Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. has received an order from PageNet, one of the largest paging operators in the US, for an enhanced version of Skystar Advantage(TM) to facilitate the communication of Narrowband Personal Communication Services (NPCS), commonly called "two-way paging".
Gilat, the largest supplier of one-way SCPC VSATs to the
satellite-based paging market, received the order from GE Capital
Spacenet Services, Inc. (GE Spacenet), which will provide VSAT
equipment and services to PageNet. Gilat will act as GE Spacenet's
representative to the paging market for the companies'
jointly-developed "NPCSkystar" VSAT product, which has been tailored
to meet the technical requirements of the paging industry.
"Among our first two-way paging orders from GE Spacenet, PageNet's
is the largest at almost a thousand sites," offered Gilat President
and Chief Operating Officer Amiram Levinberg. "We have developed a
unique paging architecture leveraging on our extensive experience in
one-way paging, that supports extreme environmental conditions, an
upgrade path from one-way to two-way and interface with all major
paging base-station equipment."
PageNet Chief Technical Officer Bill Scott added, "Based on our
past experience with Gilat's OneWay(TM) equipment, we are confident
that the GE Spacenet-Gilat product represents the best available
solution for our two-way network."
Gilat pioneered the use of VSATs in paging networks in 1991, when
its OneWay VSAT was installed at Hutchison Paging and Mercury Paging
in the UK. At the time, paging messages were broadcast from the
operators' headquarters to regional base stations via satellite, then
redistributed to individual subscribers via radio.
