onpaper records. Paper is vulnerable. It canbe burned, torn or stained. Waterdamage can render is worthless. Theobvious solution is to digitize theinformation on those documents- inother words, to avoid creating the paperin the first place or to turn it into a digitalimage accessible over the network. Theirony is that by solving one businesscontinuity risk, companies are increasingthe risk of business disruption fromdowntime on the network.

Sizing the ProblemWhatever unimaginable thing can

go wrong almost certainly will go wronggiven enough time. Mike Semel, vicepresident of business continuity andcompliance services at Connecting Pointin Las Vegas, likes to tell a story aboutunderstanding business risks. A small

by John X. Dwyer

The Business Case for Business Continuity

firm of radiologists wanted his advice onbusiness continuity and disasterplanning. He asked them what scenariosmight shut them down, and the radiolo-gists insisted that the risk of a hazard-ous material accident was virtually zero.All the hazardous chemicals were at thehospitals. Then Semel used Google Earthto show them a satellite view of theiroffice, which was within 80 feet ofrailroad tracks that regularly carried largeshipments of hazardous materials.Across the street was a sporting goodstore that warehoused large quantitiesof gunpowder and other flammablechemicals. The point? The radiologistswere thinking just about what was intheir office rather than about the totalrange of risks their business faced.(Channel Advisor, August-October2006)

The costs of shutting down anoffice or a business are relatively easytounderstand. But an outage on theWAN? On a gut level, it seemsmoreinconvenience than threat. Howmany times have we called a customerservice number or stood in line at a retailoutlet only to be told, “I’m sorry,

ourcomputer’s down. Can you callback?” Annoying, certainly, but hardlyadisaster.

Estimating the Costs of WANDowntime

Those watching the bottom linemay beg to differ. Courtney cites a2004study of 80 large US companiesconducted by analyst firm Infonetics,which showed that they experienced anaverage of 501 hours of networkdowntime per year, and that this costthem an estimated 4% of their annualrevenues, totaling millions of dollars. Inseparate research, analyst at Gartnerestimated the hourly cost of networkdowntime for large companies at$42,000,with a typical business experi-encing 87 hours of downtime per year,resulting in total losses exceeding $3.6million per company.

Infonetics, based in San Jose,updated that research in 2006 with asurvey of midsize businesses (101 to1,000 employees), which suggested thatthey lost an average of 1% of annualrevenue, or $867,000, to an average of140 hours of downtime every year, with56% of that caused by pure outages. Inother research that drilled down intospecifics, Infonetics found that, in itssample group, wide area networksexperienced 3.7 hours of outage permonth and an additional 3.4 hours ofservice degradation per month.

Whether or not you choose toaccept this blizzard of statistics, it isfairly straightforward to evaluate yourown organization’s costs for downtime

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FEATURE

in the wide area network. The resultsmay startle you.

Downtime Cost CalculatorThere are two financial losses

associated with network downtime: lostproductivity and business losses.

hourly labor cost, and by the percentageimact on productivity.

• Multiply the result by theduration of downtime, expressed inhours, to find the total cost of lostproductivity.

Business Losses. To calculate thebusiness loss due to wide area networkoutages:

• Determine the average profit peremployee by dividing the company’s

Protecting Against WANOutages

The key to protecting againstWAN outages is circuit redundancy.Should the primary circuit linking theremote location to the enterprisenetwork go down, a backup circuit mustbe available and ready to take its place.

Achieving true redundancy,however, is harder than it looks. It issimple to purchase backup DSL or T1line from the local telco - but that linealmost certainly shares risers, poles,conduits and other crucial elements withthe primary circuit. This is true even ifthe circuit is provided by adifferentcarrier, because there are alimited number of rights-of-way availableto service providers in any community. Adisaster that takes out the primary - fromweather to a careless backhoe operator -is more than likely to take out thebackup as well. Major disasters inparticular have a cascading effectthatproduces unforeseen consequences.

The two biggest disasters of thisdecade illustrate the point. The destruc-tion of the World Trade Center in NewYork City took down all telephoneservice in lower Manhattan when itdestroyed the Verizon switching center.But it also took out wireline and cellularservice throughout the island becausethe systems became completely over-loaded. The only dependable communi-

A mere minute ofdowntime can bring biglossesSOURCE: ALINEAN

Business ApplicationEstimated outage cost perminute

Supply chainManagement $11,000E-commerce $10,000Customer service $3,700ATM/POS/EFT $3,500Financial management $1,500Human capitalmanagement $1,000Messaging $1,000

Lost Productivity. To calculate theloss of productivity due to wide areanetwork outages:

• Determine the average hourlylabor cost of employees at a site, whichis total payroll costs divided by thenumber of employees, divided by thenumber of working hours in a year,typically 2,080.

• Determine the impact on produc-tivity of an outage at a work site andexpress it as a percentage. If employeesspend 100% of their time interacting withnetwork applications - as would acustomer service representative orequity trader - the impact is 100%. Formost employees, the impact is less than100% but may still be quite large.

• Multiply the number of workersaffected by the outage by the average

Lost Productivity

Average hourly laborcost $24Impact on productivity 50%Number of workersaffected 300Duration of outage 4 hoursSubtotal: $24 x .

50 x 300x 4 =$14,400

Business LossesAverage profit peremployee $37Subtotal: $37 x

.50 x300 x 4 =$22,200

Total $36,600

profit in the most recent year by thenumber of employees.

• Multiply the number of workersaffected by the outage by the averageprofit per employee, and by the percent-age impact on productivity, as describedabove.

• Multiply the result by theduration of downtime, expressed inhours, to find the total business impact.

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FEATURE

cations into and out of the disaster zonewas through hastily deployedportablesatellite antennas.

When Hurricane Katrina sweptthrough the Gulf of Mexico, in additionto the other horrendous damage done, ittook out a microwave-based telephoneand data network that connected thehundreds of offshore oil platformsthroughout the region. High winds toremicrowave dishes from the platforms andknocked over the land-based towers. Buta second communications networkbased on satellite survived with onlyscattered outages.

Satellite offers true redundancybecause the circuit is a line-of-sightlinkto a satellite orbiting 22,500 milesabove the earth’s equator and backdown to another antenna within thesame “footprint.” As long as there iselectric power and an antenna, literallynothing on earth can stop it.

Making Satellite Redundancy PayOff

If satellite is such a perfectredundancy solution, why isn’t it thestandard?

There are two reasons. First,satellite bandwidth is expensive relativeto DSL, T1 or even fiber to the premises.There are a limited number of satellites inorbit and the total available bandwidth isonly a tiny fraction of thataccessiblethrough terrestrial networks. Limitedsupply and the high cost of building andlaunching a satellite have kept satellitecapacity from following the downwardprice trend of the rest of the telecomindustry.

