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Data Tech DirecStar® Backgrounder
Are you old enough to remember what life was like before computers Do you remember cutting up typed sheets of paper and taping them together to edit a document
And how did we ever survive before the Internet Without the ability to go on line, we feel cut off from the world. Businesses in mobile and remote environments have the same need to stay in touch when they¡¯re on the road and not plugged in.
This dependency on mobile Internet communications of all kinds resulted in the development of many different mobile internet products, companies and services. The commercial mobile or ¡®fixed/transportable¡¯ satellite internet capable antenna market grew out of the grass roots of the recreational marketplace, not unlike the early days of the commercial mobile satellite industry.
Smart people at tuned-in companies have a way of taking advantage of identified demand in their field of expertise. Winegard Company, widely considered an innovator and pioneer in Satellite and mobile reception product design and manufacturing for over 50 years, is one of those companies. Seeing this growing demand for mobile and remote Internet connectivity primarily found through satellite Internet services, it partnered with a unique blend of key individuals with many years of DBS and VSAT experience to form a new company, Data Technology International, LLC in April of 2004.
The new company, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is dedicated to mobile Internet antenna products for both the domestic and international markets. Data Tech, with Winegard¡¯s help, immediately invested all its experience and resources to address this new market. On June 8, 2004, it issued its first press release with the headline ¡°WINEGARD FORMS NEW COMPANY DELIVERING TWO-WAY FIXED/TRANSPORTABLE MOBILE SATELLITE INTERNET SYSTEMS OFFERING REAL-TIME IP, VIDEO, VOICE, AUDIO AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS ANYWHERE, ANYTIME¡±.
Understanding the unique characteristics of this rapidly growing market for mobile satellite Internet communications and mobile/remote connectivity, Data Tech pioneered the development of the next generation in fixed/transportable Internet/simultaneous DBS satellite antenna systems. With one click of its patented ¡®touch screen¡¯ control, the DirecStar? Series of fully automatic satellite systems rapidly points, acquires and connects to virtually any broadband satellite platform globally, anytime, anywhere.
This first series of mobile Internet antenna systems, the DirecStar line, has been designed for virtually any satellite send and receive platform. It will be available in .74, 1.0 and 1.2 meter mobile antennas, providing a user-friendly environment, fully compliant with all FCC regulations for sending and transmitting in a mobile environment. DirecStar includes single platform connection for all users and cost-effective pricing with uniform monthly service fees.
Such applications as Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VoiP), Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Secured Private Networks (SPN), Transportable Wi-Fi Access, Real Time Webcasts via Multicast Delivery, Video and Audio Streaming and much more, will soon be available with the DirecStar automated Internet satellite antenna system. DBS television with dual TV LNB outputs for multiple TV signal reception is offered as an option. This includes HD compatibility simultaneously while using the Internet.
Mobile Internet technology is all about the freedom, importance and affordability of high speed communication, anytime, anywhere. ?People, businesses and time-sensitive service organizations who are constantly on the go and who need to send and access information, no matter where they are located, will now have access to the technology that makes all this possible.
These new internet satellite antennas provide unlimited mobile access to users such as News Organizations, Oil, Gas, Forestry and Mining Industry, Medical Service Providers, Law Enforcement, Military, Homeland Security, Recreational Vehicles, Emergency Response Teams, Mobile command centers, Government, Field offices, Broadband and video conferencing, Fire command and Construction.
Every industry has a mobile HIGH SPEED internet need. If they haven¡¯t discovered it yet, they will.
As evidence of this, CapRock Communications , a provider of industrial grade satellite communication services and a major player in the Oil & Gas Communications industry, announced in March it signed an alliance agreement for the distribution of a new automatically deployable satellite system for mobile communications vehicles. CapRock saw the need for applying mobile high speed internet for a new auto-deploy antenna in energy exploration and production markets.
Companies offering Two-Way Send/Receive Mobile Satellite Internet include RST, MotoSat, C-COM Satellite Systems, Swe-Dish, AVL Technologies and DataBahn formed in May of 2002.
In pursuit of the international markets for mobile Internet antenna products, on July 27, 2004, Data Tech entered into a strategic partnership with Broadband Network Systems Ltd (BNS) to explore opportunities in the rapidly expanding Asia Pacific mobile Internet and television entertainment markets. With its dynamically expanding consumer base and rapid-growth automobile and public transportation markets, Asia presents tremendous expansion opportunities for mobile Internet and satellite television products...
