Latest News

January 2008

Australian Satellite Communications Chooses iDirect Platform
To Expand Services Into Southeast Asia, North And South Pacific

Strategic investment enables satellite service leader to cover entire Asia Pacific, deliver IP broadband to comprehensive range of growing vertical markets

Singapore, 8 January 2008 — Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited’s (ST Electronics) US satellite communication company, iDirect Inc. (iDirect) today announced that Australian Satellite Communications will install an iDirect 5IF satellite hub on the US west coast to expand its services in the Asia Pacific market.  The broadband provider, which already serves a major segment of the Asia Pacific region based on the iDirect platform, plans to offer both Ku-Band and C-Band services, covering Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. iDirect is a world leader in satellite-based broadband communications technology. ST Electronics is the electronics arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering).

The investment is a response to rising demand for IP broadband in critical areas of the Asia Pacific region that have been underserved to date. The expanded coverage allows Australian Satellite Communications to provide high-speed connectivity to the oil and gas and maritime industries, supporting bandwidth-intensive IP applications that must function in real time. In addition, Australian Satellite Communications can now deliver Internet broadband, VoIP and other services to government, educational and non-profit organizations expanding their operations in the region.

iDirect’s universal hub will enable Australian Satellite Communications to operate in multiple bands and support star, mesh or SCPC networks coupled with TCP and Web acceleration. Further, iDirect’s innovative Group Quality of Service (QoS) feature will allow Australian Satellite Communications to efficiently allocate bandwidth across remotes and tailor service levels to balance real-time and less critical applications that share a common network.

The Asia Pacific region is so vast, and the applications for satellite communications so diverse that iDirect is the only platform capable of meeting all our business objectives. With iDirect’s intelligent technology, we can combine customers with diverse user profiles onto the same hub platform to save both space segment and capital costs, and pass on these benefits to our customers.

Chris Joseland
Managing Director, Australian Satellite Communications

Australian Satellite Communications is now strongly positioned to extend its leadership role to the entire Asia Pacific region. As the need for efficient IP broadband accelerates, Australian Satellite Communications has made a technology investment that will enable it to maximize its business opportunities and deliver efficient, reliable services to a growing customer base.

John Arnold
Sales Director, Australasia, iDirect

Australian Satellite Communications Pty Ltd provides a complete range of VSAT services throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific region. Established in 1985, Australian Satellite Communications provides total satellite communications solutions for the Corporate & Government sectors comprising military, mining and oil and gas industries. In-house engineering and design capabilities enable Australian Satellite Communications to tailor solutions to meet the individual and highly specialized needs of its customers. Australian Satellite Communications has formed strategic relationships with carriers, satellite operators, technology and other service providers in order to provide the best solution for its customers. For more information, please visit  www.ascs.com.au. 

iDirect, designs, develops, and markets satellite-based broadband access solutions targeted at the enterprise, government, carrier and educational sectors that have the need for fast, flexible, and geographically dispersed two-way internet/intranet access. These include extending private networks to remote offices; supporting mobile connectivity across land, sea and air; providing rural telephony and Internet broadband; and maintaining communications in the wake of disasters and network failures. The iDirect Intelligent Platform™ integrates advanced technology into iDirect’s portfolio of hubs, routers and network management software to address the growing complexity of deploying and managing global IP networks.  With more than 13 years of global satellite communications experience, iDirect serves customers in 30 countries through a diverse network of channel partners, including some of the largest satellite providers, operators and carriers in the world and seven of the World Teleport Association’s Global Top Ten. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, iDirect has offices in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Please visit www.idirect.net.

ST Electronics, the electronics arm of ST Engineering, delivers innovative system solutions to government, commercial, defence, and industrial customers worldwide. It specialises in the design, development and integration of advanced electronics systems, such as broadband radio frequency and satellite communication, e-government solutions, information communications technologies, rail and traffic management, realtime command & control, training and simulation, intelligent building management, information security solutions and managed services. Please visit www.stee.stengg.com.

Media contact:

Magdalen Loh
AVP / Head, Corporate Communications
Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited
Tel: (65) 6413 1788 / 9822 3321
Fax: (65) 6484 8840
Email: magloh@stee.stengg.com