There is also the matter of that43,000-mile round-trip required to geteach digital bit to its destination. Itintroduces latency much greater than

standard Internet Protocol was designedto handle. This presents little challengeto largely one-way transmissions,whether of TV pictures or large datafiles, because data-tweaking techniquescollectively known as acceleration canbe used to efficiently fill the pipe. But itpresents a major obstacle when we try torun the “chatty,” highly-interactiveapplications that are the core of mostenterprises, whether it is MS Exchange,SAP or Oracle, over a virtual privatenetwork. Not even Citrix can achieveacceptable performance in this environ-ment under normal use.

So, if satellite is to be used forbusiness continuity, something must bedone to use the costly bandwidth veryefficiently and to eliminate the latencyissues that doom the core enterpriseapplications to failure.

Is Satellite-BasedRedundancy Affordable?

The answer depends on howvaluable the high degree of protectionafforded by satellite is to your organiza-tion. That value may be measurable indollars and cents, using the kind offinancial calculations provided in thiswhite paper. There may also be strategicconsiderations such as customersatisfaction, risk reduction or the need to

John X. Dwyer is CEO of End II End Commu-nications, a company that develops products thatoptimize, secure and manage the wide areanetwork, enabling your enterprise applications to gowhere they have never gone before. End II End alsooffers total solutions for network deployment,business continuity and disaster recovery thatcombine software, hardware and satellite servicesto overcome local or global challenges to enter-prise-class connectivity. For more information go towww.eiiecomm.com or call 1-866-926-3443. Hecan be reached at [email protected]

maintain the value of information assetsthat determine your choice.

Like many IT investments, the costof satellite business continuity dependson the implementation and cannotrealistically be “ballparked.” The largestsingle cost, however, will be bandwidth,and the use of software such as thoseprovided by our company End II EndCommunications’ Optimal family ofproducts, ensures not only a LAN-likeexperience for remote users over a VPNbut as much as 30% reduction in satellitebandwidth requirements.

One solution adopted by many EndII End customers is to deploy full-timesatellite connectivity to a small numberof remote locations, then install Optima-Link Business Continuity at all locationsfor use in case of WAN outages. This ishighly cost-effective for companies witha few remote sites that have poor-quality, expensive or nonexistentterrestrial broadband. These sites gainLAN-like access to the enterprisenetwork and the entire network gainsbusiness continuity protection. Ifterrestrial connectivity goes down atany location, the OptimalHub software’sautomatic failover feature switchesservice to the satellite, “borrowing” a bitof bandwidth to bridge the short-termneed. SM

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FEATURE

It was only in March that we looked insome detail at the prospects forsatellite radio, focusing on the

planned consolidation between XM andSirius. This issue we make no apologyfor returning to satellite radio, but thistime concentrating on its Europeanprospects – which might not be bowl ofcherries.

In essence there are two rivalbidders for the European satellite-radiocrown: long-established WorldSpace,headquartered in Washington and well-known for its existing attempts to sellsubscription radio to the “emergingworld”. XM Satellite owns a smallportion of WorldSpace, and it wasWorldSpace’s original concept andtechnical resources that XM tapped intoto launch its own service. WorldSpacestill supplies a couple of channels intothe XM portfolio of choices.

WorldSpace’s main European rivalis Ondas Media, based in Madrid, ofwhich more in a moment.

As this is written WorldSpace hasjust filed its all-telling Securities &Exchange Commission Form 10-Kstatement, on April 17, and it didn’t makeespecially good reading. In fact it lookedlike a nightmare. An analysis of thestatement shows a business in direstraits, especially limited cash resourcesand a mountainous set of sales objec-tives that in any objective view wouldchallenge a more able organisation.

WorldSpace admit that India, theirmost successful market to date butwhere they have spent millions ofdollars in trying to a modest sales

by Chris Forrester

impact, has “proved to be a difficultmarket to achieve the level of subscriberadditions we were expecting when welaunched our commercial service in 2005.We still believe the India market funda-mentals are attractive, but we havereduced 2007 spending.”

To have carried on spendingprecious cash in supporting 1500 retailstores and 737 “direct sales agents” whocollectively have generated just 160,000subs won since 2000 would be fool-hardy, especially when WorldSpace stilldoes not yet possess an India terrestrialrepeater licences. “We plan to introduce

a terrestrially augmented mobile servicein India after receiving appropriateregulatory approvals and to that end weare developing next generation receiverscapable of receiving signals from bothour satellites and from the terrestrialrepeater networks,” says the Company’s10-K.

WorldSpace talks of rolling outservices in the Middle East (Bahrain andthe United Arab Emirates) “this year”(and where it does hold suitable li-cences) but it does not have receiverunits currently ready although is“discussing” with the after-sales marketthe possibility of making in-car unitsavailable for retro-fitting into vehicles.WorldSpace has “2,000” subscribersspread over the whole of the Middle

European DARS – Does it Have a Prayer?

Torsten Freymark, Chairman,Ondas Media

“ We don’t see WorldSpace as a threat at all ”“ We do not believe that WorldSpace will have a realservice up and running next year ”

East, and more than 26,000 subscribersin Africa.

They also have “plans” for aservice in China, and have developed a“China-only” version of their receivers,as part of their strategy to appeaseChina’s authorities, but despite thismove they still have not receivedpermission to launch in China.

They also admit that their Europeanand African satellite (AfriStar) has solarpanel defects, and these will impact thecraft’s performance beginning next year(and get worse over time). They say that

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work they have done with satellitebuilder Astrium will extend the useful lifeof the craft, but with fewer channelsactive.

WorldSpace also talks of variouslitigation matters, but barely mentionsthe assorted Class Action suits it is nowfacing, other than it will be “vigorouslydefending” any claims. It also revealsthat it also has to pay $16m of outstand-ing income taxes to the IRS, at a rate of$340,000 a month currently and a finalpayment of $13.3m plus accrued interestby September 30 this year. Not bad for abusiness that only earned total revenueslast year of $15.6m, yet managed to soakup $104m-worth of cash in its operatingactivities.

Indeed, WorldSpace continues tobe extraordinarily generous to its staff interms of stock-options and otherbenefits – especially when one remem-bers the $15.6m in revenues last year –which during 2006 paid out £3.6m incash. WorldSpace also continues itscharitable work (!!) and funded tran-sponder capacity worth $3.9m to FirstVoice and its “social welfare contribu-tions”. WorldSpace’s founder, NoahSamara, is chairman of First Voice.

As to compensation, WorldSpacepays its staff well. Noah Samara pock-eted $2.9m, while its three ‘ChiefOperating Officers’ (Andenet Ras-Workleft during the year, leaving two co-COOs in his place) received $4mbetween them. Again, not bad for a $15min total revenue business. In compari-son SES Global, 2nd largest satelliteoperator on the planet, paid its 5-manexecutive team (including the CEO andCFO) a total of just $4.7m between themlast year.

