As the satellite industry heads into a season of  forums, conferences and networking events, we get a chance to examine what the industry believes are its most important issues.  Because there are many voices and advocates for the key niches in our industry, I thought it would be useful to engage the leadership of key trade associations and special interest groups.  Each represents an important tract in

The Secretary General of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Touré shared his thoughts on sustainable development an the role of satellite technology with our Geneva correspondent Roxana Dunnette.  Excerpts of the interview:

To shed light on the trends in the satcom on the move market, Satellite Executive Briefing invited several key executives from some of the leading companies in the field.

New York City, June 1, 2012 by Lou Zacharilla

SSPI Director of Development Lou Zacharilla goes back and forth with David Hershberg, CEO of Globecomm Systems on how he started in the industry and the challenges he faced, among other issues.

At the Satellite 2012 show in Washington, Bill Tillson, President and Chief Operating Officer of Encompass Digital Media in the United States was named the teleport industry’s 2012 Executive of the Year by World Teleport Association. In a ceremony in Washington, D.C., hosted by SES, Tillson was honored by his peers, including most of the world’s leading teleport operators, satellite companies and technology providers.

Vince Waterson, President of Asia Pacific Teleport has worked for over 30 years telecommunications industry in Asia, Europe and North America. Vince founded VideoKall Inc while maintaining his role as VP of Business Development at Hawaii Pacific Teleport (HPT) a provider of satellite Internet services to the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining HPT, Vince was VP of Business Development at Subic Bay Satellite Systems Inc, (SBSSI) satellite teleport in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Philippines. There he initiated the first large scale satellite internet service in the Asia-Pacific region in 1997 launched on Asiasat2 satellite.  While at SBSSI he designed and operated a satellite delivered Electronic Program Guide (EPG) system for cable TV head-ends in the Asia-Pacific region operating on Thaicom3 satellite.

San Diego, California, February 1, 2012  At the West show in San Diego last month, Satelltie Markets and Research caught up with Patrick Rayermann, the newly appointed Senior Director for Strategy and Development for Orbital Sciences Corporation.  Rayermann joined Orbital in November 2011 after 30 years of service in the US Army, where he retired as a full colonel.  His final military assignment was the chief steward of Department of Defense’s (DoD) architecture for satellite communications and to serve as the Chief of Staff of the DoD Executive Agent for Space (EA4S) Staff. 

What is the he difference between the Mid-Pacific Conference Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and the Congressional Ballroom of Renaissance Hotel in Washington in mid-March?  8,000 miles, 60 degrees (F.) in daily temperature and the same numerical gap in the respective systolic and diastolic rates of the people working in them.  Despite the familiar sound of a snicker when you announce to people that you are attending the Pacific Telecommunications Council conference in the Aloha State for work, PTC happens to be one of the hardest-working conferences in the telecommunications industry.  Perhaps

In announcing on November 7 that it would outfit its entire fleet of aircraft with Ku-band connectivity by 2015, United/Continental Holdings confirmed a trend underlining NSR’s aeronautical market forecast for the next ten years: connectivity to commercial passenger planes is here to stay. After agreeing to previous incarnations only to drop orders in the wake of major financial difficulties post-9/11, U.S. airlines are stepping back on the bridge to connectivity and not just for regional routes but overseas routes as well.

Moscow, Russia, November 3, 2011

One satellite company that is aggressively pursuing expansion plans is Russia-based operator Gazprom Space Systems (GSS). At the recent IBC show in Amsterdam, GSS announced that it entered into a strategic partnership with  global satellite operator SES to provide additional satellite capacity to serve the Russian market.  To shed light on this agreement and their future plans, Satellite Markets and Research spoke to GSS’ Deputy Director-General Igor Kot.