Spacenet

Spacenet, Inc. is a provider of VSAT satellite-based data network services as well as hybrid satellite/terrestrial networks and network management services. Spacenet is headquartered in the Tysons Corner CDP of unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.^[1][2]

The company was founded in 1981 as Southern Pacific Communications Corporation (SPCC), a sister company to Sprint, providing satellite links for voice connections. The company was acquired by GTE in 1983 and grew into a worldwide satellite operator and services provider (including launching the first North American K_u band satellite, Spacenet 1). It went through several acquisitions over the next 15 years, absorbing AT&T Tridom and Contel ASC. In 1994, the company was sold to General Electric Capital Services.

In 1998, GE sold Spacenet's North American operations to VSAT terminal manufacturer Gilat Satellite Networks, and spun the satellite assets off into GE Americom (which later became part of SES). In March 2005, Spacenet acquired its former sister company, StarBand, the first two-way consumer satellite ISP in the United States.

Spacenet offers a complete product and services portfolio for applications ranging from primary communications for corporate applications and secure data transfer, to hot stand-by solutions for continuity of operations and network backup, to field deployable solutions for disaster recovery and emergency management.Spacenet manages a self owned and operated multi-million dollar end-to-end services infrastructure including network management, field services and carrier class teleport facilities in Virginia, Georgia and Illinois. Their coverage areas include North America, including the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Canada.^[3]

Spacenet's primary business is providing VSAT and hybrid/terrestrial data network services to government and enterprise customers under the Connexstar brand. Spacenet's enterprise/government VSAT services are used for a wide range of applications such as primary broadband or narrowband networks, disaster recovery/backup networks and multicast file delivery. Beginning in 2006, it partnered with Cisco Systems as the service provider for the Cisco IP VSAT Satellite Network WAN Module in the United States. It holds around 25% market share in the enterprise VSAT marketplace, according to the Comsys 2005 industry study. As of 2007, Spacenet equipment and services were in use at about 100,000 enterprise, government, residential and small office sites.

References

External links

• Spacenet website
• Spacenet history
• Spacenet 1-3 satellites
• GTE Spacenet satellites