mecom Selects Hughes HX System for Fault-Tolerant Satellite Solution

GERMANTOWN, Md., Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughes Europe, the European operating and sales organization of Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), today announced that Hamburg-based mecom Medien-Communikations-Gesellschaft mbH, Germany's leading company in the transmission of news in text, image, graphics, audio and video formats, has chosen the high-performance Hughes HX broadband satellite system to power its scalable and efficient digital network needed to meet growth plans.

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The new fault-tolerant solution will be rolled out over the next 12 months and will include two Hughes HX central hubs and broadband satellite terminals at 600 sites in the current mecom network. To ensure maximum system stability, the second central hub will provide fully automatic redundancy as a backup. mecom's decision to select Hughes technology was based on a successful 20-year relationship between the two companies, during which Hughes Europe has provided mecom with a flexible and easy-to-integrate system.

Ulrich Wiehsalla, managing director of mecom, said, "Our very demanding customers expect from mecom not only a highly reliable, highly topical, and simultaneous supply of content, but they also pay particular attention to authenticity. They want to be certain that they receive the content issued, for example, by the German press agency (dpa) with a 100% guarantee. Especially in the area of security services, it is essential that mecom continues to function effectively, even in a crisis situation where public networks are not working. We have done this in the past and want to ensure we maintain this in the future."

Providing a closed network for hundreds of receivers on a single central hub allows mecom to realize operational and maintenance benefits on a high-quality network at optimal cost. As part of the new agreement, Hughes will also provide comprehensive hardware support.

"This new contract with mecom is a testament to how Hughes technical innovation and exceptional customer service results in a high degree of customer loyalty," said Chris O'Dell, vice president of sales and marketing, Hughes Europe. "Our teams worked closely together to create a high availability solution tailor-made to mecom's most demanding requirements—in an environment where a few seconds delay in the transmission of messages may have significant economic implications."

The Hughes HX System will support the transmission of satellite services through a new 'mecomTransmit Server'. This new initiative was presented for the first time at the World Publishing Expo 2013 (IFRA Expo & Conference) in Berlin in early October, the world's leading trade exhibition for news publishers.

About mecom Medien-Communikations-Gesellschaft mbH
mecom was founded in Hamburg in 1989 by five news agencies. Today's shareholders are the German Press Agency (dpa), dpa-AFX Economic News (dpa-AFX), Agence France-Presse GmbH (AFP), Evangelical Press (EPD) and Catholic News Agency (KNA).

mecom is Germany's leading company for the transmission of agency reports in text, image, graphics, audio and video. Other business areas include: applications and communication systems for governmental institutions; workflows for printing documents; B2B archive and portal applications; and rights management for authors/owners. Headquartered in Hamburg and seven other service locations in Germany, mecom offers a nationwide 24/365 on-site service.
For additional information about mecom, please visit www.mecom.de.

About Hughes Europe
Hughes Europe is the European operating and sales organization for Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) with facilities in Germany, the UK, and Italy. Utilizing its satellite hub earth station and network operations center in Griesheim, Germany, Hughes Europe provides Hughes broadband satellite and terrestrial solutions to large enterprises, government organizations and small businesses throughout the continent, both directly and through a growing family of value-added service providers. These networks support rapid, reliable transmission of data, voice, video, and multimedia content. For more information, please visit www.hugheseurope.com.

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 3.3 million systems to customers in over 100 countries, representing over 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.

©2013 Hughes Network Systems, LLC. Hughes and HughesNet are registered trademarks of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.

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