Samara is especially well rewarded,with an annual incentive bonus schemeequal to 95% of his base $650,000 salary,

plus shares, plus, plus, plus. The list ofbenefits is long. WorldSpace must alsobe hoping for good health for MrSamara, and a long professional relation-ship with their founder, president andCEO. Because if he quits, gets sick, orthey have to let him go, the compensa-tion will mop up a shed-load of whatevercash is still left in the company’s coffers.

As at Dec 31st 2006 WorldSpaceheld marketable securities of $138m,down from $239m in 2005. Then, in Aprilit achieved a restructuring of its convert-ible notes, the end result of which meansthey have access to another $50m incash.

Investment bankers Bear Stearns,now seemingly the only remainingobserver on Wall Street with any sort of

interest in WorldSpace says that the$50m the broadcaster gets almostimmediately will help overall cash flowand agrees that it gets “operationalflexibility” to execute its already muchstreamlined plan, but the bank alsostresses that investors will now befocussing closely on the company’sexecution of that plan.

And the bank gives a few pointers,most of which are negative. It says thatgrowth in India, currently a primarymarket for WorldSpace, “has not pickedup”. A retailer check carried out by thebank said consumer interest remained“muted”, not helped by a lack of productchoice.

Moreover, its India transmissionlicence, expected by the middle of lastyear has yet to be awarded, adding tothe broadcaster’s woes. The bank hasalso picked on the slippage inWorldSpace’s Italian roll-out plans, nowtargeted for 2008. It also questionsprogress – or the lack of – in Bahrainand South Africa.

However, the bank says thatWorldSpace’s funding risk has now beenaverted, but the company will still needto access “additional capital by Q1-Q2/2008. “Given the track record, thecompany will have to execute flawlesslyon multiple fronts in a very short while

Chipsets …..WorldSpace ordered 722,445 of its special sat-radio chipsets for supplyby Dec 31st 2006, at a cost of $18.2m. They have not drawn this orderdown, and have recorded a liability for the sum as yet unpaid.

….and computersGood financial management is important to any quoted company, and soWorldSpace has invested in a new “global enterprise resource planning”system, at a cost of $3.3m, PLUS annual maintenance, upgrades andtechnical support of a further $7.1m spread over 4 years.

Noah Samara,WorldSpace CEO

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to turn round investor confidence beforeit needs to access capital markets.”

At the same time, a reportfrom India talks ofWorldSpace’s local executive(chief marketing officer, HarshadJain) reportedly suggesting thatthe satellite-radio broadcaster isto invest around $150m in Indiaover the next two years – butfails to say where the cashmight come from.

The bottom line:WorldSpace’s net loss last yearwas a breathtaking $128m,compared with $79.8m in 2005.Its AfriStar satellite is failing,and one must question whetherit can fund the refurbishmentand launch of the ground spare.It is not a happy picture.WorldSpace has its AGM onMay 25th.

Benoit Chereau CEO/chairman WorldSpace Francespoke to us in March about itsEuropean plans, especially inItaly, where WorldSpace says itwill be launching a subscriptionservice next year. He explainedthat they were no longeraccepting subscriptions forservice from WorldSpace’sEuropean beam of its AfriStarsatellite, because it would bereconfigured this coming winterahead of the Italian launch. “Wehave contracts covering thedesign and manufacture of thetransmitter repeaters, and withTelecom Italia to design anddeploy the network. The firsttwo repeaters will be installed inToulouse, France, [in April] fortesting. We have been waitingfor the frequencies to beconfirmed, but then the techni-

cal tests can take place. Then we willorder the large volumes of repeatersfrom the manufacturers, but they will nottake long. We have the funds.”

“As for radio units, we know thatan important part of the success of theproject will be having radios installed incars,” said Chereau. “But there’s another

http://www.newtec.be

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FEATURE

market, concentrated on plug and playradios, and the portable market. As weview it today the difference between theplug & play and the car market is acouple of months, and I cannot saytoday which will happen first. What Ican say is that both developments areprogressing well. We have not publiclyannounced any agreements, and we arein discussions with a large number ofOEMs and after-market suppliers, butthere’s nothing we can talk about today.Discussions are always too slow, and itis complex because everything is beingdeveloped in parallel, including chipsets,modules, and overall design. Thestandard was only approved in Septem-ber 2006, so it is not as if it was yearsago. The reference designs are beingworked on now, and the chip-setdevelopers now have 100% of the

information they need, but everyoneelse has yet to hit that 100% mark, butwhile everyone agrees on the conceptwe have to see these key milestonesachieved. However, I can tell you thatthese different elements will not then besequential. They will happen in parallel,and we are working hard to minimisedelays.”

WorldSpace has for some time hada spare satellite sitting in a temperatureand humidity controlled environment ata French satellite facility. Questioned onwhat this craft, now dubbed FM3, wouldbe used for and Chereau said it wouldneed some upgrading and modifications,but was intended for Europe, but itsdeployment also influenced thecompany’s actions for Latin Americawhere WorldSpace says it has rights.“The general idea for Latin America is

that once we launch FM3 over Europe,we have a plan to launch a high-poweredsatellite that extends right over Russia.The plan is that the day we launch FM3we order a new one. Now we will needthe money, the credibility, and then a 3year wait while it’s built. But then we canmove FM3 to another spot, maybe 2012-2013. This is a maybe, but it is a strongmaybe.”

However, WorldSpace’s SVP/Corporate Affairs Judith Pryor said itwas very much a case of one step at atime. “We have our primary market inAsia, now with Italy, and we will growout from Italy into the rest of Europe butone market at a time. We also have anoperational satellite with a beam that willbe re-directed and with new content forthat market. While all this is going on westill have another satellite sitting on ashelf that with a little tweaking can bemade available.”

“Tweaking” satellites costs money,so does launching them. There is no realguidance on where the cash will comefrom to ‘tweak’ their existing satellite, orbuild another, let alone launch the much-needed craft.

Ondas Media –Doing better?

Which is not to say that OndasMedia’s garden is all rosy, either. InMarch it lost its CEO, Celso Azevedo,replacing him with Jacinto Palacios,formerly CEO for the Spanish satelliteoperator, Hispasat.

Ondas Media says it is very busyassembling a portfolio of strategicpartners and investors as part of thethird financing round, which it hopes tohave in place by the autumn. TorstenFreymark, chairman, says they aretalking to media players, the autoindustry, government and satellite

WorldSpace has been hit by a number of class-action lawsuits. Connecti-cut-based legal firm Schatz Nobel Izard, well known for a number of high-profile class-actions, is one of the filers, and its writ alleges “thatWorldspace made materially false and misleading statements to theinvesting public and misrepresented or failed to disclose that expiredsubscriptions were included in the company’s subscriber count for as manyas 90 days following expiration of an initial three-month promotional period,causing the company’s stock price to become artificially inflated.”

