The subject of this Executive Spotlight is Dr. Arunas Slekys. He happens to be both the vice president of Corporate Marketing and the vice president and general manager of the Russia & NIS Business for Hughes. In these dual positions, he is responsible for managing all of Hughes marketing communications and advocacy initiatives worldwide, along with overall P&L responsibility for the company’s broadband satellite business in Russia, Ukraine, and the NIS (Newly Independent States) countries.

Previously, Dr. Slekys served as vice president of the Wireless Networks Division at Hughes and was responsible for the TDMA networks product line business comprising the AIReach® family of digital cellular mobile, wireless loop, and wireless data (CDPD) systems. During this period, he was elected and served for several years on the CTIA board. His telecommunications career started more than 25 years ago at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he worked as a digital communications research engineer, developing deep space network and pulsar tracking systems. He later joined Bell Canada and subsequently Bell Northern Software Research, managing switched-network related systems development and advanced technology programs. He holds a bachelor of applied science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Toronto, a master’s degree from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate in computer and communications engineering from UCLA. He is co-author of a founding patent for CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) systems and is a frequently published author writing about satellite and wireless communications.

SM
Good day, Dr. Slekys, and thank you for the opportunity of speaking with you. As the Vice President of Corporate Marketing as well as the General Manager for Russia and CIS Business, you have experienced many challenges and opportunities with Hughes. What prompted you to consider Hughes for your management career in the first place?

Dr. Slekys
I joined in ’91 to head up the new wireless networks business for Hughes. At that time, the cellular industry was moving from analog to digital and Hughes was looking to expand on its leadership in satellite-based TDMA networks and technologies. This presented an exciting opportunity for me to move into a business role after having managed R&D for over 15 years.

SM
Would you be kind enough to inform our readers about your background? Where have you employed your skills within Hughes, and please tell us about your current management duties?

Dr. Slekys
I was born of Lithuanian refugees in a U.S. zone in Germany and grew up in Canada with hockey, basketball and becoming an astronaut in my blood. Following a BASc in E.E. from the University of Toronto, I was drawn to the U.S. space program and earned an MS at the University of lllinois (Urbana-Champaign) developing a data acquisition system for ionospheric rocket probes. This landed me at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, where I developed hardware/software systems for the Deep Space Network, such as FFTs for pulsar detection. In parallel, I completed a PhD at UCLA in computer/communications systems. Subsequently, I led the development of switch-network systems at Bell Canada/BNSR, before starting up the R&D at NovAtel Communications in Calgary Alberta. We developed some of the early cellular technologies, such as a low-cost distributed cellular system that opened up the U.S. rural markets — areas where spectrum was literally given away in lotteries as nobody believed this was a viable business. Fast forward to Hughes today, where the fastest growing part is broadband satellite services in rural America.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Breaking new ground happens daily at Hughes, inventors of the VSAT network and many SATCOM-related digital technologies. It shouldn’t be surprising that just a few short years after I joined the Company, our team introduced a very high capacity digital wireless system, eventually delivering more than 1 million lines to customers in emerging economies such as Tatarstan, Russia, Czech Republic, China, Indonesia and Vietnam, to name a few.

Stateside, we succeeded in winning a $500Million+ digital cellular systems order from BellSouth and also went on to lead the marketplace in delivering CDPD, the industry’s first wireless packet data network, forerunner to today’s 2.5 and 3G data services. Entering the new millennium, Hughes decided to focus totally on the huge broadband satellite networks business and it was a natural shift for me to take over managing the Russia/CIS business. My enjoyment at presenting and writing about technology earned me a second day job as the chief marketer of Hughes, globally.

SM
What are the most appealing reasons for working at Hughes? And your current divisions?

Dr. Slekys
Hughes is all about challenging conventional wisdom and pushing the envelope, a unique place where most senior people are engineers, including our CEO. That culture has been a natural fit for me and means every day presents a new opportunity to help define a novel product or service; or to expand our broadband business by signing up new service partners, which we now have in over 100 countries; or to better promote the company and its offerings with a new website, or introduce a new brand, or present the benefits of broadband satellite to foreign leaders and indeed to our own elected representatives on the Hill. How true it is that often the most difficult sale is in your own backyard.

SM
Given your myriad duties with Hughes, the overall goal is to drive viable and competent solutions to the market. What is the importance of such to the SATCOM and MILSATCOM environments? And given that there are different needs within the commercial and the military environs, how do you successfully manage to market Hughes solutions to such diverse segments?

Dr. Slekys
Whether in commercial, SATCOM or MILSATCOM worlds, time to market and cost-effectiveness are equal imperatives. Rick Lober, head of our newest business group, DISD — Defence and Information Systems Division, and Tony Bardo, who heads up Government Solutions, are both actively marketing the wide breadth of Hughes core technologies and successful commercial products and services. Many of these services are ready immediately or can be quickly packaged as COTS-based solutions.

Its now our priority mumber one to get that story out. For example, this includes SATCOM OTM (On-The-Move) technology that builds on our commercial mobile satellite products and capabilities developed for the world’s leading providers. And as last year’s successful service launch over North America, it encompasses the dynamic, mesh networking power of our next generation SPACEWAY® 3 satellite system — the world’s highest capacity satellite at 10Gbps throughput and the first with on-board switching and routing. You may know that DISA recently developed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Hughes to study Network Centric Enterprise Architecture validation of IP networking with the Regenerative Satellite Mesh (RSM-A) standard, which is employed by the SPACEWAY® 3 system. Under this CRADA, Hughes and DISA will perform research and development that supports overall IP convergence as the basis for seamlessly integrating DoD SATCOM networking and information needs with the GIG.

