AR

EBACE: One-number simplicity for Satcom Direct customers

May 13, 2005 - SATCOM Direct, the Florida-based provider of satellite communications services via the Inmarsat and Iridium systems, will be at the EBACE business aviation show in Geneva next week to announce the launch of a convenient new facility for its European customers.

“Our Global One Number offering will give European business aircraft operators a single number with which to access the satellite networks, sparing them the inconvenience of changing dialling codes as they move from one satellite coverage region to another,” says Satcom Direct president David Greenhill.

The service is due to be implemented at the satellite ground station in Burum, the Netherlands, next month and to be commercially available by July.

Satcom Direct originally launched Global One Number in the USA. Clients based there can receive phone calls or fax messages on a 10-digit US telephone number wherever the aircraft is in the world.

“We’re seeing increasing demand from operators in Europe, where business aviation is showing strong growth, especially amongst the fractional programmes,” says Greenhill. “We’re looking forward to talking to operators here about how our systems can enhance their in-flight telecommunications.”

The EBACE static park will feature a brand-new Hawker 800XP being shown by Farnborough-based GAMA Aviation and equipped for satellite communications via Satcom Direct. Other European customers include NetJets, Executive Jet Management, Jet Aviation Business Jets and Global Jet Luxembourg.

* Also appearing at EBACE will be Danish-headquartered Inmarsat solutions provider Satcom1. The company will be showing a visual channel status monitor designed to help users of Swift-family high-speed satellite data communications to minimise their operating costs.

The system gives a clear, easy-to-understand indication of when the packet-data and ISDN channels available through Swift64 satellite terminals are active. While the packet-data capability is offered on an “always-on” basis, with the user paying only for data transmitted and received, open ISDN channels are paid for at a number of dollars per minute, regardless of whether any data is passing. “It’s crucial to customer satisfaction and value for money to minimise unnecessary usage of these channels,” says Satcom1 CEO Rino Ranheim.

The Satcom1 system indicates whether a channel is connected or not, allowing the user to switch off promptly when a channel is no longer needed. It works with all types of Swift64 terminal now in service.