Atlanta-based ILC is finding that a sluggish satellite industry still offers plenty of opportunity to sell network control software and systems.

One reason ILC is doing well in the face of economic weakness is that the technical products that the company provides can help satellite service providers boost their annual revenues by 2 to 5 percent, said Mark Krikorian, ILC’s chief operating officer.

ILC’s key product for the satellite industry is its MaxView software that is capable of automatically correcting service interruptions between an earth station and its satellites. The company also allows satellite providers to add new equipment, if needed, without additional costs.

“Satellite providers have to know when a problem interferes with their customers’ service, pinpoint the source of that problem, and resolve it immediately,” said Angela Renals, ILC’s communications manager. “Adding to the challenge, satellite providers continuously add new and disparate equipment to enhance their services.”

Competitors in the satellite network control marketplace include MNC Systems, of Plano, Texas, and Newpoint Technologies, of Salem, N.H. However, ILC has carved out a distinctive position with the capability of its software, Renals said.

Don Jefferson, a technical project director with Loral Skynet [NYSE: LOR], said ILC’s MaxView software helps his company monitor and control telemetry, tracking and control operations. The system can be configured to control antennas, high-powered amplifiers, converters and switches at an earth station with the push of a button, Jefferson added.

“The people that control the satellite need to be able to route signals through the earth station,” Jefferson said. “Without the product, we have a bunch of guys running around throwing switches. The system is very flexible and lets us support our own operations in house.”

Fred Reichert, the earth station manager with EchoStar Communications [Nasdaq: DISH] in Cheyenne, Wyo., said the software monitors and controls all the transmit equipment on the ground at the earth station that communicates with its eight in-orbit satellites.

“It saves us time because you don’t need to physically go room to room to control the equipment,” Reichert said. “We now can make changes from a desktop computer.”

ILC also has diversified into other communications sectors outside the satellite industry.

The ability of its key product, MaxView, to control many types of equipment gives it the versatility to operate on most networks, Renals said.

“The root cause of this trend is the fact that networks are constantly merging, and today’s service providers recognize the inevitable requirement to converge their operations,” Renals said. “We call that goal ‘total control,’ which ultimately saves money and improves efficiency, minimizing network downtime while contributing to revenue generation by maximizing network reliability.”

The average low-end MaxView purchaser spends $250,000 for implementation and $50,000 annually to achieve break-even within 1.25 years and gain a three-year return on investment of 180 percent. An average high-end MaxView customer, paying $1 million for a system and $100,000 annually, breaks even on the expense in 1.1 years and achieves a three-year ROI of 300 percent, Renals said.

–Paul Dykewicz