SM
Given the global interest by various nations in developing their own SATCOM and MILSATCOM solutions at extremely competitive pricing, how does Hughes manage to remain in the top tier of suppliers of product? How can price pressure from other nations be countered?

Dr. Slekys
What sets Hughes apart is not just our record of innovation, but equally importantly, our diversity. By that I mean diversity in developing advanced technologies that enable leading-edge products and services. We, in turn, then implement for our service partners around the globe and employ ourselves as a successful service provider in diverse market sectors — from enterprise, to consumer/SMB, to government and military.

Many aren’t aware that Hughes is the largest satellite Internet service provider in the U.S. and that we operate successful service businesses in Europe, India, and Brazil. This means we are customers of our own solutions, giving our customers the benefit of field-tested and proven deliverables. When it comes to price, few can compete due to our dominant position in high volume manufacturing of satellite broadband products — more than 1.5 million systems shipped to customers in over 100 countries, with more than 300,000 shipped in 2008 alone.

SM
The global financial crisis is calling for all sorts of remediation and corporations are slicing budgets — what is Hughes doing to be able to continue producing product while keeping an eye on the bottom line, without hurting quality and timeliness? Do pricing pressures offset final quality? What could be said about ensuring long-term viability versus short-term cost savings?

Dr. Slekys
The global crisis is real and we are expecting worse. But as noted above, our diversity in technologies, products and services globally gives us multiple legs to stand on and to weather the storm. We’re holding the line on expenses but certainly not compromising quality in any way. Our plant in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is able to quickly expand or contract capacity as demand dictates. Thankfully, we’ve not yet experienced any significant change in demand for satellite broadband domestically, and so far we have a manageable balance of up’s and down’s internationally.

SM
What challenges do you see ahead for the industry during 2009? Where do you feel will Hughes parlay their experience and product wealth over the next few years?

Dr. Slekys
2009 is a year of toughing it out, which is everyone’s singular biggest challenge. But Hughes never stands still, and our R&D investments are proceeding at a healthy but affordable pace. Overall, the satellite industry’s continuing challenge is to keep driving down both product and service costs to expand the broadband market. Product costs are volume driven, so we’re in a unique position to yield lower product costs as we drive the service business. The goal is to squeeze ever more capacity into each hertz of spectrum, always pushing on Shannon’s limit. As an example, the DVB-S2 with ACM capability we introduced over a year ago is now returning significant savings in satellite bandwidth costs to our service provider partners, as much as 50 percent compared to DVB-S. And the installed price of our newest modems for high-speed internet access is now below $300. We’ve also introduced a new and successful leasing option which eliminates the up front cost of ownership, lowering the barrier to entry and bringing affordable broadband to the more than 10 million households in the U.S. that aren’t reached by terrestrial broadband. This spurs the demand, which helps grow the volume, which helps lower the product cost, which expands the market …and the synergy is obvious. Call it the road to mainstreaming of satellite.

SM
Given Hughes interest in MILSATCOM for the military, governments, first responders and NGOs, how is Hughes’ concern for the warfighter and first responder parlayed into product that “protects and serves”? How close is the relationship between the company and the in-theater end-user? Is Hughes also becoming more involved in the UAV/UAS arenas?

Dr. Slekys
Communications-On-The-Move (COTM) are essential for mission success, providing the line of site and ubiquitous service that ensures that our soldiers can access needed intelligence from their command and report activities on the ground. Using common SATCOM technology for fixed and mobile applications ensures uninterrupted connectivity, enhances interoperability, and adds to the security of communications.

For example, the Hughes HX System — a FIPS compliant, IP-based network — can be configured to provide Quality of Service (QoS) tailored to each individual terminal. The HX System bandwidth allocation scheme for managing traffic requests reallocates bandwidth based on inactivity, freeing up unused bandwidth and allowing an operator to make more efficient use of space segment resources. Recently, Hughes initiated COTM trial programs for the Special Forces Community and stands ready to provide the necessary responsiveness and support. Regarding the UAV/UAS community, Hughes is prepared to apply the latest bandwidth efficiency schemes as implemented in its DVB-S2 with ACM offerings to relieve spectral interference and crowding .

SM
Would you please tell us about some of the latest projects Hughes is working on?

Dr. Slekys
We recently demonstrated the dynamic networking power of our Ka-band SPACEWAY 3 System to deploy an Inter-Government Crisis Network (IGCN), which can rapidly connect multiple levels of federal, state, and local officials to enhance information-sharing and decision-making during critical times of an emergency. We’re also continuing to develop our Ku-band family of smaller footprint HX and larger HN Systems, adding capabilities such as mesh networking, and implementing mobile versions for maritime and airborne applications. For example, Row44 is a new U.S. provider now poised to launch high-speed Internet services on commercial aircraft utilizing our HX platform, which will give them the only global satellite delivery system in the world today, with 30Mbps capacity per airplane.

SM
Dr. Slekys, are there any other items you wish to present to our readers?

Dr. Slekys
I’ll close with a universal thought: Consistent, reliable communications is the backbone of mission success, both in the commercial and military space. Whether its the DoD creating the GIG, or a large or small business trying to expand the applications and benefits of broadband, or government agencies cooperating in an emergency response situation — all share that common objective and deserve no less than the best. I’m proud to be part of a company where we measure ourselves by how well we can deliver on that promise to our customers.

SM
Thank you for your valuable time.