The actions argue that investors were not given correct information aboutchurned subscribers when Worldspace mounted its IPO in August 2005,with spectacular results. It was looking to raise $100m, and saw an offermuch oversubscribed, helped by fairly glowing claims of its progress – andprospects.

Another firm, Labaton Sucharow & Rudoff filed its lawsuit on March 15 in theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York, againspecifying the IPO of August 4, 2005, and naming WorldSpace, Noah A.Samaram (sic), Sridhar Ganesan, and UBS Securities LLC as “Defen-dants’’. The action is detailed at: www.labaton.com/en/about/press/WorldSpace.cfm

Worldspace’s stock opened at $20 barely 18 months ago. It has since fallenback, and now trades at just $3.30.

Worldspace facing Class Actions

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communities. “Without these keyplayers present from the four pillars thensatellite radio in Europe is not going tohappen. We have some partnershipsalready made public and now we haveothers in discussion on the OEM sideand on the space infrastructure sidepending as well. These elements arecoming together very nicely and overthe next few months we will be in aposition to communicate in more detail.”

Freymark added that Ondas is in itsThird Round cash raising exercise, andis making good progress. “For RoundThree we are targeting •50m-•75m. Thiswill permit us to push the projectsignificantly forward. Raising the cashis obviously important but so is achiev-ing the strategic partnerships that wehave mentioned. An automotive deal, asatellite contract, a government agree-ment and so forth will provide solidunderpinning to the whole project.”

“Our goal is to see these elementsin place by the autumn of this year.There are other challenges of course,not least the assembly and creation ofEuropean content as will recruitingexperienced staff. The automotiveindustry also sets its own obviousdeadlines. It knows precisely when ithas to release new models into theshowrooms and is already planning its2009-2010 model ranges. It knows whichvehicles and the sorts of volumes thatwill roll down the production line at thatperiod. We need to create with them themomentum that will see our equipmentinstalled in sufficient numbers in thosemodel ranges. Can the radios bemanufactured? And then delivered?”

The current merger proposals inNorth America between XM and Siriusrepresents more good news, saysFreymark. “While they are solelyfocused on their US businesses andsorting out their current challenges, thismeans they are not looking anywhereelse outside North America and we are

free from their competition. If the mergerwere to happen we believe there will besome interesting opportunities for us interms of securing management talent forOndas. We might be able to securesome significant human resources. Butthere’s another element: the mergershows that the financial community fullybelieves in the business model, wheretwo rivals might not work but a singleplayer could be successful. It is also asignal to Europe not to make the samemistake as the US. There’s room forone.”

“We do not believe thatWorldSpace will have a real service upand running next year,” he added. “Wedon’t see them having automotivesystems in place by then. They haveonly an ailing satellite with 850 kHz ofspectrum with a spillover into SouthernEurope and to provide satellite radio in amobile environment then you need atremendous amount of capital to fundthe immense repeater network in Italyalone if you want to provide comprehen-sive coverage. I have not read anythingyet about any success that they mighthave in raising cash to fund thisexercise.”

There are also plenty of critics,even amongst established Europeansatellite operators, who question thesuccess of satellite radio over Europe.Freymark is not fazed. “The objectorswho talk about Europe’s existing radioinfrastructure and the challenges ofovercoming Europe’s many languagessimply don’t understand the market.The people we are talking to share ouroptimism. We have carried out our ownmarket research but more importantlyperhaps they have also studied themarket closely and they know theirsectors very well. In other words it isn’tjust Ondas research that everyone isdepending upon. The automotiveindustry has structured its research toparticularly address the question ofwhat types of content is required, whatlanguages are needed, what do peoplelike and dislike in radio today, and soforth. It is simply amazing what hascome out of these studies. In fact theauto manufacturers themselves weretruly shocked at what they found. In anutshell the studies show that there isan addressable market of between 20 and40 million automotive customers towhom satellite radio would be interest-ing. Within that sort of a market there isplenty of scale and scope for a business.This number includes cross border truckdrivers. This segment alone is signifi-cant; there are seven million trucksmaking daily cross border routes and forthe vast majority of these people theyabsolutely cannot get their ‘local’ radioservices.”

WorldSpace, on competi-

tion from Ondas:

“Perhaps in 5 or 6years we can worryabout them, at best”

SM

London-based Chris Forrester, a well-known broadcastingjournalist is the Editor for Europe, Middle East and Africafor SATMAGAZINE. He reports on all aspects of theindustry with special emphasis on content, the business oftelevision and emerging technologies. He has a uniqueknowledge of the Middle East broadcasting scene, havinginterviewed at length the operational heads of each of themain channels and pay-TV platforms. He can be reachedat [email protected]

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VIEWPOINT

Globalstar’s announcement inFebruary 2007 that degradationof the S-band amplifiers on its

satellites is now occurring at a rate thatis “faster than previously anticipated”,has thrown the MSS market into turmoil,as its competitors strive to take advan-tage of the uncertainty that has beencreated by the prospect that if Globalstaris unable to correct the amplifier prob-lem, “substantially all of the Company’scurrently in-orbit satellites will cease tobe able to support two-way communica-tions services” by some time in 2008.

However, one of the most interest-ing issues about the handheld MSSmarket is that almost all of the newentrants into this market are sufferingfrom delays to the launch of theirservices. Specifically, Inmarsat hasstated that while its handheld servicewill be launched on the I4F1 satellite(covering most of Europe, Africa, theMiddle East and Asia) in the second halfof 2007, the service will not be availableon a global basis (including NorthAmerica) before mid-2008, and may evenbe delayed into 2009. This is due to theneed to launch the third I4 satellite(which does not yet have a firm launchslot on the Atlas rocket) and then‘reclock’ the satellites by moving themto different orbital slots to providehigher elevation coverage across majorland masses such as North America.

In the North American market, ICOrecently applied to the FCC for a delay inits milestones for satellite launch (toNovember 30, 2007) and service avail-ability (to December 31, 2007), and thisapplication was granted in early Febru-ary 2007. As a result, full commercial

availability of handheld MSS servicesfrom ICO, with handsets available involume, is unlikely to happen before thesecond quarter of 2008. In our viewTerrestar is also unlikely to offerhandheld MSS services on a fullycommercial basis until the very end of2008 (its regulatory deadline for commer-cial launch is November 2008, and

Terrestar stated in an SEC filing inJanuary 2007 that it does not expect togenerate significant revenues before2009).

