Tony Coles, President & Chief Executive Officer Ground Control Systems

Transcription

1 Summer 2004

2 From the Desk of... Tony Coles, President & Chief Executive Officer Ground Control Systems At this time two years ago, we celebrated our first days as Ground Control, and began setting the direction, mission and vision for our new company. As we look back on what has been a whirlwind two years, not only for us but for our industry, we should do so with great pride, knowing that we were able to establish high levels of quality service and customer satisfaction. Today as we look forward to continued growth and success through new avenues. We continue to expand our capacity to meet our customer s requirements for satellite services and applications. You will read how our new relationship with Tachyon has produced an exciting new product Galileo, strengthening our ability to service customers with greater bandwidth and throughput requirements. Our success over the last two years has helped create growth opportunities along several different dimensions. In addition to our new service offering, we can now offer our customers new capabilities to layer on our network services. Applications such as: VPN, VPN acceleration, POS services, VOIP, private networks and content delivery, are among the exciting new services we are making available to our new and existing customers. The combination of our services and network capitalizes on the synergies that exist between satellite data transport and applications that are well engineered and supported. Satisfying our customer s needs has always been our highest priority and with that mission in mind we have contracted with a diverse group of companies that we should be proud to call partners. These customers have used our products and services for a variety of projects including, the Columbia Shuttle recovery mission, and as part of several Homeland Security projects as well as delivering educational services to remote parts of our great country. We make this possible through the dedication of our staff to deliver unmatched service and support coupled with leading edge technologies. Finally, as we reflect on our short history, let s prepare ourselves for year three. Dedicating it once again to our customer, their needs and our ability to provide them a world class experience. Our goal to provide business applications and services that are supported by the best in the business is a challenge whose reward is the continued growth of our fine company. To all our customers, partners and dedicated staff, welcome to year three of Ground Control.

3 Introducing: The First Reliable, High-Speed, Satellite Broadband Network for Small, Medium and Enterprise Businesses and their Remote Locations. Fixed Outdoor Unit Indoor Unit The Galileo Answers the Call for connectivity. Galileo meets today s need for network connectivity anytime, and virtually anywhere with a variety of broadband service options. The Galileo provides : Reliable, always available broadband access Unsurpassed burst-speed and performance, up to 1.5 mbps Connectivity anytime, virtually anywhere Cost effective internet access Ground Controls Galileo service is powered by Tachyon and uses their proprietary performance optimizers. Galileo uses these technologies to deliver reliable, fast, satellite broadband transport while maintaining complete TCP/IP standards compliance and 99.9% guaranteed network availability. Galileo was developed to meet the business-critical speed and performance requirements of small and medium remote office locations. Galileo features flexible bandwidth options to meet the needs of any small office or work location serving from 1 to 10 simultaneous users, with affordable monthly flat rate pricing: Service Level Burst Rate Speed Simultaneous Users Basic 384k/128k 1-5 Plus 768/256k 5-8 Premium 1.5M/256k 8-10 Premium M/512k 10+

4 Galileo Cont... The IP Transport Unit is a PC enclosure containing a power supply, Pentium-based motherboard, flash drive, Ethernet card, and Tachyon s satellite modem card. All components, other than the satellite modem card, are commercial off-the-shelf products so there s no need to purchase or configure custom equipment. The antenna can be mounted on a roof, wall, or on the ground, depending on your site characteristics, and includes a radio unit to transmit and receive data. The radio includes an Up converter Power Amplifier, Ortho-Mode Transducer, Low-Noise Block Down converter, and transmit receive filter. The antenna is connected to the IP Transport unit by two shielded RF coaxial cables, both of which carry signal and power. The transmit cable connects to the modulator output to the radio, and supplies +48vdc. The receive cable connects the Low-Noise Block Down converter to the demodulator, and carries +18vdc. Outdoor Unit Antenna Environmental Specifications Temperature -30 to +60 C ambient air Relative Humidity 0 to 100% Rain up to 2cm/hr Radio Environmental Specifications Temperature -30 to +55 C ambient air Relative Humidity 0 to 100% Rain up to 2cm/hr IPTransport (Indoor Unit) Size 1.75 (4.45cm) x 17.0 (43.18cm) x 10.5 (26.67cm) (1 RU) Weight 10.5 lbs (4.75 kg) Power Specifications Auto detectable voltage range, VAC Frequency Hz Power 138 Watts (typical), 180 Watts (max) Environmental Specifications Temperature 0 to +40 C ambient air Humidity 0 to 95% non-condensing

5 WHAT KIND OF BUSINESSES ARE USING GALILEO??? The best way to appreciate the value of Galileo Ground Controls newest service offering is to see how real customers are putting it to the test. Lets take a look at how a customer is meeting specific challenges and requirements with Galileo: Sandvik Mining and Construction. Sandvik Mining and Construction (SMC) is the world s leading supplier of drilling, excavation, crushing and screening machinery, equipment and tools for the mining and construction industries. SMC offers customers maximum productivity through total system solutions including equipment, service and tools. Galileo s capabilities bring true broadband applications to satellite networks with tremendous value and support reports Mike Haney, Ground Control Director of sales, Our products and more importantly the service we provide have helped SMC provide fully integrated solutions utilizing their products and satellite connectivity. A Ground Control Galileo VSAT system, for example, is helping SMC provide connectivity for the remote monitoring of a mining and excavation operation that traditionally had little to no access. Using dedicated satellite services Galileo lets businesses do everything from creating private digital data networks to remote site monitoring, nearly anywhere in the world. The service is ideal for companies requiring secure and reliable broadband transmission for critical applications and corporate data. Ground Control and their Galileo product provides an excellent solution for enterprise operating in regions without the advantage of strong terrestrial services say s Mr. Lewis of Sandvik Mining & Construction, For SMC, Galileo serves as that broadband connection we require to utilize our corporate VPN and other important applications. According to Haney, SMC s decision to use Galileo was based on the stability of the product through field test, as well as the support from Ground Controls service center. SMC is a world class company with high expectations and requirements, the introduction of Galileo allows Ground Control to continue to meet challenging expectations from our customers remarked Haney. Our organizations commitment to working with our customer to improve concepts and product performance ensures that there contract decision offers the greatest value, we look forward continuing to work with SMC.