Robert (Bob) M. Sorbello, Ph.D., a pioneer and leader of the satellite industry, passed away unexpectedly on July 15, 2009. He was a loving husband and father, an extremely talented engineer, a well-respected colleague, a trusted friend and admired mentor. He was 61 years old and lived in Potomac, Maryland.

The companies involved in the European satellite and related markets, as well as those companies providing services and product into the European segment, are amazingly productive and innovative. European companies are making significant strides in increasing their market share throughout the world, with new contracts and new products supplying various communication needs. Need proof? Digest the European-related activities in the BEAM jump, starting at page 75. Right now, let’s impart information dealing with a variety of issues that are important to us all... industry analysis and trade exhibition info, for starters. From SATCON to GSTC-SATTECH 2010, Euroconsult to NSR as well as the U.S. Geological Survey, glean on!

Nigel Gibson is Vice President, International Sales for Telesat, where he is responsible for expanding utilization and revenue on the company’s global Telstar fleet consisting of: Telstar 11N and Telstar 12, which mainly serve the America and EMEA regions — Telstar 14 in the Americas — Telstar 18 in Asia. A new satellite, Telstar 7514R, announced in July, is now under construction.

David Justin was the former Chief Executive Officer of GlobeCast Asia and now serves as the Chief Executive Officer of GlobeCast America. In his previous position, Mr. Justin managed all operations in Asia, including a master control center and teleport in Singapore, and liaison offices in New Delhi, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing.

Adam Davison is the corporate vice president of sales and marketing for Expand Networks and is responsible for implementing sales processes as well as coordinating and initiating global efforts and alliances to enhance Expand’s worldwide presence. Davison has more than 14 years experience in sales, management and business development roles in networking companies and has been successful in building markets and maximizing sales in EMEA for international start-ups. Davison has been with Expand since 2001.

As is true within any industry at this time, satellite service providers are being asked to find efficiencies wherever possible. While the pressure to save costs has obviously increased in the last many months, this drive for efficiency is not entirely new — and, in fact, has been slowly gaining momentum over several years, both from a cost standpoint and a competitive management perspective. At the same time, businesses of all types are being held to a greater level of accountability, fueling the demand for instant information access and the ability to tightly control and manage accounts. The confluence of these market forces has ushered in a new era of high expectations for service in the MSS industry and the development of business management tools for enhanced customer administration a welcome necessity. It’s imperative that service providers hear the call of efficiency and get positioned to operate with and pass the benefits of efficiency to end customers.

Last year, Australian Satellite Communications (ASC) launched a high speed maritime service to accommodate the new commercial Sea Tel 2406 Marine Stabilized Antenna (60cm diameter reflector). ASC delivers leading edge SATCOM solutions for the maritime leisure industry and their client, The Great Escape Charter Company, is quite unlike any tour operator you have ever encountered. They are committed to providing experiences, which are genuinely extraordinary. Their hospitality is unique, personalized, and world-class — the accommodations are luxurious and customized for each passenger.

“We’re really in the heart of Greek wine country here,” remarks Christopher Slaney, VP Business Development of Europe Media Port (EMP), as he slows down for farm vehicles coming the other way along the narrow road flanked by vines. In a broad valley, bordered by tilled hills interspersed by ranks of olive trees, all we can see are grape vines and storage silos, until we come upon a cluster of huge, white satellite dishes. This is the Nemea Earth station, the heart of EMP, one of Europe’s fastest growing satellite service providers. “We want to bottle a limited edition of wine under our own label and hand it out as gifts to visitors. But the new rules on flying with liquids on carry-on baggage has put an end to that idea,” says Slaney. We agree to share a glass or two at the local taverna before heading back to Athens.

Satellite communication (SATCOM) systems have made it possible to deliver information into areas where no connectivity exists. This is particularly true in the case of rural and remote areas. SATCOM makes cooperation between countries and within regions possible and allows for linking people with technologies that go far beyond boundaries, be such a nation’s borders or technical competence. While developing countries continue to struggle to equip schools in rural areas with computers and the Internet, the developed world is highly desirous of providing high-speed Internet access into every school and learning center. Satellite technology plays a crucial role in making this goal possible.

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) will host the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The month long tournament of football matches will occur between June 11 and July 11, 2010 and will be played in 10 South African stadiums. This will be the first FIFA World Cup ever to be held in Africa — the event will draw upon an international audience and will be of great importance to the African continent.

Your content is downlinked from satellite, and your IPTV infrastructure is up and running, ready to for delivery to an eager subscriber base. So, what’s to go wrong?

Advanced coding and modulation technologies, often used in various combinations, offer a quantum-leap in efficiency that brings structural changes to the ground segment business of most satellite-delivered applications. Satellite sectors and applications that benefit from advanced modulation and/or video compression include DTH, video distribution and contribution, satellite broadband and IP trunking/backhaul, HITS, digital cinema distribution and SCPC.

Following a decade of faithful service to a large satcom company where I served in a variety of technical roles, our senior management identified a character trait in me that, in their view, potted my destiny for a life in Sales. So with the grace of an alley cat being shoved into a washtub of water, I was plucked from the nurturing womb of Engineering and cast into a new trade, a trade that seemed to lack a prerequisite for any apparent skills what so ever. Was this punishment? Let’s face it. Engineering carried with it an air of sophistication and mystery. Back in the day, satcom was an esoteric new field where rules were being written and boundaries defined. “Procurement” was a back-office entity – engineers ruled!

Solaris Mobile is the joint-venture between SES Astra and Eutelsat, two players not best known for co-operation, but both recognising that in the uncertain world of Mobile Satellite Services, a problem shared is a problem halved. Solaris Mobile took an S-band payload onto already planned Eutelsat craft (W2A) and then sold the capacity to Europe’s mobile telephony operators and maybe even a proposed Europe-wide pay-radio system.

Numerous VSAT providers are rushing to the maritime world. In a market once dominated by Inmarsat, fixed priced broadband is making significant inroads into commercial shipping markets. Competition is rapidly intensifying as new players like Speedcast, Singtel, KVH Industries, Orange Business Services, Satlynx, Hughes Network Systems, Intelsat, Ship Equip, Globecomm, Caprock and Norsat take aim at established commercial VSAT maritime providers like Inmarsat, Radio Holland, Vizada/Marlink, Globe Wireless and Stratos.

Similar to many projects that have evolved from research initiated by the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and NASA, the characteristic reliability and scalability of the solutions they develop later on solve an unanticipated problem using the same techniques — think about Velcro!

A continuation of the "up front" satellite news...