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Tesacom, Stratos and Addvalue Conclude World's Largest Deployment of BGAN Mobile Satellite Service
--Completion of election support enables Tesacom to offer new BGAN Rental Service to South American businesses and government agencies--
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (October 28, 2008) - Tesacom, Stratos Global Corp. and Addvalue Communications today announced the conclusion of their successful deployment of a 1,200-site BGAN mobile satellite network for the Brazilian Electoral Superior Court (TSE). The companies completed their support of the final round of Brazil's municipal elections, which were held October 26. The multi-phase BGAN deployment began with support of the first election round on Oct. 6.
Stratos, based in Bethesda, Maryland, is the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions. Tesacom, a StratosELITE Partner, is South America's leading provider of remote telecommunications solutions. Addvalue, based in Singapore, is a leading designer and supplier of BGAN terminals.
Tesacom was selected by the Brazilian Electoral Superior Court (TSE) to deploy and operate the BGAN network at voting precincts in rural communities nationwide. TSE's selection of Tesacom represents the world's largest single contract for the purchase of the BGAN service.
The BGAN systems quickly transmitted encrypted electoral results from local precincts to TSE's headquarters in Brasilia. The systems also supported voice and high-speed data connectivity for elections officials at the precincts. During the deployment, nearly 500 BGAN terminals achieved simultaneous data transmission on a single spot beam from Inmarsat's I-4 F2 satellite.
Critical to the successful deployment was The Stratos Advantage suite of value-added services, provided via Tesacom, to help make BGAN usage more productive and affordable. As part of this service offering, secure transmission of election results was ensured via the Stratos BusinessAccess dedicated private network over a VPN.
Using the bulk activation option in Stratos Dashboard, Tesacom quickly provisioned the 1,200 terminals to ensure proper, on-time setup. With credit limitations set on each terminal in advance, Stratos Dashboard also ensured cost control by preventing unauthorized usage and limiting BGAN use to essential applications. Stratos Dashboard also provided full real-time traffic information during preparations and the elections themselves, enabling proactive troubleshooting and ensuring peace of mind.
"By working with our partners, we were able to quickly determine TSE's requirements and deliver a custom solution that was easily configurable online via Stratos Dashboard," said Stratos President and CEO Jim Parm.
Addvalue Chairman and CEO Dr. Colin Chan said, "The successful rapid deployment of 1,200 Addvalue Wideye BGAN terminals - with nearly 500 terminals transmitting simultaneously on a single spot beam - clearly demonstrates the stable and reliable performance of the product and the BGAN network."
New BGAN Rental Service for Brazil
With the TSE deployment successfully completed, Tesacom today announced its new BGAN Rental Service for South American businesses and government agencies.
"The reliable, high-performance BGAN units we deployed to meet TSE's demanding requirements are now available as part of an innovative rental program, to meet the remote-communications needs of South American businesses and governments," said Tesacom CEO Jose Sanchez Elia. "Renting these units, with affordable airtime, is a convenient way to introduce the benefits of this advanced service to media organizations, military agencies, first responders, oil & gas companies, mining firms and other remote professionals."
Sanchez Elia added that all of Tesacom's BGAN sales and rental services include comprehensive customer training and 24x7 Portuguese, Spanish and English language support. "Our ability to quickly work with TSE to ensure their successful deployment demonstrates that we are prepared to deploy BGAN in the region's most remote locations, under the strictest deadlines."
Stratos is one of the world's largest distributors of Inmarsat's BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) service, a mobile satellite offering that uses portable, lightweight terminals to provide simultaneous, high-speed data (up to 492 kbps) and voice connectivity anywhere in the world. BGAN is ideally suited to enable communications in areas where terrestrial or cellular networks are damaged, congested, or non-existent. Since its introduction in 2006, BGAN from Stratos has been widely adopted in 185 countries, which cover 95 percent of the BGAN footprint.
Many BGAN networks worldwide utilize the Wideye SABRE 1 terminal from Addvalue. The SABRE 1 is a robust, easy-to-use terminal offering flexible interface options. It features built-in Ethernet/LAN and RJ11 phone interfaces and can simultaneously support one voice call and one data session.
About Tesacom
Tesacom is South America's leading provider of remote telecommunications solutions, serving the government, maritime, oil & gas, agriculture, first responder, mining, transportation and military markets. From its offices in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, Tesacom offers a wide range of integrated communications solutions. Those include satellite voice and data, text messaging, email and file transfer, network integration, software services, professional, consulting and field-support services - as well as Spanish, Portuguese and English 7x24 customer and network support. For more information visit www.tesacom.net.
About Stratos
Stratos is the world's trusted leader for vital communications. Stratos offers the most powerful and extensive portfolio of remote communications solutions including mobile and fixed satellite and microwave services. More than 20,000 customers use Stratos products and industry-leading value-added services to optimize communications performance. Stratos serves U.S. and international government, military, first responder, NGO, oil and gas, industrial, maritime, aeronautical, enterprise, and media users on seven continents and across the world's oceans. Stratos is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmarsat plc. For more information, visit www.stratosglobal.com.
About Addvalue
Addvalue Communications Pte Ltd is a subsidiary of Addvalue Technologies Ltd, which is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol addvaltech. Founded in Singapore in 1994, Addvalue is a leading provider of satellite communications, tracking and telemetry solutions and digital wireless design services. Addvalue is one of the three global suppliers of the BGAN land-mobile satellite terminal. For more information, please visit www.addvaluetech.com.
For additional information :
Carla Riggs
Director, Marketing Communications
+1 709 748 4857
carla.riggs@stratosglobal.com
Silvina Graziadio
Teascom - MSS Sub Director
+54-11-4114-2237
sgraziadio@tesacom.net
Apple Tan
Addvalue - Manager, Marketing Communications
+65-6342 5421
apple@addvalue.com.sg