In international markets, Globalstaralso competes with Thuraya, which hadplanned to launch its Thuraya 3 satelliteto provide extended coverage in EastAsia in March 2007. However, this

Competition in the Handheld MSS Marketby Tim Farrar,President of Telecom, Media and Finance Associates

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launch has been set back by the January2007 Sea Launch failure and Thuraya isnow expected to be the return-to-flightcustomer on Sea Launch, probably in thefourth quarter of 2007. This would pushback availability of the Thuraya servicein East Asia (including the Australianand Korean markets where Globalstar isrelatively strong) to around the end ofthe first quarter of 2008.

These delays leave Iridium as theprimary competitor to Globalstar, in mostregions where Globalstar has a strongpresence, for at least the next year.Iridium has reiterated that it expects thefirst generation Iridium system to lastthrough 2013-14, pointing out that theradiation exposure of the Globalstarsatellites (which are in a higher orbit) is

as much as 10 times that of Iridium.However, Globalstar’s problems maycreate concerns amongst certaincustomers about the long term feasibilityof LEO systems in general, and Inmarsatis trying to encourage this view, promot-ing the long lifetime of its I4 satellites(expected to last through 2020) andstating that both LEO constellations arecoming to the end of their lives and they

McLean, VA—The Mobile Satellite Users Asso-ciation (MSUA) announced that it is sponsoring

the successful Mobile Satellite Users Association International Conferenceand Exhibition, following a five year hiatus. MSUA-4 is the only conferencededicated to the mobile satellite industry, and will be held at the Pier 5Hotel on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, on May 21-23, 2007.

“MSUA-4 is coming at a critical time for the mobile satellite industry”explained Bob Roe, chairman of the MSUA, and president, Stratos Govern-ment Services, Inc, “With billions of dollars of investments being made innew mobile satellite systems; companies are offering a wide range of moreadvanced voice and data services, with much smaller, cheaper terminals.We think this conference will be of great interest to both mobile satellitedistributors and customers throughout North America, as the only opportu-nity to hear from all the major providers of MSS and learn from the experi-ences of other MSS end users.”

Exhibition and sponsorships are available for MSUA members and non-members, with early bird discounts available through March.

For full details contact Betsy Kulick for information on sponsorships([email protected]), George Zachmann for information on exhibits([email protected]) and Tara Blair for registration information (1-757-747-2342) or register online at www.msua.org/msua4.

MSUA BRINGS BACK HIGHLY ACCLAIMED MSUA-4

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION

believe that Iridium will announce its“system is failing in the years ahead”,while the replacement plans of Iridiumand Globalstar are “not even close tobeing feasible”.

Our view is that Iridium stands togain most from Globalstar’s announce-ment, although since Globalstar hasdifferentiated itself from Iridium primarilyon price, only relatively few customers,for whom the necessity of reliablesatellite coverage outweighs costconsiderations, are likely to shift theirMSS usage to Iridium in the near term.

Lower usage customers, for whom thecheaper Globalstar pricing was anessential part of the purchase decision,are less likely to move to other servicesin the near term, unless service perfor-mance on the Globalstar networkdeteriorates further.

However, when ICO does eventu-ally launch service, we expect that theirphone will be at least as attractive asGlobalstar’s handset, in terms of size andweight. As a result if ICO movesaggressively to target existing MSSusers, and offers low service pricing,then this would put much more pressure

http://www.msua.org/msua4

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Tim Farrar is President of Telecom, Media and FinanceAssociates (www.tmfassociates.com), a consultingcompany based in Menlo Park, CA, which analyzestechnical and financial issues in the satellite sector, andspecializes particularly in Mobile Satellite Services (MSS)and Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) issues. Tim hasover 14 years consulting experience across the satelliteand telecom industries, having worked for leading technicaland strategy consultancies in both the UK and US. He hasan M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Heis also President of the Mobile Satellite Users Association(MSUA). He can be reached by phone on (650) 839 0376or by email at [email protected]

on Globalstar’s existing customer base.On the other hand, Terrestar appears tobe more focused on Ancillary TerrestrialComponent (ATC) opportunities, andthus may place rather less emphasis onexisting MSS markets.

The final new competitor in thehandheld market will be Inmarsat, whichhas stated its intention to be aggressiveon pricing, with an indicated benchmarkprice of less than $1 per minute, andhandset prices of less than $500.Inmarsat has a significant advantage inthat it will ultimately be able to offerglobal coverage (with the exception ofthe poles) and we expect Inmarsat’shandheld phone to appeal most success-fully to international travelers based indeveloped countries who are visiting

less developed areas. This will position Inmarsatto attack Iridium’s customer base, although globalcoverage will not be available after the launch ofthe third I4 satellite, and so Inmarsat’s handheldmarket growth may not accelerate until 2009,making it hard to achieve their targeted $50M ofwholesale revenues in 2010. Even if Globalstar’sservice deteriorates over the next 18 months, it isunclear that Inmarsat would be a significantbeneficiary, since the bulk of Globalstar’shandheld customer base is in North America, andICO (and potentially also Terrestar) will haveentered this market with a more attractive andpotentially more economic service before Inmarsatis able to offer service there.

Note:This article is extracted from our March 2007

research report on the MSS sectorTo find out more about our MSS research,

visit www.tmfassociates.com/reports SM

http://www.satnews.com/mobile

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REGIONAL UPDATE-Latin America

The Brazilian Government’sMinistry of Communications justannounced in the last week of

April 2007 that the GESAC e-governmentsatellite project which has already installed 3,300 sites will beexpanded to 20,000 sites in the next yearwhich will include 10,000 public schoolsites.

Background of the Project: GESAC – Governo Electronico de de

Atendimento ao Cidadao ( E-Govprogram to provide digital inclusion andservices to the citizens of Brazil) waslaunched in 2002. The program startedwith the intention to provide Internetservices to enable citizens to interactwith the Brazilian government's web sitesand provide telecenters with the intention toeducate the low income population touse computers and internet. During thefirst phase of the program Gilat Brazilwon in an open bid the contract toprovide services for 2 years and imple-mented 2,000 sites. The second phase ofthe program was launch in 2004 andComsat Brasil won the contract in anopen bid to implement a total of 3,300 Existing GESAC Program Coverage sites with the replacement with theoriginal 2,000 sites with a new platformwith more internet access and usingVSAT with DVB-RCS technology.During the current phase Comsatimplemented the solution with VIASATtechnology.

Current Project StatusBased in information from Mr.

