Page 82: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 1992)

Scientific-Atlanta Creates

New Business Unit For Mobile

Satellite Communications

Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. has cre- ated a new business unit dedicated exclusively to the mobile satellite communications market. The newly formed mobile satellite communica- tions business unit will design, manufacture and support a wide range of mobile satellite communi- cations equipment that will be used on land, at sea and in the air. "Mobile satellite communications is the fastest growing segment of the satellite communications industry," said William E. Johnson, chair- man and CEO, Scientific Atlanta. "The new digital capability of satel- lites and smaller digital terminals are creating an entirely new set of customers, ranging from briefcase- carrying executives to small boat owners. To serve this market, we are staffing the new business opera- tion with proven satellite communi- cations professionals, and we are

Faris Gaffney investing a significant amount of financial resources to help acceler- ate their success."

Inmarsat, the international mari- time organization and the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services, expects the number of Inmarsat-compatible earth stations in use to rise from the current number of approximately 50,000 to more than 400,000 by the turn of the century. These figures combine three kinds of terminals— maritime, land mobile and trans- portable, or briefcase models.

A key driver of this growth is

Inmarsat's new Standard-M service, which provides voice, data and fax capability at about one-half the us- age fee associated with alternative services. In addition to the lower usage fee, the equipment used to access Standard-M service is smaller and less costly than terminals asso- ciated with previous services.

While Standard-M-based mobile satellite communications is not for everyone, it has two basic advan- tages over competing cellular tech- nology. First, cellular's maximum distance limit of about eight miles does not come into play in mobile satellite communications, where there are no distance limits. Com- municators using mobile satellite communications can reach each other via public networks, even from the most remote locations. Second, global standards govern satellite- based mobile communications, while no such standards exist for cellular technology. The same mobile satel- lite communications terminals and equipment can be used anywhere in the world, significantly increasing

Macy Summers transportability. "We realistically expect our mo- bile satellite communications busi- ness to be as big as our stationary satellite earth station business within five years. That's why we're placing some of our top business and engineering talent in this new group," said Jack Acker, president

Network Systems Group (NSG), Sci- entific-Atlanta. Faris Gaffney,

NSG's former vice president of mar- keting, will head up the new mobile business group as vice president and general manager, reporting di- rectly to Mr. Acker. Macy Sum- mers, NSG's former director of busi- ness development, will oversee sales and marketing.

Under Mr. Gaffney's direction, the group will be introducing a vari- ety of mobile satellite communica- tions products, ranging from small, low-speed, data-only terminals to

GE Navy & Small Steam Tur- bine, of Fitchburg, Mass., recently announced that it has signed a tech- nology transfer agreement with

Renk Tacke of Germany. With the signing of the agreement Renk Tacke is licensing GE with respect to high power medium diesel reduction gears and clutches. The agreement will allow the two companies to work together on opportunities involving diesel engine reduction gears and clutches for ship propulsion systems.

Renk Tacke is one of the world's leaders in gear technology and has extensive experience with the de- sign and manufacturing of single and multi-engine marine reduction gears driven by medium speed die- sels. Reduction gears with ratings large coastal earth stations. In a related announcement, appearing elsewhere in this issue of the MARI-

TIME REPORTER, Scientific-At- lanta details the introduction of a new Inmarsat M terminal.

The new mobile satellite commu- nications business unit will occupy its own facility in suburban Atlanta.

For complete literature describ- ing all of the services and equip- ment offered by Scientific-Atlanta,

Circle 131 on Reader Service Card of 46,000 shp are in service, provid- ing reliable and proven performance.

GE, one of the leading manufactur- ers of main reduction gears for the

U.S. Navy, will use the experience offered by Renk to bring technology to the Strategic Sealift Program.

GE manufactures main reduc- tion gears for ship propulsion sys- tems, steam turbines for marine and industrial applications, and genera- tor sets for ship board power.

For further information about the products manufactured by GE Navy & Small Steam Turbine,

Circle 8 on Reader Service Card

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Signs Agreement With Renk Tacke 80 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News