[SatNews] Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) has announced the availability of Hughes Emergency Solutions to help businesses and government offices prepare for the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began June 1st.
The satellite solutions, which include emergency response, continuity of operations (COOP) and network restoration, offer path-diverse options for agencies and businesses to maintain broadband connectivity, even when disaster strikes. Researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) have forecasted a slower than usual season, with nine named storms. However, CSU anticipates three hurricanes will make landfall and one will be a major storm with winds over 110 mph.[1] During a hurricane, it is both critical, and difficult, to maintain Internet connectivity. According to a survey conducted by Hughes regarding hurricane Katrina, 37 percent of small businesses in the area affected were left without broadband for more than five business days. Nearly one-quarter of those businesses reported resulting losses of more than $25,000.
“As we’ve unfortunately seen time and time before, it only takes one major storm to bring everything down,” said Tony Bardo, assistant vice president for Government Solutions at Hughes. “The best time to respond to a disaster is before it happens. Disaster-ready agencies are better prepared to continue normal operations during the disaster and provide needed services to the public throughout the disaster and in its aftermath—and secure, reliable communications are essential for preparedness.”
With years of experience in disaster recovery, Hughes has developed a list of basic steps to help government agencies, enterprises and small businesses stay connected during and after a hurricane:
- Have a back-up generator, corded phone and plenty of batteries on hand to keep your technology running, even if the electrical grid goes down
- Subscribe to a resilient, high-speed network service, such as satellite broadband, so that decision-makers and emergency operators can stay connected even if terrestrial networks fail
- Back-up information frequently and store the data in a safe, secure and dependable facility. Since data may be lost due to flooding, consider storing it at an off-site location
However, when significant flooding or windy conditions cause operations to cease, Hughes’ solutions ensure uninterrupted communications connectivity for businesses and government:
- Hughes Emergency Response Solutions. Designed to provide satellite broadband Internet for emergency response and recovery scenarios—even in the most remote locations. The SPACEWAY® 3 Ka-band satellite system or EchoStar® XVII satellite with JUPITER™ high-throughput technology—a next generation Ka-band satellite system, provide the industry’s fastest satellite Internet speeds, up to 15 Mbps.
- Hughes COOP Solutions. Designed for emergency communication preparedness, these path-diverse solutions provide broadband connectivity when terrestrial or wireless networks fail. Hughes pre-positions a permanent terminal at a designated location. Featuring policy-based routing with automatic failure detection and switchover between primary and backup links, the solutions complement existing primary networks with 99.99 percent availability. Hughes COOP Solutions are powered by the SPACEWAY 3 or EchoStar XVII.
- Hughes Emergency Network Restoral (ENR) Solutions. The ENR Solution blends pre-disaster planning and set up with rapid post-event deployment. It offers a Virtual Private Network (VPN) backup service for locations connected by Wide Area Networks (WAN). Hughes designs, pilots, configures, and integrates a private satellite network with a WAN. After an emergency occurs, Hughes ENR Solutions ensure communications restoration within 48 hours.
Every solution is backed by comprehensive 24/7 technical support and next-business day field maintenance.
For more information, please visit https://government.hughes.com/emergencycomm.
[1] Extended Range Forecast of Atlantic Seasonal Hurricane Activity and Landfall Strike Probability for 2014, Colorado State University, Apr. 10, 2014
