Galaxy Broadband Receives Broadband Satellite System from Hughes
GERMANTOWN, MD, April 12, 2007 - Satnews Daily - Hughes Network Systems, Llc (HUGHES) has supplied a Hughes broadband satellite system to its authorized service provider, Galaxy Broadband Communications, Inc. of Ontario, Canada.
The system's Network Operations Center is installed at a teleport in Hamilton, Ontario. Galaxy Broadband is a major reseller and has been a distributor of Hughes products and services since 2003.
The fully redundant satellite system enables Galaxy Broadband to extend its broadband satellite service offerings beyond consumer internet access, to a wide range of value-added commercial applications, including Voice over IP (VoIP), reaching enterprise, small business and government customers virtually anywhere in Canada.
The Hughes broadband satellite system is based on the IPoS (IP over Satellite) industry standard, including DVB-S2 with ACM (Adaptive Coding Modulation). The ACM feature yields higher performance and spectrum efficiency than other DVB-S2 systems in the market, resulting in greater throughputs and more efficient bandwidth utilization, enabling service providers to deliver the most cost-efficient broadband connectivity to their customers.
"We have significantly improved the options for Canadian organizations seeking a satellite-based broadband solution and have added greatly to the overall broadband infrastructure for the country through the purchase of the Hughes satellite network," said Rick Hodgkinson, president and CEO of Galaxy Broadband. According to Hodgkinson, Galaxy customers have been asking for enhanced services like VoIP, Citrix, and VPN over satellite. "We have a significant number of customers in remote areas who need a reliable voice service, and with our new HN broadband system we can deliver."
This is the first satellite service in Canada based on the Hughes implementation of the DVB-S2 standard with ACM, and will fully support and prioritize VoIP packets, thereby improving voice quality and reliability. Galaxy will also provide new service plans that can be customized to improve the performance of satellite VPN connections and other business applications.
Galaxy will be able to troubleshoot, distribute and update software, manage router and domain names, monitor performance, and coordinate with affiliated networks without having to leave Canada for the necessary support. Galaxy's new satellite service will enter and terminate on Canadian soil, providing Canadian business and government entities with a competitive choice for comprehensive broadband data, video and voice services.
With the added security of its own network infrastructure, Galaxy is now in a position to expand its operations from primarily serving home/small office and medium-sized enterprise customers, to include larger government and banking customers. In addition to providing high-speed Internet access where cable or DSL are not available, Galaxy can now offer standby service plans to companies seeking a back-up service to terrestrial networks.
"With Galaxy's proven business success and the enormous demand for satellite broadband in Canada, we knew this would be a natural and successful expansion of our relationship," said Allen McCabe, assistant vice president for Hughes. "By using the Hughes DVB-S2 platform, Galaxy is now able to offer the convenience, speed, quality, and security of satellite broadband to thousands of business owners and government entities in Canada they otherwise would not reach."