BNS will be conducting trials with major public transportation operators in China on the DirecStar. Asia is the fastest growing automobile market in the world and Data Tech sees enormous opportunities for their products there. The strong relationships and technology expertise that BNS brings to the game will greatly facilitate Data Tech¡¯s introductions in this fast moving market. In addition to product distribution, the partnership agreement will also involve jointly conducted market research and technology deployment.
DataTech recently entered into an agreement with Hughes Network Systems (HNS) to become a ¡®Value-Added Reseller¡¯ (VAR) of Internet ¡®High Speed¡¯ bandwidth services for Fixed/Transportable applications. Individuals, businesses, the government and military or any time-sensitive service and care organizations who are constantly on the go or relocating and who need to send and access information, will now have access to the technology that makes all this possible, no matter where they are or how many times they move.
The agreement with Hughes was very important to Data Tech and Hughes also, and very timely. At the moment, the government and military has become the single most important customer of satellite operators and ground/mobile equipment manufacturers. With the ongoing global war on terror and the continued military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has nearly exhausted its supply of satellite resources. Contact between the military and commercial satellite companies has never been more critical.
Gilat, a smaller niche VSAT network provider similar to DIRECWAY is in discussions with DataTech. Gilat says ¡°The ability to transmit detailed information quickly and reliably to and from headquarters helps streamline military command and control and ensures information superiority in the battlefield. Satellite communications are playing an increasingly key role in providing the continuous, interoperable, robust ¡°networkcentric¡± communications needed for military operations¡±.
idirect, a manufacturer of a series of remote VSAT routers and ViaSat, offering several VSAT networks are also in discussions with Data Tech.
In an article appearing in SATELLITE TODAY on March 17, Northern Sky Research said in a report released March 15 that ¡°the total revenue for the satellite industry derived from government and military users is expected to grow to more than $1.4 billion by 2010 from an estimated $580.2 million in 2003, yielding about $7.8 billion throughout an eight-year period. The report, "Government and Military Demand on Commercial Satellites, Second Edition," said the satellite communications revenue growth continues to be driven largely by U.S. military demand as the Pentagon's bandwidth needs have increased substantially and will not be satisfied internally before 2020¡±.
Peter J. Brown, Via Satellite¡¯s Senior Multimedia & Homeland Security Editor, is quoted in VIA SATELLITE ¡°With its ability to instantly deliver Internet Protocol (IP)-based video, voice and data anywhere in the world, the satellite industry is simply giving the public and private sectors more options. A few vertical industries where satellite technology offers solutions include health care, energy, public safety, transportation and Homeland Security, each of which has unique requirements that are ideal for IP over satellite. But regardless of market segment, enhancing IT technology and maximizing bandwidth usage with satellite is providing profitable returns for global satellite industry executives.
Just in time to help out with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, after extensive tests on temperature and tolerance to humidity exposure, rain, icing, freezing rain, dust, 4G and 16G mechanical shock and wind, actually putting it in a wind tunnel, Data Tech¡¯s DirecStar auto-pointing and deploying mounting system just received certification from Hughes Network Services. And talk about ice, they put it in a chamber and dropped the temperature to minus 40 degrees, covering it with a half inch of ice for 48 hours and then required it to work. It did.
They run these tests before they¡¯ll certify a product for use with HNS¡¯ DIRECWAY Broadband satellite system. Data Tech¡¯s mobile/remote high speed system made it through with flying colors. And Reed Brown, president of Data Tech says ¡°DirecStar is the only Auto-Deploying System on the market that has demonstrated compliance with all HNS's Environmental Requirements¡±
Data Tech first previewed DirecStar on the DIRECWAY platform at CES 2005. The combination of the DirecStar auto-pointing and deploying mounting system and DIRECWAY platform becomes a transportable, high-speed Broadband Internet mobile connection, enabling customers such as the EPA, to access broadband Internet from all remote locations, without the need for phone lines.
Data Tech is now shipping the DirecStar system.
Just as the Internet has transformed modern day living over the last 15 years, mobility of the Internet and all of its applications will revolutionize the 21st century for businesses and consumers alike.
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