People

CELERITY
Adds New Sales Managers

Celerity Digital Broadband Test, a division of L-3 Communications Corp., appointed three new regional managers to its sales team.

Jim Balent joined the company as the L-3 Communications corporate channel manager. Prior to joining Celerity, he worked for National Instruments as business development manager and product marketing manager.

For the Northeast region of the United States, Ed Okorn is the new sales manager located in Cleveland, OH. Prior to joining Celerity, he worked for General Electric as commercial sensors sales manager.

As the Southeast Regional Sales Manager for Celerity, Bob Lovill is based in Raleigh, NC. Before joining Celerity, he worked for Agilent Technologies as an account manager.

LOCKHEED MARTIN
Names Vice President

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. selected Daniel Crowley as vice president, business development and advanced programs, for missiles and space operations in Sunnyvale, CA.

In his new role, Crowley will manage the missiles and space operations business development team and all business development activities, including strategic planning, customer contacts, campaign oversight and proposal development.

Crowley joined Lockheed Martin in 1983. He most recently served as vice president, business development of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense program.

NEW SKIES
Appoints Sales Vice President

New Skies Satellites N.V. named Nigel Gibson as the company’s new vice president of European sales. He is responsible for the sale of New Skies satellite capacity to broadcast, telecom and Internet customers throughout Europe. Gibson joins New Skies from Globecast Northern Europe.

Services

AON SPACE
Insures Orbital Recovery Corp.

Aon Space Inc. will provide insurance brokering and risk management services for Orbital Recovery Corp., which is developing a space tug to extend the operational lifetimes of in-orbit telecommunications satellites for up to 10 additional years.

Aon Space will be an active partner of Orbital Recovery Corp. Its tasks will include identifying opportunities for the Geosynch Spacecraft Life Extension System (SLES) to retrieve, salvage and reposition telecommunications satellites, as well as the brokering of insurance for SLES missions.

INTELSAT
Operating On Five Continents

Intelsat’s new Globalconnex solutions are now operational on five continents. Globalconnex, currently serving customers in Asia, Africa and South America, is Intelsat’s portfolio of end-to-end Internet trunking, international private line and video solutions.

Guyana Telegraph and Telephone (GTT) signed a contract with Intelsat for its Internet trunking Service. GTT’s solution uses the Intelsat 903 satellite and the Clarksburg digital teleport in Maryland to connect Guyana to the Internet backbone in the United States.

Corporate Access of India also has signed on for Intelsat’s Internet trunking service. Corporate Access is delivering Internet trunking solutions using the Intelsat 804 satellite located at 64 degreesE, and the teleport in Fuchsstadt, Germany.

Internet trunking has also made its way into Africa. Intelsat signed a contract to provide service to 21st Century, an Internet service provider in Nigeria that provides corporate network services for banks, multinationals, accounting firms and oil companies within the country.

MCKIBBEN
Changes Company Name

McKibben Communications unveiled a new corporate identity. Now known as Fibersat Global Services LLC, it will continue to operate its Los Angeles International Mediacenter and utilize its satellite ground facilities, fiber optic connectivity, techniques and proprietary workflow/facilities scheduling software platform to receive, process, store, encrypt, and transmit television and data signals globally.

PATRIOT
Upgrades Headquarters

Patriot Antenna Systems purchased a new anechoic chamber as well as high frequency test gear for satellite feed and antenna development in its factory headquarters located in Albion, MI.

Combined with recent software purchases, the chamber and test equipment will allow Patriot to supply feed patterns, Xpol data, Axial Ratio data and feed phase center as well as small antenna patterns. The facility will be used to support Patriot internal product development, but will also be open to other companies with design/test needs on a contract basis.

Contracts

BT BROADCAST SERVICES
Signs Agreement With Panamsat

BT Broadcast Services (BT) signed a new, occasional-use agreement with Panamsat, enabling its customers to use Panamsat’s global fleet.

The multi-year deal means that BT’s customers will now be able to book occasional-use satellite services on Panamsat’s global network. This agreement provides BT customers with a turnkey solution for the delivery of breaking news and special events broadcasting around the globe.

GLOBECAST
Distributes Wizebuys TV

Globecast began providing Wizebuys Television with network origination and nationwide satellite distribution from its all-digital satellite broadcast center in Miami, FL.

Pennsylvania-based Wizebuys Television is a nationwide direct response television network that distributes paid programming content to affiliates as a revenue-generating service to fill remnant time in bulk.

Globecast is providing all-digital playout, tape library, Digicipher 2 compression, satellite uplink and space capacity on SES Global’s AMC 1.

INTELSAT
Acquires Teleport Facility

Intelsat acquired the Pacamtel teleport, located outside Los Angeles, CA.

The new teleport, now to be known as Riverside Teleport, has terrestrial links to one of the U.S. West Coast’s major telecom points of presence (PoP)–the Meet Me Room at One Wilshire is where a community of service providers interconnect. It also has terrestrial links to a second L.A. PoP at 818 West 7th Street that is connected into Intelsat’s global terrestrial fiber links.