Heliomar Medeiros – Director of GESACprogram during recent media event in

Project Update:GESAC Progam – BrazilBy Bernardo Schneiderman

GESAC PROGRAM CURRENT AND FUTURE STATUS Description Current New Program

Point of Presence 3.400 sites 20,000 sites Municipalites served

2.200 5.565

Public Schools 2.400 10.000

Internet Access 256Kbps 256 Kbps to 8 Mbps

Tecnology Satellite 4 transpond-ders other technologies

Satellite(up to 20 and other transponders and

Rio de Janeiro, he announced that theGESAC Program expansion is not onlyfor satellite technology but will bedivided into three subcontracts. Onecontract will be only for satellite solutionprovider estimated to be 11,000 sites.The other two sites will be divided inmajor metropolitan areas and minormetropolitan areas. The main reason forthis new requirement is that in Brazil (seemap above), some cities outside the

main metropolitan areas donot have any kind of internetaccess nor voice communica-tions and satellite is the onlyoption.

The other 9,000 sitesare locations with someexisting telecom infrastruc-ture. In this case the serviceprovider could use anytechnology that makes sense

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for the project (ADSL, Cable Modem,WIMAX, WiFi, etc).

The budget for this new program isestimated at US$ 200 million for the 5 year-period of the contract. TheGESAC program will pay monthly to theservice providers that will win theauction bid with the target to keep thesystem running for the next 5 years. The contract will include operation and mainte-nance of each access point. The main logisticof the program is not only to activate thesite but keep the site running for theperiod of the contract so that any citizen can have access to the application in tele-centers, schools, border towns, etc.

This will be the largest program tobe launched in Latin America inthe

Bernardo Schneiderman has been active in theTelecom/Broadband industry for the last 37 years withexperience in Project Management, BusinessDevelopment, Sales & Marketing. He has been workingfor Telecom Operators, Satellite Carriers, High TechEquipment Manufacturers and Consulting & EngineeringServices in the USA and in the International market. Heworked in Latin America, Africa, Europe and in the USAas part of his professional activities. He has been Bus.Dev. Liaison for GVF – Global VSAT Forum(www.gvf.org). He is active SSPI (Society of SatelliteProfessional International- www.sspi.org) member

supporting new Chapters. He is editor for SatMagazine for new technologies &Latin America. He is active speaker and moderator in the Telecom/Wireless majorconference in the Global Market covering new technologies and market trends.He has an MBA in Telecommunications Management and International Businessfrom the University of San Francisco, CA, USA and BSEE in Telecom from UFRJ,Rio de Janeiro Brazil He can be reached at [email protected]

last 10 years to cover a broadrange of Internet access tech-nologies where satellite techno-logy plays a key role.

This new program expansion hasthe potential of using up to 20Ku-Band transponders considering the existing program with 3,000 sitesare utilizing 4 Ku-transpondersfrom Amazonas( Hispamar) and Estrela do Sul(Loral Skynet do Brasil).

The next step with will be apublic hearing of the biddocument during the second halfof May 2007 and the official biddocument will be issued in Junewith potential for the Auction bidfor the project to be conclude inJuly. The expectation is toimplement this 20,000 sites untilthe end of 2008.

This program will not onlybenefit domestic service provid-ers in Brazil but all major VSATvendors and satellite operatorsthat have capacity in Ku-Bandavailable in the market during thenext six months.

GESAC is expanding from 3,300 to20,000 sites in the next year

SM

http://www.seatel.com

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EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT

Q. Two years ago when we first didthis interview here at the NAB, youwere facing a very different competitiveenvironment in the North Americanfixed services market. There has been alot of consolidation with your erstwhilerival PanAmSat being merged withIntelsat and Loral Skynet purchasingTelesat Canada and returning with avengeance in the North American FixedSatellite Services (FSS) market afterbeing held out by a non-compete clausefor two years when it sold its NorthAmerica assets to Intelsat. What areyour views on the competitive environ-ment in North America and how is SESAmericom currently positioned in thismarket?

A. The North American satellitemarket is really more than just FSS. Wereally look at what our customers aresaying and they’re asking us to delivermore than just power and bandwidth. Inorder to do that we had to innovateplatforms across multiple segments ofthe industry—in two areas in general: IPsolutions on one hand and HD on theother. We’ve focused on those two

Interview with Bryan McGuirk, President ofthe Media and Enterprise Business of SESAmericom

areas. To begin, I’d just like to mention that in the IP area, we actually just announced this week that our IP platform, IP PRIME hasalready signed 350 channels and we areon the verge of commercial launch. Youmay not know this, but we’ve been intrials with four different telcos sinceOctober last year. Those trials havegone extremely well and we are nowshrink-wrapped and commercial-ready.

On the enterprise side, we’veannounced recently that we launchedour REDisat product, which is an IP-based disaster recovery product. Sothat really helps companies recoverquickly and provide business continuityduring disasters and emergencies.

Lastly, another area we can mentionis that we just launched our HD occa-sional business platform, which is thefirst of its kind in the industry. , Thisplatform sets aside space for a growingsegment which is HD contributions fromthe industry. That began about a yearand a half ago with the sports businessand now it’s extending into news feedsthis year.

Q. But right now you are facedwith more competition than ever. Howare you positioned in the NorthAmerican market today?

A. I believe we are very wellpositioned. In the FSS sector, our fleet

At the recently-concluded NAB 2007 show in Las Vegas,SatMagazine Managing Editor, Virgil Labrador conducted aninterview for the new multimedia section of Satnews.com to be

called “SatVideo”with Bryan McGuirk, President of the Media and Enter-prise Business of US-based satellite operator SES Americom. Anindustry veteran, who has extensive experience developing media-basedbusinesses, Bryan oversaw the development of SES Americom’s IPTV,HD, mobile TV and enterprise businesses. On the verge of its nation-wide commercial IPTV launch, Bryan spoke on SES Americom’s positionin the North American satellite market and its prospects for the future.Excerpts of the interview:

SatMagazine Managing EditorVirgil Labrador interviewing SESAmericom Media and Enterprisebusiness President Bryan McGuirkat the NAB in Las Vegas for the newvideo segment of Satnews.com tobe called “SatVideo.”

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EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT

is second to none. We have globalcoverage. We have three tremendousoperating companies with SES Americomin the United States, SES Astra inEurope, Middle East and Africa and SESNew Skies for the rest of the world. Wenever really had that much power andcoverage and the addition of New Skiesrounds out all the coverage of the worldfor us.

Q. The buzz here at the NAB seemsto be mobility—mobile TV, IPTV andTriple and even Quadruple Play—whatare your views on what’s driving theindustry and how is SES Americompositioned to meet the opportunitiesand challenges of this industry?

It really builds on strength. We’vebeen in the IP business for several yearsnow. We’re about to launch IP PRIMEfor its first market—the telcos. What IPPrime does is much bigger. What itdoes is that it takes all the video sourcesfrom about 15-16 satellites and we formatit into MPEG 4, which is intelligentvideo, ready for the market. In the caseof the telco market a stream is 2MegaBits for standard definition and 8MegaBits for HD. In the mobile market itcan be up to 300 KiloBits stream.

