GERMANTOWN, Md., April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), the global leader in broadband satellite solutions and a leading provider of managed network services, today announced enhancements to its HughesON™ Digital Media Solutions that increase social media integration, enable low-cost cloud services for content storage and expand emergency notification functionality.

According to a KPMG¹ survey, 71 percent of retailers believe that social media impacts their business and its competitive value is growing—which calls for employing new generation digital media solutions to communicate more effectively with customers and employees.

"Hughes has been a long-time vendor partner of the Communications Media Management Association," said Chris Barry, president of CMMA. "They provided a leading-edge digital signage solution at our fall 2013 conference that integrated twitter posts and an interactive game, and we now look forward to seeing their next generation offering at our Spring Professional Development conference in Denver May 4-7, 2014."

Social media is an integrated part of HughesON Digital Media Solutions and the enhancements bring a full slate of features to more effectively access Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Google+, and Instagram. Easy-to-use templates and HTML5 make for rapid creation of exciting links to social media, enabling organizations to deliver relevant content based on location.

Hughes was an early adopter of cloud-based storage and distribution services, and the latest enhancements include the option to use Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) with the full suite of HughesON Digital Signage Solutions. Using the cloud for content storage and access greatly simplifies operational management and resource requirements, especially for large networks of distributed media players.

"Over the past 10 years, I watched first hand as Hughes has delivered innovations to the digital signage and employee communication industries," said Dan Pryor, communication industry analyst. "I see significant value in these new features. Businesses will increase revenues, save money, and create employee engagement with these timely, relevant, and reliable communication solutions."

Hughes was one of the first companies to provide emergency notification services as part of its digital signage solutions. The new release gives greater flexibility in what content and where the emergency notifications are displayed, building on an earlier version that includes an iOS application for network administrators to initiate notifications from handheld devices.

"When urgent situations arise, distributed organizations need to react quickly and provide accurate and timely information to their audiences," said Mike Tippets, vice president, Hughes Media Solutions Group. "Our solution now allows the use of unique messages on each screen or group of screens, making the messages relevant to the precise location and situation."

About Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes) is the world's leading provider of satellite broadband for home and office, delivering innovative network technologies, managed services, and solutions for enterprises and governments globally. HughesNet^® is the #1 high-speed satellite Internet service in the marketplace, with offerings to suit every budget. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 4 million systems to customers in over 100 countries, representing approximately 50 percent market share. Its products employ global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A, and GMR-1.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), a premier global provider of satellite operations and digital TV solutions. For additional information about Hughes, please visit www.hughes.com.

©Hughes Network Systems, LLC, an EchoStar company. Hughes and HughesNet are registered trademarks and HughesON is a trademark of Hughes Network Systems, LLC. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

¹ 2013 Retail Industry Outlook Survey, KPMG white paper

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SOURCE Hughes Network Systems, LLC