Spotlight: U.S. Army Deploys TDMA Satellite Network

Reston, Va.-based iDirect Technologies has teamed with Technical and Management Services Corp. (TAMSCO) to provide U.S. Army personnel in Iraq with a TDMA satellite network.

TAMSCO, an information technology company, helped to design a 27-node VSAT network with a hub and antenna site in Wiesbaden, Germany, to let U.S. Army logistics personnel connect with the network. Within three months, TAMSCO used iDirect’s Hub platform and broadband routers at each remote site, procured the equipment, installed an antenna hub site in Germany, installed the back-end network equipment, and established a help desk in Kuwait.

Not only did the logistics network provide communications support to 300,000 troops deployed in the Iraqi military action, Army officials said it marked the first time they had used a TDMA satellite network.

IDirect provided software that enabled all 27 nodes to share satellite bandwidth and to take advantage of software enhancements designed to deliver more traffic and applications than competing satellite technologies. Additionally, iDirect’s technology allowed TAMSCO to offer a network with fewer components at each site, as well as smaller size hubs and antennas.

TAMSCO subsequently has been tapped by the Army to provide an identical network for the medical logistics community. That network will consist of 32 nodes and will be fully implemented by the end of June 2003. –Paul Dykewicz

(Kevin Magee, iDirect, 703/648-8042)