Q. Talk about the HD market—how is your HD prime neighborhoodgoing and has the market met yourexpectations?

It really has. In our primary HDmarket, we find ourselves nearly soldout earlier this year. Fortunately, wewere able to look ahead a few years agoand we put in the factory our AMC-18satellite which just came online this pastquarter. It’s really just-in-time inventory,because you’ve seen in the marketDirecTV announce that it is launching150 HD channels this year. Nearly everymajor program provider is launching HD

channels this year. So, we feel that weare in the right place with the rightinventory at the right time.

We’re very bullish on HD. At SESAmericom, we see ourselves as the HDleader bar none. We’ve got leadershipof our HD PRIME satellites across theboard. That includes networks likeDiscovery HD Theater, MTV, Home andGarden HD, Showtime HD , TMC HDand many others. Beyond that in our IPPRIME platform, we have over 18 HDchannels already. So, that leadershiphas really proven out what we haveachieved in the last few years. AMC-18puts in a position to grow that leader-ship.

Q. How about your Enterprisebusiness. How’s that working out foryou?

We’ve been in the enterprisebusiness for over 30 years. We beganby creating custom satellite networks forcorporations. And we still do that. Whatwe have done is add a layer of IPtechnology to create semi-customnetworks to allow them to plug in andget connectivity and compete anddeliver to a wide array of locations at acost-effective rate. Beyond that, in thereseller market we continue to see a lotof strength. Our IP platforms have whatwe call VNOs—Virtual Network Opera-tors, and a lot of resellers have signedon to this service and they have seen alot of demand.

In the consumer broadband market,which aslos serve the small enterprise market, we continue to see strength. The Ku-Bandmarket is now almost sold out in the US as a result. What wesee is a nice trajectory of expansion into Ka-Band services. We nowhave two Ka-Band payloads in our AMC-15 and 16 satellites which are both fullyleased. So, we see a future in Ka-band

as well.

Q. Where do you see the NorthAmerican broadcasting market going inthe near future?

I see it continuing to grow. I thinkif you look at the broadcasting market inthe past 20 years, there’s been waves ofinnovation—it’s not a steady stream.The first wave of innovation was fromanalog to digital in the early 90s. Thatwave jumpstarted when MPEG 2 becamecommon technology in the mid-90s. Atthat time we saw all the major channellaunch new digital suites. So they wentfrom one or two channels to 10-12channels. What we are seeing withMPEG 4 is a doubling of capacity withina whole new market segment—thetelcos. To serve that market segment, allthe major program providers are launch-ing new channels. So once again we seea new entrant—the telcos, as opposedto DBS in the 90s; a new technology—MPEG 4 as opposed to MPEG 2 then, anda new wave of channel innovation—andthat’s what’s happening now.

Q. Finally, if we do this interviewagain in two years, where do you seeSES Americom?

A. I see us as the pre-eminentleader in the satellite business and thepre-eminent leader in the transport ofcontent to various markets and leadingthe way in IP solutions. SM

To view the entire interviewonline go to: www.satnews.com/satvideo

http://www.satnews.com

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MARKET INTELLIGENCE

The World Economic Forum (WEF)recently published its latestGlobal Information Technology

Report (GITR), providing an assessmentof the impact of information andcommunication technology (ICT) oneconomic development processes andrelative business competitiveness ofmany nations around the world, includ-ing in the Middle East and North Africa(MENA) region.

Included in the GITR is the‘Networked Readiness Index’ (NRI).This Index is a measure of the propen-sity of countries to leverage the oppor-tunities offered by ICT for developmentand for increased industrial/commercialcompetitiveness, and it establishes abroad international framework to mapout the enabling factors of suchcapacity.

Preparedness to use ICT effec-tively is measured in the GITR in termsof three dimensions:

• The general business, regulatory and infrastructureenvironment for ICT;

• The readiness of the keystakeholders - individuals,businesses and governments –to use and benefit from ICT;

• Their actual usage of the latestinformation and communication technology available.

Analysis of theMENA region shows thatTunisia (35th in the NRIrankings), Morocco (76th)and Algeria (80th) have allimproved their networkedreadiness from last yearwhile, in contrast, Egypt isdown 14 places to 77th

position. The Gulfcountries, except forKuwait which is down 8positions to 54th this year,remain rather stable incomparison to last year,with the United ArabEmirates (UAE) leading the region at 29th

in the NRI rankings. Indeed, the UAEhas been placing a growing emphasis onthe role of ICT in recent years, with thelaunch of a number of ICT initiatives.

The timely publication of thisanalysis occurs just as we go throughthe period of build-up to a high-levelconference networking forum of commu-nications industry leaders and oil & gasindustry executives which will take placeat the GVF Oil & Gas Communications:North Africa and the Middle EastConference 2007 over the period 29th to31st May (please note these reviseddates) at the Intercontinental City StarsHotel, Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt.

The oil & gas exploration &production sectors will continue for

some time to call upon the telecommuni-cations industry to provide and deploythe most cost-effective and reliableapplications solutions all around theworld, and the objectives of this, the 2nd

Annual Conference, include the creationof a further opportunity to extend dialogbetween the two industries to advancethe provision of ICT applications for theExploration & Production segments ofthe energy sector in the MENA region.

For the 2007 Conference, GVF hasdeveloped an exciting, expanded, andregionally-focused conference programfor this important vertical market, aprogram developed from key principleselaborated in the Conference MissionStatement:

• “Nowhere are the facts of

Energy & Communications:

Imperatives & Solutions – “Take 2”BY MARTIN JARROLDChief, International Program Development, GVF& Chair, Oil & Gas Communications: North Africa and the Middle East Conference 2007www.gvf-events.org

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MARKET INTELLIGENCE

vertical market ICT requirements moreevident than in the oil & gas exploita-tion environment. Satellite-basedcommunications, together withsatellite-terrestrial hybridsolutions, already play a vitalrole within this sector, provid-ing essential connectivity inchallenging geographicenvironments and otherphysical circumstances, but itis a role which neverthelesshas both demand-side andsupply-side potential toexpand – and expand signifi-cantly.”

• “This Conference willbring together key leaders andexperts from the oil & gassector as well as the communi-cations industry into one high-level discussion and network-ing forum. In so doing, theconference will create oppor-tunities for companies in thismajor global vertical to callupon ICT solutions providers– whether based on terrestrialwireline or wirelesss, orsatellite – to match theirofferings more closely to thespecific demands and require-ments of the ‘oil & gaspatch’.”

