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Do you know how much downtime costs your company every year? Most companies are shocked when they find out. A study by Infonetics Research* found that medium businesses (101 – 1,000 employees) are losing an average of 1% of their annual revenue, or $867,000, to downtime, with an average of nearly 140 hours of downtime every year. In addition to the financial losses, downtime creates a number of other risks including lost productivity due to idle employees, loss of customer confidence, liability and fraud due to lost records and data, and safety concerns due to no surveillance or critical communications. So what is 1 hour of network downtime worth to your company?

Having a continuity of communications plan in place should minimize the risks of network downtime, and help organizations like yours focus on their core business. To be effective, it should meet some basic criteria:

• Provide cost effective broadband access for multiple applications
• Provide near 100% uptime per remote locations
• Establish an always on back up network that is 100% diverse from the terrestrial network
• Keep communications running with constant access to data, video, voice and radio, even when local network services are down
• Provide a solution that is easy to manage, deploy and operate on an ongoing basis

To keep operations running in the event of a telecommunications disruption satellite has proven to be an ideal solution that provides continuity of communications and ensures critical applications stay online. With today’s latest technology, companies can seamlessly and cost-effectively integrate satellite into hybrid networks and combine it with common carrier technologies (DSL, cable, T-1, fixed wireless etc.). The network can be configured to support varying requirements and support different applications beyond network backup. Organizations benefit from having a highly reliable high availability network that ensures telephone and critical data applications always stay online. Overall, a satellite continuity solution provides the following benefits:

• Makes communications across locations easy
• Enables applications to perform optimally
• Minimizes lost revenue or additional costs from downtime
• Protects internal & customer data
• Ensures operations during short or longer incidents

With Spacenet, a leading provider of wireline and wireless networks, organizations now have more options for cost-effective and reliable network backup via satellite. It recently introduced the new Prysm Pro network appliance which enables seamless network backup between wireline and wireless networks.

As an example, Regis Corporation, the beauty industr's global leader in beauty salons, hair restoration centers and cosmetology education, selected Spacenet’s Prysm Pro to be used at over 7,000 nationwide locations to support automatic hybrid switching between its wireline and wireless technologies for network backup. In addition, it is simultaneously leveraging Prysm Pro for integrated WiFi hotspot services for customers, integrated Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) for VoIP functionality, and POS hardware for its retail applications.

Spacenet also offers transportable satellite communications providing the ability to deploy quickly to an emergency site and communicate effectively.

As an example, a large independently owned food retailer needed a reliable communications network to support its emergency response initiatives. The ultimate objective was to provide disaster relief in emergency situations including access to critical supplies such as medicine and food. The customer deployed Spacenet’s high performance satellite network in support of disaster-relief efforts during hurricanes Dolly and Ike. The transportable satellite communications solution enabled the retailer to support critical communications including high-speed broadband data during the hurricane relief efforts. The system worked extremely well and enabled data communications to be up and running within minutes.

Overall, satellite services can play a critical component in helping a company maintain communications in any situation. The right solution will enable your company to focus on its mission and avoid the risks of network downtime.

For more information, contact Spacenet at 866.480.2263 or visit www.spacenet.com/drj.

About Spacenet®
Spacenet is a leading provider of broadband network solutions for US based business, industrial and government customers. We offer a complete product and services portfolio for applications ranging from primary communications for corporate applications and secure data transfer, to hot stand-by solutions for continuity of operations and network backup, or field deployable solutions for disaster recovery and emergency management. For more information visit www.spacenet.com.

*Source: Medium Businesses Lose $867,000 a Year to Network Downtime, Infonetics Resarch, 2006