[SatNews] The World Teleport Association (WTA) announced the recipients of its 16th annual Teleport Awards for Excellence during a luncheon ceremony.


The awards are presented each year to organizations and individuals in the teleport industry whose achievements have been deemed exceptional by the international trade association and its awards committees, made up of industry members from across the globe. The 2011 recipients are:

• Independent Teleport Operator of the Year: Arqiva Broadcast and Media – In addition to providing ongoing provision of teleport services for key customers including Sky, BBC, Viacom, ESPN, Universal Networks International, Traffic Sports International, ABS-CBN, USEI, and EchoStar, Arqiva Broadcast and Media (2007 Independent Teleport Operator of the Year) has taken a leadership role in the industry with regard to the electronic delivery of media content to cinemas via satellite. Over the last 12 months, Arqiva has set the bar for Digital Cinema Platforms, including dissemination of films, trailers and advertising to such clients as Dolby, Arts Alliance Media, Opus Arte (The Royal Opera House); Ciel Ecran (Bolshoi Ballet), The Metropolitan Opera, as well as major distributors and cinema chains


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  Jack Waters, XipLink, with his Company's WTA award in hand. Photo courtesy of Silvano Payne.
  Teleport Technology of the Year: XipLink Hub Optimizations – XipOS Hub Optimizations (“XHO”) feature bandwidth savings and performance enhancements that operate on a standalone appliance located at the teleport or Internet point of presence in a satellite network, allowing operators to compress HTTP traffic by a factor of 1.5. The technology can be limited to the teleport only with no changes to remote sites, yet offers a highly effective bandwidth savings solution that can span multiple networks at the same time. A recent deployment for Omniglobe significantly reduced bandwidth to remote communities by a blended rate of over 15%, resulting in considerably faster web browsing for users, better use of the bandwidth, a higher potential subscription ratio, with an ROI of only a few months


• Corporate Social Responsibility Award: Thaicom – According to the statistics of Distant Learning Foundation in 2009, there were 30,000 schools under the Ministry of Education throughout Thailand, with 10,000 in rural areas unable to access the national education channels. Thaicom established an ongoing program to support education in these rural areas by installing DTH terminals and televisions in select schools to level the educational opportunities between kids in rural areas versus those living in cities. As of the end of February 2011, 759 of the projected 999 school installations were completed. In addition, Thaicom employees volunteer at 63 schools

The winners for all three categories were selected by a volunteer committee of WTA members and previous Award winners based on nominations submitted during the first quarter of 2011. In addition to the above honorees, WTA presented the previously announced Teleport Executive of the Year to Adrian Ballintine, President of NewSat.

The 2011 Luncheon and Awards Ceremony, sponsored by SES, hosted many of the world’s leading teleport operators and previous winners of WTA’s Teleport Awards for Excellence. A senior representative from SES, Chris Schram, gave the Host's Welcome and presented the awards to the recipients, with WTA Director of Development Louis A. Zacharilla announcing the winners. Commenting on the 2011 Awards, Mr. Zacharilla noted that, "Innovation and dedication to service have long been motivating drivers for the teleport industry. Each of the finalists in the 2011 Teleport Awards for Excellence has gone above and beyond a daily commitment to quality operations. As a group they exemplify the drive that has made this industry successful, as well as a community with a dedication to helping others.”