Guided by these prin-ciples, this platform will bringtogether representatives ofboth sides of the communica-tions supply profile and thecommunications demandprofile equation. Although thefollowing lists are by no meansexhaustive, the two sides ofthis equation can be under-stood as being in the form,respectively, of:

• Telecoms Operators• Telecoms OEMs• Solutions Providers

• Systems Integrators• Telecoms and Systems

Consultants

http://www.idga.org/us/milsat

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MARKET INTELLIGENCE

• ISPs

And:

• International PetroleumCorporations

• Independent Oilfield Operators• National Oil Companies

(NOCs)• International / NOC JVs• Oilfield Services Companies

In achieving these various objec-tives, the organizers at GVF and UK-EMP are very pleased to welcome theinvaluable help of the following organi-zations as the sponsors of the event (listcorrect as at 26th April):

• Schlumberger (PrincipalSponsor)

• Ericsson• Alkan Telecom• Hughes Network Systems• Hermes

Prior to the commencement of theConference on 30th May, there will takeplace on 29th May a Technology OpenDay. The objective of this pre-Confer-ence Technology Open Day is to offer avalue-added opportunity to focus on thecurrent technology and service solu-tions that are available for the oil & gasvertical market. Through the facility ofthe Open Day, Schlumberger – asprincipal sponsor of the event – willoffer an opportunity for oil & gas sectorrepresentatives to develop a morecomprehensive understanding of thedesign of satellite networks, the varioustechnology choices inherent in thosedesigns, and the add-ons which havebecome increasingly critical in today’soperational environment, e.g., out-of-band connectivity, disaster recovery,remote configuration and monitoring.Aspects of the network design processto be featured on 29th May will include:

Martin Jarrold is the Director, International Programs ofthe Global VSAT Forum. He can be reached [email protected] For more information on the GVFgo towww.gvf.org

• First mile content and datacapture, security & transmission;

• E & P software packages ;• Network technologies &

topologies ;• New developments to vital

components of the link budget;• Hardware technology ad

vances;• Out-of-band control, monitor

ing & redundancy;• Disaster recovery systems;• Licensing issues & other

considerations.

Discussion facilitated by theTechnology Open Day will, quitenaturally, flow through into the businessof the Conference itself, the program forwhich was touched upon in this columna few months ago, and which can nowbe seen at the event-dedicated websiteat www.gvf-events.org

In brief, the main Conferenceproceedings will take place as a series ofeight distinctly themed ‘InterActive’Panels, as follows:

Conference Day One, 30th May:

• ‘InterActive’ Panel 1Applications Evolution and the

Dynamics of Oil & Gas NetworkingCommunications.

• ‘InterActive’ Panel 2Bandwidth Supply/Bandwidth

Demand: Optimising Price, Quality andReliability Variables in Oil & GasCommunications

• ‘InterActive’ Panel 3Oil & Gas Networking Innovation:

Satellite and the Hybridisation of theWide Area Seamless Solution

• ‘InterActive’ Panel 4Communications Regulation and

Vertical Market Growth Maximisation

Conference Day Two, 31st May:

• ‘InterActive’ Panel 5“Future Evolution”: Advancing

the Dynamics of the IP-Based Communi-cations Solution.

• ‘InterActive’ Panel 6Maintaining the Mission Critical

Link: Oil & Gas Communications WhenDisaster Strikes

• ‘InterActive’ Panel 7Oil & Gas ICT: Mitigating the

Resource “Exploitation” Tag

· ‘InterActive’ Panel 8Collaborative Oil & Gas Commu-

nications: Sharing the Benefits

For further information, pleasecontact me at [email protected] orgo to the Conference website atwww.gvf-events.org. SM

40Back to Contents


STOCK MONITOR

For real-time stock quotes go to www.satnews.com/free/finance.html

ADVERTISER’SINDEX

Advantech AMT 14www.advantechamt.com

COMTECH EF DATA 8www.comtechefdata.com

CPI SATCOM 19www.cpii/satcom

IDGA (Military 38Satellites Conference)www.idga.org

L-3 Narda Satellite 16Networkswww.lnr.com

MITEQ 18www.miteq.com

NEWTEC 27www.newtec.be

RADYNE 20www.radn.com

SATNEWS 4 &32www.satnews.com

SEATEL 34www.seatel.com

Wavestream 10www.wavestream.com

APT SATELLITE ATS 1.91 1.20 - 2.60ANDREW CORP ANDW 10.92 7.08 - 11.50ASIA SATELLITE SAT 21.00 16.00 - 23.55TELECOMMUNICATIONS(ASIASAT)BALL CORP BLL 50.69 34.16 - 53.89BOEING CO BA 93.00 72.13 - 95.58BRITISH SKY ADS BSY 46.13 37.66 - 46.69CALAMP CORP CAMP 8.33 5.44 - 13.82C-COM SATELLITE CMI.V 0.34 0.31 - 0.56SYSTEMS INC.COM DEV INTL LTD CDV.TO 4.30 3.50 - 6.88COMTECH TELECOM CMTL 37.85 25.67 - 40.23THE DIRECTV GROUP DTV 23.84 15.88 - 26.09ECHOSTARCOMMUNICATIONS DISH 46.53 29.80 - 47.45GILAT SATELLITE GILT 9.12 6.62 - 10.26NETWORKSGLOBECOMM SYS INC GCOM 13.39 6.30 - 13.15HARRIS CORP HRS 51.35 37.69 - 52.93HONEYWELL INTL INC HON 54.18 35.53 - 55.04HUGHES HUGH 48.95 29.75 - 49.50COMMUNICATIONINTL DATACASTING DC.TO 0.3950 0.15 - 0.42CORPORATIONINTEGRAL SYSTEMS ISYS 23.64 21.42 - 33.55KVH INDS INC KVHI 9.35 8.48 - 14.48L-3 COMM HLDGS INC LLL 89.9 LOCKHEED MARTIN LMT 96.14 69.87 - 103.50NEWS CORP NWS 24.00 18.11 - 25.78NORSAT INTL INC NSATF.OB 0.88 0.30 - 0.98ORBITAL SCIENCES CORP ORB 20.87 14.18 - 20.36QUALCOMM INC QCOM 43.80 32.76 - 53.01RADYNE CORPORATION RADN 8.70 8.61 - 17.85SES GLOBAL FDR SES.F 14.27 10.03 - 14.90SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO SIRI 2.96 15.92 - 26.89TRIMBLE NAVIGATION TRMB 28.68 19.56 - 29.39WORLDSPACE INC WRSP 3.40 1.90 - 6.86VIASAT INC VSAT 34.30 22.32 - 36.00XM SATELLITE RADIO XMSR 11.70 9.63 - 20.85

Company Name Symbol Price 52-wk Range(April 30)

7kh (qwhusulvh 0dunhw · the same frequency . this year the international telecom-munications union...

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