ITT INDUSTRIES
Wins Contract From TRW

ITT industries Aerospace/Communications Division was awarded a $113 million contract by TRW to produce three high-technology, space-based measurement instruments to improve future weather forecasting worldwide.

The instrument, known as the Cross Track Infared Sounders (Cris), provides improved measurements of temperature and moisture in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Cris is scheduled to begin flying onboard NASA’s NPOESS Prepatory Project spacecraft beginning in 2006.

JPS COMMUNICATIONS
Selected By Raytheon

Raytheon’s First Responder team released its new mobile command center featuring the JPS ACU-1000 interoperability unit. Housed in a Chevrolet Suburban, the mobile crisis center capitalizes on the functionality of the ACU-1000, offering complete interoperability to emergency personnel and enabling agencies to talk to each other regardless of radio type or frequency.

This device connects multiple radio channels and various other media, including cellular, satcom and landline telephone. These cross connections enable communication between local, state, and federal agencies using existing radios in the UHF, VHF or 800 MHz bands.

L-3 COMMUNICATIONS
Supplies HPAs To Honeywell

L-3 Communications’ Telemetry-West division has been awarded a multimillion dollar contract to provide high power amplifiers (HPAs) to Honeywell Technology Solution Inc. in support of the Satellite Control Network contract. The value of the contract, when all options are exercised, is estimated at more than $25 million.

NORSAT
Completes Terminal Shipment

Norsat International Inc. completed the final shipment of 20 PicoTerminal systems to a military customer. The name of the customer was not disclosed. This contract marks the first commercial release of Norsat’s portable terminal family.

The PicoTerminal is one of the smallest Ku-band, two-way communication devices in the world. The design provides customers with a terminal used to transmit and receive voice and data signals via satellite. It is useful for applications in military and defense deployments, mobile newsgathering, emergency services and resource exploration.

THRANE AND THRANE
Awards Contract To GCS

Thrane and Thrane awarded a direct distributorship for global Inmarsat satellite communication systems in the United States to Global Communications Solutions (GCS) of Victor, NY. GCS will provide portable, fixed and land mobile terminals for global mobile satellite communication systems manufactured by Thrane and Thrane of Denmark.

Technology

ANALYTICAL GRAPHICS
Releases Beta STK 5.0

Analytical Graphics debuted the first beta release of its next generation of Satellite Tool Kit (STK). STK version 5.0 Beta is distributed to interested users for the purpose of gathering feedback and enabling an upgrade to the official release of STK 5.0 in the spring of 2003.

The STK 5.0 is designed to enable users to use STK “their way” with a new graphical user interface based on Microsoft Windows standards; an open architecture to support customization and integration with other software packages; and an HTML interface that promotes customized, task-oriented work flows. (Analytical Graphics Inc., 40 General Warren Blvd., Malvern, PA 19355-1245; Tel: 610/578-1000; Fax: 610/578-1001; Web: http://www.stk.com)

CHANNEL MASTER
Expands Into Lowe’s

Channel Master is expanding its antennas to the entire chain of Lowe’s Home Improvement warehouses. Channel Master will supply products for Lowe’s Outdoor Antenna Program, including antennas, mounts, masting and amplifiers. (Channel Master LLC, 1315 Industrial Park Dr., Smithfield, NC 27577; Tel: 919/934-9711; Fax: 919/989-2200; Web: http://www.channelmaster.com)

DNE TECHNOLOGIES
Releases New Converter

DNE Technologies released its new CV-8448 NRZ to CDI protocol converters. DNE’s CV-8448 products allow the bridging of NRZ and CDI protocols so cameras, routers, cryptos and other NRZ devices can be positioned at significant distances from the satellite terminal.

DNE offers these NRZ to CDI conversion products at rates up to 8.448 Mbps through fiber optic cable and up to 4.068 Mbps through copper. The new line also offers a model with either a singlemode fiber or multimode fiber connections. (DNE Technologies, 50 Barnes Park North, P.O. Box 30, Wallingford, CT 06492-0030; Tel: Tel: 203/265-7151; Fax: 203/265- 9101; Web: http://www.dnetech.com)

SEA TEL
Introduces New WaveCall Model

The newly released Sea Tel 4003 Broadband Maritime Communications System provides high speed services in the Americas, continental Europe and the Mediterranean. This WaveCall broadband-at-sea service provides Internet speed at 512 kbs inbound (satellite-to-ship) and 128 kbs outbound (ship-to-satellite) speeds which can be upgraded to 1.5 mbs inbound and 256 kbs outbound. At just one meter, the 4003 is the same size as an Inmarsat-B terminal and also the Sea Tel Model 4094 DBS TV-at-Sea system. The broadband services offered with the Model 4003 BMCS are supplied by WaveCall Communications Inc., a subsidiary of Sea Tel Inc. (Sea Tel, 4030 Nelson Ave., Concord, CA 94520; Tel: 925/798-7979; Fax: 925/798- 7986; Web: http://www.seatel.com)