On June 8, 2010 Skycasters submitted a proposal in Washington, D.C., for a $5.1 million in ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) committee. Project SafetyNet, as we’re calling it, will bring life-saving and economy-stimulating satellite broadband Internet to public safety organizations in unserved portions of rural America. Believe it or not, these police departments, fire departments, EMS and the like are still using dial-up, amateur radio and other last-century technology to access the Internet and communicate with one another. Not good. Here’s how our proposal will change all that.

The goal of Project SafetyNet is twofold. First, it will arm rural public safety agencies with the technology they need to save lives and protect property. A Skycasters broadband satellite Internet connection will enhance their ability to provide homeland security training and response, border patrol and anti-drug efforts, and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications during emergencies. It will also give them the mobility they need during lost and missing persons incidents and disaster response.

Secondly, Project SafetyNet will prompt rural economic recovery by creating and saving jobs, and by establishing safer communities. In fact, one of the agencies that expressed interest in our services has estimated that Project SafetyNet will have a positive impact in his community of $3.4 million.

Approval of our proposal will allow us to provide a total of 80 communities, counties and states with two years of free satellite broadband Internet, along with free business-grade equipment in one of two mobile equipment configurations. We will also provide no-cost training at our headquarters in Akron.

In total, the beneficiaries of this funding (agencies we will help) serve more than 37 million American citizens across a geographic area that spans 283,401 square miles, so imagine the impact Project SafetyNet will have.

Phase II: The Politics

We are now in the second phase of our campaign, scheduling meetings with state governors, congressional representatives and other influential people, asking them to endorse our proposal. We have also asked our beneficiaries to write letters of support to their governors and legislators. We expect to receive an answer from RUS in September. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

To find out how our services will be used to save lives and stimulate the economy, download the Executive Summary of our proposal here.

Early on the morning of June 26, 2010, Honduras lost a son with great potential: Ian Henry Merriam Rubiano, 38 years old.

Known to family, friends and business associates as Ian Merriam, Ian was an entrepreneur in communications who also took great interest in the leadership of his country, following in the footsteps of his father, Henry Merriam, the Honduran architect, and Tegucigalpa mayor from 1976 to 1980, who in 2001 spearheaded real estate reform in Honduras, writing law and winning grassroots support.

Ian helped build E-Consulting S.A. as its co-president. E-Consulting provides communications services to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, linking rural regions unserved by broadband communications to the Internet. E-Consulting in Honduras provides financial institutions throughout country, ranging from large banks to savings & loan coops, with wireless access between ATMs and the home office. It also services the region’s NGOs and the public sector, including public education and municipal county offices.

A graduate in business administration at Babson College in Massachusetts, majoring in entrepreneurial studies and marketing, Ian served on the boards of directors of the electronics retail chain Frontera Digital; Torre Vita, a real estate developer; and Macris School, the largest bilingual school in Honduras. Ian was honored as a CALI IV Fellow at the Central America Leadership Initiative, a non-profit foundation that seeks to motivate effective and responsible leaders across Central America.

Ian made friends wherever he went, and the team at Skycasters, his satellite service supplier in Akron, Ohio, USA, mourns his loss. Ian was an honorable and trustworthy business partner, a man for whom a handshake was as good as a signature, and one who gave his word as his bond. His upbeat, positive attitude was a blessing, and he will be missed.

-The Skycasters Family

One of the questions that the class asked me to cover was about traits and qualities I look for in prospective employees. I’m going to spend the majority of my time today on this question, because I think it will be the most helpful to you in the long run. The future – Where I think we are headed – (and the reason why I value these attributes above all others) will not seem revolutionary to you in this room – It will only seem like the norm. It will be the reality in the only business world you will have ever known…

The “normal speed” of business has taken another quantum leap forward, and timelines and expectations have compressed. And all of the rules – from technology to consumer behavior, values, media habits – all are in the process of being rewritten.

As I said, this is the only reality you will know – but it will be new territory to those already in the workplace. The managers to whom you would normally look to for advice won’t have much to offer. Sorry about that.

So expect to have to make your own way. Don’t expect a career path to unroll smoothly in front of you. Oh, and always, always, always live on less than you make – preferably half as much.

You will notice nowhere on this list do I describe a single job skill. Not that you can type 60 w.p.m., or that you are proficient in PowerPoint or Photoshop or PHP. Now, those may be job requirements to do the job, but they are “threshold” issues. They are necessary, but not sufficient. What I mean is, certain skills are necessary in order to be considered for the job, but they are not sufficient to land the job. Skills can be learned, improved, tested. Skills also become obsolete. But the character qualities I am going to describe will always be in demand.

