- High Integrity
Telecommunications across England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelan
- Resilient communications not
reliant on the Public Switched Telephone Network
The service capitalises on the successful
Skynet 5 satellite communications PFI programme and marks the start of a new
phase for Paradigm under which it is able to offer enhanced services to civil
government departments and agencies. Keith Norton, Managing Director
Paradigm said: “Up until this year, Paradigm’s focus was entirely on rolling
out the new Skynet infrastructure and delivering first class service to MoD as
our foundation customer. Now that the infrastructure is bedded in, including
three new state of the art satellites and an upgraded ground network, we are
able to turn more attention to exploring ways of expanding the use of this
unique asset in the national interest.”
The HITS
service comprises a satellite communications overlay, complemented by
terrestrial links, and will provide a resilient communications capability that
is not reliant on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). To supplement
flexibility the service includes a number of satellite communications terminals.
The terminals are distributed across the country enabling them to be dispatched
anywhere at very short notice by land or air.
The use of open standards allows interconnection of the HITS with other current and future UK Government IT
systems.
The HITS service will be fully
managed on behalf of the Cabinet Office from Paradigm’s 24/7 fully redundant
operational headquarters in Wiltshire. Paradigm will support the regional sites
from a number of Astrium and other partner operational centres across the UK to ensure a
rapid response to any local problems with the infrastructure.
The service will begin operation
with the first sites going live in Q4 2009, with all sites and transportable
terminals fully operational by 2012.
Keith Norton, Managing Director Paradigm said: “This demonstrates how
excellence in service delivery within an MOD/PFI contractual environment, can
be exploited by other government departments to provide best in class service
and value for money.”
Editors Notes
Paradigm – delivering satellite communications requirements
Paradigm
has a contract worth £3.6bn with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the
provision of military satellite communications services to 2020, following
restructuring of the contract at the end of 2005, to launch a reserve satellite
into orbit. The programme, procured as a
Private Finance Initiative (PFI), provides the next generation of UK
milsatcom capability. The Paradigm team
includes Astrium Satellites, the system designer and provider. For further information visit www.paradigmsecure.com
In addition to complete X-band packages,
Paradigm is able to offer capacity, coverage augmentation, anchoring and
back-haul services, as well as terminal leasing.
Under the
terms of the PFI deal, Paradigm is able to offer services to other militaries
and government organisations and has supplied milsatcom services to NATO, the Netherlands, Portugal,
Canada, France, Germany
and Australia.
Paradigm's
WelComE services enables service personnel to make telephone calls and have
access to the Internet from operational theatres worldwide, as part of the MoD
funded welfare package. Paradigm has
provided over a million hours of welfare telephone calls and provides Internet
and email services that are free for use to all UK service personnel deployed on
operations overseas.
Astrium Services
Astrium
Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS Astrium, offers a unique ‘one-stop
shop’ in the satellite services market, with unrivalled capability and
expertise in secure communications, Earth observation services and navigation
services. The European provider of milsatcom services, including the pioneering
Skynet 5 service, and a world-leading supplier of geo-information products and
services, Astrium Services meets its customers' requirements with innovative
and highly competitive end-to-end solutions.
In
2008, Astrium had a turnover of €4.3 billion and more than 15,000 employees in France, Germany,
the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas
of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital
infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment and
Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS
is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2008, EADS
generated revenues of €43.3 billion and employed a workforce of more than 118,
000.
Contact for the media:
Emily Milsom
Paradigm
T: +44 (0)1438 282245
E: emily.milsom@paradigmservices.com
Astrium, a wholly owned subsidiary
of EADS, is dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and
services. In 2008, Astrium had a turnover of €4.3 billion and more than 15,000
employees in France, Germany, the United
Kingdom, Spain
and the Netherlands.
Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers
and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground
segment and Astrium Services for the development and delivery of satellite services.
EADS is a global
leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2008, EADS generated
revenues of €43.3 billion and employed a workforce of more than 118, 000.
Contacts for the media:
Daniel Mosely (Astrium UK) Tel.:
+44 (0)1 438 77 8180
Matthieu Duvelleroy (Astrium FR) Tel.:
+33 (0) 1 77 75 80 32
Ralph Heinrich (Astrium GER) Tel.: +49 (0) 89 607 33971
Francisco Lechón (Astrium SP) Tel.:
+34 91 586 37 41
www.astrium.eads.net
