BGAN from Stratos Enables Broadcasters to Cover Egyptian Political Crisis

--The BBC, Fox News, others deploy BGAN for uninterrupted coverage of news events--

BETHESDA, MD, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ - Stratos Global, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, today announced it has been providing integrated media solutions that are enabling many of the world's largest news organizations to broadcast ongoing coverage of the Egyptian political crisis. The solutions include Inmarsat BGAN mobile broadband satellite services with GuaranteedAccess managed end-to-end IP network connectivity.

These organizations began broadcasting reports of the crisis from Cairo and other Egyptian cities on January 25th. Days later, the Egyptian government shut down all terrestrial Internet connectivity and mobile phone service. BGAN enabled these broadcasters to continue newsgathering in Egypt and transmitting live reports to their studios, without interruption.

BGAN from Stratos streaming services are being used by the BBC, Fox News and others for live video streaming from the protest sites. The broadcasters also are using BGAN for Internet connectivity, store-and-forward video clips, and audio streaming for radio broadcast.

All BGAN traffic from these organizations is routed via the Stratos global IP network, known as StratosNexus, into the broadcasters' studios worldwide.

As it did for last year's Haitian disaster, Stratos is continually monitoring its BGAN network and StratosNexus during this period of heightened usage in Egypt - and is providing frequent status reports to its media customers. Inmarsat also is taking measures to ensure the usual high level of availability and reliability of its Inmarsat-4 satellite network during this crisis.

Stratos President and CEO Jim Parm said, "Major news events like these, under seemingly impossible conditions, remind the world's top broadcasters of the indispensible nature of BGAN and the reliability of the Stratos network. The Stratos team remains available around the clock, to help our customers ensure optimal performance and efficiency from any imaginable location."

BGAN from Stratos enables media organizations to perform at optimal levels at any remote location. Journalists can effectively use BGAN services with minimal training. The premium BGAN X-Stream service allows a guaranteed minimum symmetrical video streaming rate of 384 kbps, with up to 450 kbps expected under optimal conditions. Today's announcement is the latest example of how Stratos has helped many of the world's largest media organizations benefit from BGAN X-Stream since the service was launched in 2009.

For these events, news organizations make full use of Stratos' value-added services known as The Stratos Advantage, which enable customers to monitor airtime, restrict unauthorized usage and manage costs. The organizations also achieve guaranteed, end-to-end bandwidth for their time-critical data with a Stratos GuaranteedAccess solution custom designed by Stratos engineers.

Stratos GuaranteedAccess extends guaranteed bandwidth from the BGAN terminal through to the terrestrial infrastructure to broadcast centers. Stratos GuaranteedAccess is enabled by StratosNexus, a Stratos-managed Global Core network for traditional and IP-based services. StratosNexus is a redundant and highly resilient network, designed and optimized to carry time-sensitive satellite traffic.

About BGAN from Stratos
Stratos is one of the world's largest distributors of Inmarsat's BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) service, a mobile satellite offering that uses portable, lightweight terminals to provide video (guaranteed up to 384 kbps streaming), high-speed data (up to 492 kbps) and voice connectivity anywhere in the world. Since its introduction in late 2005, BGAN from Stratos has been widely adopted by media organizations, military agencies, first responders and professionals in many other industries worldwide. Stratos now boasts more than 14,500 BGAN activations in 185 countries.

About The Stratos Advantage
Stratos customers fully utilize The Stratos Advantage, a suite of value-added services that help elevate BGAN from Stratos far above baseline offerings. These value-added services, including Stratos Dashboard, provide users with cost control, firewall management, full traffic information, pre-paid facilities, high security options, easy VPN access, messaging services and a full range of IP options. More information on BGAN from Stratos is available at www.thepowerofbgan.com.

About Stratos
Stratos is the world's trusted leader for vital communications. Stratos offers the most powerful and extensive portfolio of remote communications solutions including mobile and fixed satellite and microwave services. More than 20,000 customers use Stratos products and industry-leading value-added services to optimize communications performance. Stratos serves U.S. and international government, military, first responder, NGO, oil and gas, industrial, maritime, aeronautical, enterprise, and media users on seven continents and across the world's oceans. Stratos is a wholly owned subsidiary of Inmarsat plc. For more information, visit www.stratosglobal.com.

SOURCE Stratos Global Corporation