Ok, here’s the list of what I care about and why:

Intelligence: Doesn’t necessarily mean education, but education can be a good indicator. (I’ve met intelligent people without education and educated people without intelligence.) There is no substitute for raw mental horsepower.

Attitude: Eagerness, enthusiasm – no naysayers allowed, realists only as necessary.

Work Ethic: Show up. Be dependable. Don’t be the guy with the reputation for: late, lazy, buck passer, finger pointer, excuse guy, always sick, etc. Your credit with management and peers both takes a hit. Note: you don’t have to have intelligence to work hard. Work ethic is one attribute that is completely in your control.

Adaptability/Nimbleness: As a manager, I try not to ask for miracles often, because then they cease to be special – but every once in a while, we have to “drop everything” and handle some new project immediately. Doing it without letting anything fall through the cracks is an art form.

Teamwork: Ability to work and play with others. When to be bold and assert your position. When to acquiesce. Don’t throw teammates under the bus.
Willingness to Try: There’s a first time for everything. You can’t learn if you don’t try.

Ability to Learn Quickly: We move too fast to have to go over things too many times. Intelligence and nimbleness of mind are key here.

Organization of Thought: Learn how to assemble a compelling argument. Bring order out of chaos. Start with data and create information. Help convince everyone around (owner, vendor, customer) to see things our way – a single, united vision.

Do Not Make the Same Mistake Twice: Human beings make mistakes. It’s part of the human condition. And when we ask you to you to try new things, and push yourself, we understand that mistakes will happen. And that’s OK. But when you do make a mistake, admit it. Own the mistake, apologize for it, and learn from it. Find out how to fix it, and how to keep it from happening again.

These are the qualities that I find to be the most valuable, and they apply across the board. No matter what industry you are in, no matter what your role in the organization, these qualities will always be in demand.

The following is an email from Tim, who works in our Technical Support department, describing the events of Saturday morning, April 3, 2010, the day before Easter. While I am sure Tim would say he was just “doing what anyone else would have done,” I believe his actions go far beyond that. I would like to thank him and commend him for demonstrating the best of what humanity has to offer to our fellow man.

This is his story, in his words:

I was late this morning because on Route 76 East, a Jeep lost its left front wheel, went over the center divider, and struck a car on the West bound side of the freeway. That car was stopped in the center lane of 76 West just before the Route 8 and I-77 split.

That’s were I came into the picture.  As I drove past the stopped car, I noticed there were two old people in the car (silver Mazda) still and no one was around (Police or Fire) or anyone else. Other cars were trying to miss the car in the middle of the freeway. I pulled over a ways up the road, way off to the side, and called 911. I told them about the car in the Route 76 West bound lane. They responded telling me that someone was already on the way. Then I asked the 911 operator about the people in the car. I told the 911 operator someone is going to slam into the back of this car. I told her I wanted to try and get them out of the car before this happens.

911 responded by telling me “I can not tell you to do that” blah blah blah. I told her, “Okay. Good bye.”

I could not stop thinking how my Mother, Father or someone else in my family or friends would feel scared in that situation. So I walked down to the stopped car I asked the guy to role down the window. Above the sound of the traffic going by, I asked if they could move ok and did they think they could get out of the car.

He responded yes, I told him wait, to not open the door yet. I told him I am going to come across and open the door. I told him when I do, I will get you out one at a time and bring you over to the side of the road one at a time. Then seeing what they could not, I waited for a break in the traffic long enough to get across to the car. Then, when there was another break in the traffic, I got him out and back across the street, and I did the same for his wife.

I walked them down the freeway West away from the car to get away from the accident, in case someone slammed into the back of the car, so we did not become like one of those videos we have all seen on the Internet or the news where someone who is out of the car gets hit by another car trying to avoid the accident.

Then we watched as car after car and truck just missed the silver Mazda in the middle of Route 76 West lane.

About then, the Akron Police showed up on the other side of the freeway by the Jeep (it was off the road). At this time I still thought the Jeep was someone who was stopped to also call the accident in. I didn’t know that it was her tire that had come over the center divider and hit the West bound lane car, because the older folks had told me when I got them out of the car that the tire had come off a truck and hit them.

