Winston Churchill said that if there were ever a nuclear war between two enemies, the next war would be fought “with sticks and stones.”

If we consider the role of communications and satellites in the era of the “Cold War,” and apply it to evolving defense strategies and the role of the commercial sector, one thing has is proved: satellite is critical.  There may be another 9/11, Pearl Harbor or Operation Barbarosa, the Nazi’s surprise attack on Russia in 1941.   However, it is unlikely to happen without the satellite industry sniffing it out and perhaps helping to avert it.

At the Satellite 2012 show in Washington, D.C., Bill Tillson, President and Chief Operating Officer of Encompass Digital Media in the United States was named the teleport industry’s 2012 Executive of the Year by World Teleport Association.  In a ceremony in Washington, D.C., hosted by SES, Tillson was honored by his peers, including most of the world’s leading teleport operators, satellite companies and technology providers

Vince Waterson, President of Asia Pacific Teleport has worked for over 30 years telecommunications industry in Asia, Europe and North America. Vince founded VideoKall Inc while maintaining his role as VP of Business Development at Hawaii Pacific Teleport (HPT) a provider of satellite Internet services to the Asia Pacific region.

At the West show in San Diego last month, Satelltie Markets and Research caught up with Patrick Rayermann, the newly appointed Senior Director for Strategy and Development for Orbital Sciences Corporation. Rayermann joined Orbital in November 2011 after 30 years of service in the US Army, where he retired as a full colonel. His final military assignment was the chief steward of Department of Defense’s (DoD) architecture for satellite communications and to serve as the Chief of Staff of the DoD Executive Agent for Space (EA4S) Staff.

What is the he difference between the Mid-Pacific Conference Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and the Congressional Ballroom of Renaissance Hotel in Washington in mid-March?  8,000 miles, 60 degrees (F.) in daily temperature and the same numerical gap in the respective systolic and diastolic rates of the people working in them.  Despite the familiar sound of a snicker when you announce to people that you are attending the Pacific Telecommunications Council conference in the Aloha State for work, PTC happens to be one of the hardest-working conferences in the telecommunications industry.  Perhaps

In announcing on November 7 that it would outfit its entire fleet of aircraft with Ku-band connectivity by 2015, United/Continental Holdings confirmed a trend underlining NSR’s aeronautical market forecast for the next ten years: connectivity to commercial passenger planes is here to stay. After agreeing to previous incarnations only to drop orders in the wake of major financial difficulties post-9/11, U.S. airlines are stepping back on the bridge to connectivity and not just for regional routes but overseas routes as well.

One satellite company that is aggressively pursuing expansion plans is Russia-based operator Gazprom Space Systems (GSS). At the recent IBC show in Amsterdam, GSS announced that it entered into a strategic partnership with global satellite operator SES to provide additional satellite capacity to serve the Russian market. Under the terms of a multi-year agreement, SES has re-located its ASTRA 1F satellite previously located at 51 degrees East to the orbital location 55 degrees East.

At the recently-concluded ITU Telecom event in Geneva, Satellite Executive Briefing correspondent Roxana Dunnette spoke with the ITU’s Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré on the new ITU Telecom format and other issues. Excerpts of the interview:

This column was nearly entitled, “In Praise of Intelsat.” But I knew people would either not read it, accusing me of being a shill for the satellite industry, or would pore over it hoping it was an ironic title, and that I would write a funny piece intended to bash the world’s largest satellite operator.

If there is anything more short-lived than the attention span of a digital-aged teenager it is the lifespan of an Al Qaeda third-in-command.  The ranks near the top of that org are thin and getting thinner.  Among the underreported stories of the last month is that two “number threes” were killed during the time when Osama bin Laden was holed-up in Abbottabad, Pakistan.  There was no memory lapse on the part of the United States and the global alliance of nations, who were determined not to forget the events of 11 September 2001.  Nor was there an inability to get the job done.  Recently, a