atrexx, a German special solutions provider for the telecommunication and broadcast industries, has been providing welfare communications links via satellite to enable troops and police forces to remain in touch with friends and family back home.

Satellite-based communications are a very familiar and necessary part of modern day warfare and they also perform a very personal and important function for the troops. They provide reliable communications for soldiers when they are deployed in remote locations such as Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, or Central Africa, where there is little or no communications infrastructure. Using their 2way2sat VSAT services, atrexx has been satisfying demand for the provision of these vital services for troops in the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, Belgian, Estonian, and Spanish Forces, as well as supporting the Iraqi Security Forces. These morale-boosting services for soldiers serving abroad include private Internet and telecommunications, broadband Internet access and inbound and outbound telephony.

The satellite communications used by atrexx provide soldiers with a range of communications services including videoconferencing, VoIP, Internet surfing, and email. The flexibility and scalability of a satellite network means that it can be deployed anywhere it is required and may be augmented as and when needed. Already used in more than 35 countries, the 2way2sat VSAT service is an IP-based solution that provides voice, data and video to almost any geographical location worldwide. atrexx is currently introducing the nexgen of services by deploying GSM microcells in military campuses with backhaul over satellite. This will allow soldiers to communicate using their personal mobile phones just as if they were at home.

(Photo: photo of a welfare communications center, courtesy atrexx)