Q&A Spacenet Spacenet hub. Industry pioneer Spacenet's background in the satellite industry stretches back nearly thirty years. The company specialises in VSAT technology and hybrid networks. Helen Jameson spoke to Andreas Georghiou, CEO of Spacenet to find out more about the company, the African region and the future. Question: Firstly, many thanks for your time. Can you begin by giving us a bit of background on Spacenet please? Andreas Georghiou: Absolutely. Spacenet is really one of the pioneers of the satellite industry. We were founded in 1981, and then acquired by GTE in 1983 to become GTE Spacenet. In 1994 we were acquired by GE Americom and renamed GE Capital Spacenet Services Inc. Then, in 1998 Gilat Satellite Networks acquired Spacenet from GE Americom and renamed the company Spacenet Inc. Since then Spacenet has become one of the largest providers in the US market with more than 100,000 remote sites, a leader in hybrid networks that integrate with terrestrial assets, and the only Cisco integrated and certified VSAT service provider. Question: Where are your areas of expertise? Andreas Georghiou: Spacenet's expertise is high reliability VSAT service, and complex hybrid networks that combine satellite service with terrestrial broadband options like DSL or WiFi. We are the only provider in the US offering Minimum Assured Speed. This provides a performance guarantee not offered by other satellite services. And, our ability to integrate into hybrid or custom networks provides significant cost savings for customers as well as improved network performance and availability. Historically our focus was the continental US, but the continued globalization of our largest enterprise customers and the growing demand for more reliable service over seas prompted us to launch an international 14 w w w.satellite-evolution.com | July/August 2006 w w w.satellite-evolution.com |January/February 2009 spacenet.p65 14 11/02/2009, 12:44