[Satellite News 01-11-11] Over the past two months, Hughes Network Systems has unveiled a slew of new enterprise and government service offerings, including technology service to the U.S. government through its U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) schedule contract vehicle.
    Hughes was selected by the GSA to provide commercial satellite communications under the GSA and U.S. Defense Intelligence Systems Agency’s expanded Future ComSatCom Services Acquisition (FCSA) program in November. Through FCSA, the government can acquire any part of or a fully managed end-to-end satellite services solution in any commercially available commercial satellite communications frequency band, including L-, S-, C-, X-, Ku-, extended Ku-, Ka- and UHF.
    The company’s Virtualized Field Office Server, introduced Jan. 10 for the government market, aims to reduce information technology infrastructure and operating costs while enabling future-based enterprise applications. These applications include: WAN optimization to create virtual bandwidth to and from government field offices; live and on-demand video training and learning solutions; video surveillance to enhance physical security; interactive digital signage; and virtualized desktop environments to replace expensive dedicated PCs.
    “As federal agencies look to upgrade the aging [information technology] infrastructures at their field offices, bureaus and divisions, they can benefit from our new Virtualized Field Office Server offering that eliminates the need to deploy multiple single application servers at these sites,” Hughes Assistant Vice President for Government Solutions Tony Bardo said in a statement.
     Just last month, the company unveiled a new terrestrial satellite service offering that it hopes will serve U.S. federal agencies as its national managed broadband network. Released through its Networx partners, Hughes’ terrestrial satellite service aims to allow U.S. government customers to take up any combination of voice, video, and data solutions for federal agencies and field offices across the country.  
      “With this offering, Hughes is able to deliver what has, until now, been missing from the landscape of federal networking options: a national managed broadband service that leverages terrestrial, wireless, and satellite technologies to deliver the most cost-effective solutions tailored to an agency’s specific requirements. This is particularly useful for small and medium-sized field offices that need to connect to an agency’s cloud or meet anticipated requirements for telework,” Tony Bardo, assistant vice president for government solutions at Hughes, said in a statement.
    Along with voice, video and data, the service, backed by enterprise-grade service-level agreements, features tailored architecture designed security and IT requirements, a multi-transport broadband network for DSL, cable, 3G, and satellite, as well as turnkey implementation. The offering also includes program management and customer service through Hughes’ Network Operations Center.  
    Bardo said the technology involved in the service provides the government with connectivity options that are new to the sector. “Now, there is no such thing as a federal agency, field office, or home office that is too remote for secure, managed broadband service coverage,” he said.
The company’s most recent service launch includes its managed Voice-over-IP (VoIP) solution for the distributed enterprise market. The service aims to eliminate the need for customers to invest in leased-line MPLS networks by providing high-quality voice and broadband using Hughes’ ActiveQoS technology.
    “Businesses with many distributed branches, such as retail and restaurant chains, have often been unable to justify deploying a managed VoIP solution. The benefits of converging voice and data are well known, and now enterprise customers can reap those benefits to reduce operational costs,” Hughes Solutions Group Vice President Mike Tippets said in a statement.
     The ActiveQoS technology integrates into Hughes’ customer premise equipment, actively monitoring and adapting to network congestion over the broadband network. The offering incorporates traffic metering, network change adaptation, and traffic prioritization for real-time, latency-sensitive applications