Hughes Signs Up Heartland, Jiffy Lube's Largest Franchisee

Managed VoIP Solution Improves Customer Service, Cuts Telephony Costs

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Feb 28, 2011, 08:00 ET

GERMANTOWN, Md., Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Heartland Automotive Services, America's largest Jiffy Lube franchisee, has signed a managed services contract for a full-featured VoIP (Voice over IP) solution with Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite solutions and services and a leading provider of managed network services. The high availability, converged voice and data broadband solution will enable Heartland to eliminate expensive POTS lines at its retail locations, significantly cutting its phone system costs and improving customer service capabilities at its hundreds of retail locations.

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"Hughes is providing us a resilient, state-of-the-art broadband network with business-grade VoIP services that will help us improve customer service and support corporate training requirements, while at the same time, reduce our operating and infrastructure costs," said Rob Rajkowski, Chief Operating Officer of Heartland.

Dallas-based Heartland operates more than 400 locations within 17 markets across the country, serving more than five million customers annually. The Hughes Managed VoIP Solution will improve customer service and the employee environment, and significantly reduce Heartland's phone bill by eliminating long distance charges while providing converged voice and data capabilities. Hughes WAN Optimization will provide additional bandwidth at each store for managing combined voice and data traffic, and will incorporate new Active QoS™ technology to ensure high-quality voice calls over affordable DSL facilities.

"Heartland will be the first of many business customers to take advantage of our new Hughes VoIP and high availability networking solution," said Mike Cook, senior vice president at Hughes. "We are confident our ActiveQoS technology is a game changer and addresses a heretofore underserved market -- namely industries such as retail that have distributed branch networks and would benefit from convergence and high availability, but cannot justify the expense of an MPLS network. Hughes is offering a better alternative by providing an affordable broadband solution fully managed by Hughes."

The Hughes Managed VoIP Service provides superior voice reliability with guaranteed quality-of-service (QoS) made possible by Hughes ActiveQoS technology. The technology adapts to traffic demands using innovative optimization methods, ensuring a high quality voice experience with minimal packet loss and jitter over multiple voice calls.

The Hughes Managed VoIP solution will provide Heartland a full range of enhanced voice features such as call routing, 3-way calling, voice mail, and detailed call records, which were lacking in its traditional voice service. A flat rate for all local and long distance domestic U.S. calls means Heartland will avoid unpredictable long-distance charges at its stores and will also benefit from simplified billing management. All phone and data services are consolidated into a single bill from a single vendor -- Hughes -- rather than having to deal with multiple regional service providers.

About Heartland Automotive Services, Inc., dba Jiffy Lube

The American quick lube industry provides more than 100 million oil changes every year from more than 10,000 standalone locations. Within this industry, Heartland Automotive Services, dba Jiffy Lube, is the largest operator of quick lube retail service stores. Operating over 400 Jiffy Lube locations from coast to coast and serving nearly 5 million guests each year with more than 3,500 professional teammates, Heartland strives to provide a great experience for every valued guest on every visit.

About Hughes Network Systems

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) is the world's leading provider of satellite broadband for home and office, delivering innovative network technologies, managed services, and solutions for enterprises and governments globally. HughesNet® is the #1 high-speed satellite Internet service in the marketplace, with offerings to suit every budget. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 2.5 million systems to customers in over 100 countries, representing over 50 percent market share. Its products employ global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A, and GMR-1.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: HUGH). For more information, please visit www.hughes.com.

Hughes and HughesNet are registered trademarks of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

SOURCE Hughes Network Systems, LLC