Iridium Announces Two Defense Industry Updates For Mobile SatComs Solutions

MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS

by Staff Writers
Bethesda MD (SPX) Oct 27, 2006
Iridium Satellite is pleased to announce two new initiatives as it serves the U.S. military market. Iridium is now approved to provide its 9601 data modem to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and other approved users, through its contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

Based on the company's Short Burst Data (SBD) messaging service, this modem is already being used widely in commercial applications such as asset tracking, remote monitoring and telemetry reporting.

Iridium envisions widespread application of the 9601 data modem to meet a broad variety of requirements among users in defense, homeland security, logistics, force tracking, remote sensing and other data applications. The 9601 supports wireless, two-way data links with Iridium's unique pole-to-pole global coverage and extremely low latency.

"We expect to see a similar rapid adoption of the 9601 in the military and other government organizations as we saw in the commercial sector," said Greg Ewert, executive vice president, Iridium Satellite. "Use of the 9601 for frequent, secure data transmission will enhance the DoD's ability to implement a superior price-performance solution over existing satellite-based options." Iridium's DISA contract is managed under the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) Service Manager's Office.

In addition, Iridium has participated extensively in testing of Phase One of its Netted Iridium service with the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Warfighting Lab. The testing, called a "Limited Technical Assessment" (LTA), is projected to be completed in late October at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia.

Netted Iridium is a push-to-talk technology (PTT) voice and data service. It offers a reliable, rapidly deployable, over-the-horizon communications solution for the military and first responder community. The USMC Warfighting Lab is conducting the LTA to identify promising technologies to meet netted on-the-move communications requirements.

"We are pleased with the initial results of this month's testing and are encouraged by preliminary findings found in this realistic, structured environment," Ewert said. "We look forward to evaluating these results and to using them to improve our Netted offering."

Iridium hopes to make its Netted service available to the broader defense, homeland security and first responder communities in 2007.

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