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Hughes Network Systems' satellite to feature single-hop data transmission
[April 12, 2006]

Hughes Network Systems' satellite to feature single-hop data transmission


(Frederick News-Post, The (Frederick, MD) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 11--GERMANTOWN -- Hughes Network Systems will launch a satellite in early 2007 that will feature single-hop data transmission.

The SPACEWAY satellite will be the first satellite that will switch in the sky, said Arunas Slekys, vice president of corporate marketing for Hughes.

The new satellite broadband platform, which is expected to become operational by the middle of 2007, will allow a single switch with any satellite dish communication, Mr. Slekys said.

Hughes spent $2 billion to develop SPACEWAY, which will be used to supply broadband Internet services, Mr. Slekys said.

Current technology is a two-hop system, Mr. Slekys said. A terminal dish transmits data to a satellite, then the data is transported to a network center on the ground. Routing information is added at the network center, then sent back to the satellite, which transmits the data to the ultimate destination.



"In a single hop, the data goes up, then the bird (satellite) will route the call to where it has to go," Mr. Slekys said. "The satellite contains the switch logic and beam-forming logic, and the data then is focused from the satellite to a specific ground location."

The satellite will be useful when the new Internet -- the IPv6 -- comes to fruition, Mr. Slekys said.


The main reason the IPv6, or Internet Protocol Version 6, is being developed is because the current Internet, Internet Protocol Version 4, is running out of addresses, which are needed by all new machines added to the Internet, according to the IPv6 information site (www.ipv6.org).

"SPACEWAY will significantly add the volume of Internet customers we have today," Mr. Slekys said. "IPv6 greatly increases the percentage of the market that we can capture."

Hughes has 300,000 customers that use its VSAT, or very small aperture terminals. The satellite dishes generally are 1.8 meters in diameter or less, according to the Hughes Web site.

The Hughes customer base is small compared to the 50 million users of broadband Internet services using ground-based DSL (digital subscriber line that uses telephone wires) or cable technology, Mr. Slekys said.

"Even though we are a small percentage of the market, as the market continues to expand to deliver video -- and it has grown to more than 25 million in less than 10 years -- we see the potential as a major provider of the satellite Internet market."

Mr. Slekys says there are 15 million households in the United States that cannot be reached with any terrestrial technology because it is not cost efficient. "These households are available to us; they are not available by cable or wire; we will reach them by satellite," he said.

Mr. Slekys' comments were a result of an interview on behalf of Hughes' chief executive officer Pradman Kaul, who captured Executive of the Year honors at last Wednesday's Tech Council of Maryland's 17th Annual Awards Dinner at the North Bethesda Marriott Conference Center in Rockville.

"Mr. Kaul considers the award a great honor for Hughes and the company's greatest asset, its people and brainpower," Mr. Slekys said.

The Tech Council's top networking event of the year attracted more than 850 technology executives from throughout Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland, according to Michelle Ferrone, the Tech Council's director of communications.

The following companies and executives also were honored as technology award winners:

--Randy Slager, president and CEO, Catapult Technologies of Bethesda, won the Entrepreneur of the Year.

--GenVec Inc., of Gaithersburg, took the Biotechnology Firm of the Year.

--Z-Tech Corp., of Rockville, was named Government Contracting Firm of the Year.

--AEPCO Inc., of Rockville, took the Legends/Community Service Award.

Each company was nominated by its peers for the award and underwent review and certification by a Tech Council of Maryland Awards Committee, said Julie Coons, the Tech Council's chief executive officer.

The Tech Council also presented Technology Advocate of the Year Awards to General Assembly members Kumar Barve and Patrick Hogan, both from Montgomery County.

Mr. Hogan is the Democratic senator from District 39, while Mr. Barve is the Democratic delegate from District 17.

The Tech Council of Maryland's mission is to serve as a technology think-tank where executives discuss ideas, innovate, and solve technology issues that can lead to increased business.

Tech Council members are from industry, government, academia and the service-provider industry, Ms. Ferrone said.

The Tech Council has more than 500 member companies representing more than 200,000 people throughout the state, Ms. Ferrone said.

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