When the police officer showed up on the other side of the freeway, I waved my arms trying to get him to notice me and to let him know he needed to be on this side of the freeway to block the on-coming traffic. He waved his hand and kept walking up to the Jeep. I am not sure if the officer did not realize from his vantage point where the car was on my side of the divider — that it was in the center lane.

Then a much younger driver in a black car was coming straight at the stopped Mazda, and at the last minute swerved right, going onto the side of the road (where we had been standing just moments before), then swerved left, sending the car into a counter clockwise spin. After hitting the center divider, she ended up in the far left lane facing backwards, but in direct line of oncoming West bound traffic.

So then I did the same for her. I got across the road, asked her if she could move. She thought she could get out of the car. I noticed she had seat belt marks on her left side of the neck and shoulder. I helped her out and across the road to the guardrail.

At about the same time, the officer told the person in the Jeep to stay were she was, and got in his car and drove down the freeway so he could come over to the West bound side of 76.

The Akron police officer was now on the westbound side of the freeway, and blocked the center and left two lanes with his car, and came across to us. I went up to the officer to let him know who was from what car, and that the younger driver had marks on her neck and chest from the seatbelt, that she told me something about hitting her legs and knees. I told him that the old couple seemed okay, but I was not sure. So the officer starting call for EMS.

The younger driver was getting upset and was shaking, so I calmed her down. She was asking for her phone to call her work and parents because of what just happened. She could not think of her number to use my phone,

So after checking with the officer, I went over to her car and got her phone. By the way, for those of you who think you will be able to get to your cell after you had car accident, the phone was way under the passenger seat and very hard to get.

Two EMS and another officer arrived on the scene, and after telling EMS who was with what car, I told the first officer I would go to work now if he didn’t need me stay any longer. He told me no and thanked me.

Then I went on to work.

But my mind was racing.

You never know how long you will be here! You never know how long the people you know and love will be here! You never know how long people you do not even know will be here! Later we might have found out in the news what could have happened had I been later, or even 10 minutes earlier to work that day!

Chance favors the prepared mind! Get Involved! Fancy words are great after the fact. but?

Use the time given to you! Each and every day!

Make a difference in someone’s life when it matters: right now! Because it’s right now that matters most!

It is this second, this minute, this hour that matters when someone needs help!

Your life connects to others you may not even know!

I’d like to thank the recent connections who have made my life better. Thank you to Dr. Alan H. Markowitz & The other people at UVH who made is possible for me to have two new heart vales.

Thank you to Habitat For Humanity of Portage County and all its volunteers without whom I would not have gotten a home in Ravenna, Ohio. Were I not living in Ravenna, I wouldn’t have been where I needed to be on Route 76 West, Saturday April 3rd, 2010, at 7:47 am.

And lastly, thank you to the company I work for: www.Skycasters.com, for having good health insurance, without which I would not been able to have my heart surgery that gave me life to keep working and the strength to help anyone, so that I’d be where I needed to be on Route 76 West Saturday April 3rd 2010 at 7:47am.

Well, almost. The Winter sun fade means Spring ain’t far behind.

Twice a year, as the Earth’s position in its orbit brings geostationary satellites exactly between the sun and your (and our) satellite dish, the sun overpowers the satellite for several minutes.

The great equalizer. Sun fade affects all industries that use geostationary satellites: radio stations, broadcast and cable TV, military, aid agencies, and broadband satellite Internet , like your business.

The outages that concern you are that of Skycasters’ teleport (when we fade, you fade), and your own. Skycasters’ G28 customers (your dish points to 89 degrees west longitude) will see fade at these times:

Our T14 customers (your dish points to 63 degrees west longitude) will see fades at these times:

Your Internet connection will fade during these times. But your own dish will also be affected at different times – when the sun aligns with the satellite and your dish.

Depending on your latitude and longitude. To determine the additional times you may be affected by sun fade, the illustration below shows the dates various latitudes and longitudes customers on Intelsat’s G28 will be affected (click on the illustration to get a bigger map).

To calculate your location’s exact sun interference dates for Telesat’s T14, use Telesat’s calculator here and click on the link near the top of the page, “For sun transit calculator click here.”

When the calculator comes up (it’s a pop up window), select the satellite T14 from the drop down menu, put in your site’s latitude and longitude, select this year, select Spring, select Ku for the “frequency band,” and “1” for the size of the dish (if your dish is the 1.2 meter dish – if you have a 1.8 or 2.4 meter dish, select those). The temperature will default to 135 Kelvin. Click Calculate.

