CARLSBAD, Calif., Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), the first-mover in high-capacity satellites, has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for its current study of commercial communication satellite (COCOMSAT) systems. The contract asks ViaSat to develop methods to assess various approaches for reducing the cost of capacity through application of commercial satellite capabilities, and examine trade-offs among modems and teleports, satellite communication payloads, mission planning, and terminal constraints, performance, and operations.
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"The entire Milsatcom community recognizes the need to reduce the cost of bandwidth for the warfighter," said Steve Gardner, chief technology officer of the Government Systems Division at ViaSat. "However, without a metrics-based analysis, such as cost-per-bit or cost-per-unit of capacity, the relative merits of high-capacity payloads with 50 to 70 fold capacity improvements can't be compared with concepts like hosted payloads offering more affordable launches or acquisition streamlining that can lower program costs."
The study results from ViaSat will be delivered to the Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) Systems Directorate of the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
ViaSat industry leadership in high-capacity satellites, also called high-throughput satellites, was driven through the recognition that delivering broadband services via the high cost-structure of traditional satellite systems required either constraining data volume to each subscriber or charging extremely high prices. The only way to provide terrestrial-like broadband services via satellite is to dramatically increase satellite capacity without a linear increase in the cost of the satellite. This insight lead to the development of Eutlesat KA-SAT satellite serving Europe with 70 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of total throughput and ViaSat's own ViaSat-1 satellite, scheduled for launch this week, which is expected to serve North America with over 140 Gbps of capacity.
About ViaSat
ViaSat delivers fast, secure communications, Internet, and remote network access to fixed sites or on-the-move. The company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies and products to the U.S. and allied governments; is the primary technology partner for gateway and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services; and offers high-speed Ka-band satellite broadband services under the WildBlue brand. ViaSat also offers design capabilities and a number of complementary products including monolithic microwave integrated circuits and modules, DVB-S2 satellite communication components, video data link systems, data acceleration and compression, and mobile satellite antenna systems. Based in Carlsbad, Calif., ViaSat has established a number of worldwide locations for customer service, network operations, and technology development.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, specifically statements about the ViaSat-1 launch. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to: satellite failures, performance degradation, in-orbit risks and anomalies, launch failures, or improper orbital placement of ViaSat-1, contractual problems, product defects, manufacturing issues or delays, regulatory issues, technologies not being developed according to anticipated schedules, or that do not perform according to expectations; and increased competition and other factors affecting the defense industry generally. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in ViaSat's SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including ViaSat's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. ViaSat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
SOURCE ViaSat Inc.
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