[SatNews] Lubbock County Texas is using Spacenet’s high-performance satellite communications services and equipment to support critical communications across the state.

Spacenet Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: GILT) and provides broadband network solutions for government, business, and industrial users. Lubbock County is using Spacenet’s transportable antennas and Connexstar S2 satellite services, based on the SkyEdge II VSAT platform, to provide emergency communications as part of the county’s instant command post. Lubbock County integrated Spacenet’s satellite equipment and services into its mobile command vehicle that is used across the state to maintain data, voice and video communications during emergency situations. The vehicle is one of two primary mobile communications platforms within the region and it can be utilized as an alternate dispatch point for its jurisdiction in the case of an outage, helping to enable the county to operate normally. The system supports voice over IP (VoIP) through telephone systems that connect back to Lubbock County’s telephone numbers.

The vehicle was recently used to support a community in Texas that lost its connection to the 911 system due to a cut in the fiber optic lines. The mobile command vehicle rolled into the community and within an hour was able to provide 911 access through its VoIP phones. The fiber optic lines were not restored until another six to eight hours later. In addition, Lubbock County is part of the state’s Rapid Response Task Force and has used its mobile command vehicle and satellite services for several emergency exercises throughout Texas.