The Telesat calculator uses GMT (which is same as UTC). In normal time, that’s 5 hours before Eastern Standard Time, 6 hours before Central Standard Time, 7 hours before MST, and 8 hours before PST. Therefore, a sun fade at 18 hours GMT will be at 1 pm for the eastern US, 12 noon in Chicago, 11 am in Denver, and 10 am in Los Angeles.

As earthquake aftershocks continue to affect the region, Skycasters’ Haitian customers will assess their communications links, and we will work with them to reestablish their links as they repoint dishes shaken out of alignment.

Natural disasters are foremost on our minds, as it’s times like this when communications capabilities are needed the most. Whether first responders, or the ongoing operations of governmental organizations or businesses, fast communications during emergency situations is paramount.

Planning for disaster means installing business grade materials using industrial methods. That means steel pole mounts embedded in concrete, or flat roof non-penetrating mounts held down with hundreds of pounds of block. Sometimes that even means deploying an auto-pointing dish on a Skycasters trailer, storing it in a storm-proof, quake-proof structure, and pulling it out, turning on the generator, and connecting to the Internet or calling on your VoIP phone when all the area cell phones and wi-fi networks are disabled.

Whether a fixed dish, or a mobile mount, we make every effort to ensure our customers and their installers make their satellite installations the strongest and most stable in the industry.

But when the Earth rocks or hurricane winds blow, the forces of nature may exceed even the most rugged of tolerances. Even storm-proof or quake-proof shelters have their limits. In these cases, all you can do is hope for the best, and fix the rest.

Over the years we have provided satellite broadband Internet to hundreds of Haitian business and governmental customers. Because the Caribbean island nations are by nature far from major continental centers of commerce, sometimes broadband satellite is the surest way to make a secure and high bandwidth connection to the Internet, to other nations, to your customers, or your other company facilities.

There is nothing to ease your pain, Haiti, except finding your families safe. Our hearts go out to you.

“How is satellite for streaming applications (e.g. ESPN 360, etc.)?”

As I wrote the answer, I thought that this would be a good topic for a blog.

Strictly from a technical / “does it work” perspective, streaming video works fine over Skycasters’ satellite service. Although I have not tried espn360.com specifically, I don’t see a technical reason why it would not work.

In fact, many of our clients use our products for streaming on the upload side - where the satellite dish is at the event location, and used to transmit the video. Technically, it is more challenging to stream an upload at a consistent 768 or 896 than it is to download at similar rates (due to transmit dish size and BUC output power). We recently supported the live streaming webcast of the Dedication Day Gettysburg Address Reenactment that was broadcast using Skycasters gear as the upload stream source. Very trick. (For more information, see http://www.skycasters.com/satellite-internet-articles/archives/2009/11202009-PowerStream.php)

So, technically, not a problem. But streaming is bandwidth / throughput intensive. Depending on the size of the stream, the costs range from $35-70 per hour on the low side, and could double or triple that for an HD stream. Some of our larger service plans allow for up to 4.5 mbps download. If that data rate is pegged at that rate to accommodate an HD stream (rather than the normal, intermittent “bursty” traffic patterns typically seen with TCP traffic) you can move 2 GB per hour. At $0.10/Meg, that’s $200/hour for that HD stream.

These costs are not a problem if the stream is a “for profit” venture.  The costs are known, understood, and built into the cost of the production.  For example, a client might say, “We’re going to stream this motorcycle race. It’s a 2-hour event. At our bit rate it will cost us $60 per hour, so we build $120 into our event budget.” No problem. (Video streaming over IP works out to be a bargain, actually, compared to traditional broadcast satellite time).

But the costs can be a problem if not anticipated (or not business justified). For example, the guys on an oil rig decide to stream the World Series for entertainment. Including the pregame analysis and post-game wrap up. Five hours of HD streaming for 7 nights creates a lot of unanticipated usage.

The long and short of it is, as long as the person streaming is willing and able to pay the bill, our network will happily accommodate it. In fact, our network is one of the few satellite IP networks that *can* accommodate video streaming - which is why many video production companies use Skycasters exclusively. From red carpet galas, to sending back the day’s filming to the editors in Hollywood, we do this a lot.  Next spring we are deploying with a military training exercise to simultaneously stream from various observation posts back to the command center, all on the Skycasters network.

I really enjoy this industry. We get involved in some very exciting projects and we use technology to enable some wonderful events like the Gettysburg Reenactment.

Until next time.

All the best,

-Mike

-Mike