United States Department of State Enterprise Network Management Deployment and Operation of Satellite Terminals Worldwide
Background
American diplomacy and foreign assistance in the 21st Century are based on three fundamental beliefs: our freedom is best protected by ensuring that others are free; our security relies on a global effort to secure the rights of all; and our prosperity depends on the prosperity of others. The strategic goal of the U.S. Department of State is to promote freedom, justice and human dignity; and to confront the challenges of our time by leading a growing community of democracies.
The Challenge
The U.S. Department of State has a vast amount of missions located around the globe. These missions depend heavily upon reliable and secure communications in extremely diverse geopolitical environments. The State Department’s attempts to fulfill telecommunications requirements are frequently saturated with day-to-day operations and often the department cannot handle unexpected telecommunications requirements. Additionally, the State Department telecommunications systems are installed in locations which can only be accessed by security cleared U.S. citizens. Often times the technology involved must be state of the art and accompanied by industry professionals who can quickly, accurately and securely establish critical telecommunications circuits under extreme time constraints.
How We Helped
Globecomm successfully procured, engineered, integrated and deployed over 30 satellite terminals and post subsystems to U.S. Embassy and Chancellery locations worldwide. These terminals include several Regional Embassy Offices (REO’s) throughout Iraq that were installed after the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Globecomm performed pre-install site surveys at each location to properly plan the installations. The systems were then engineered by Globecomm to meet State Department mission specifications utilizing Microwave, High Speed Wireless, Terrestrial and Satellite technologies. The systems were prepared at our teleport facility in Laurel, MD and then shipped worldwide where they were received and then installed on site by our security-cleared technicians. At the conclusion of each installation a customer checklist was completed which documented all of the system test results.
Globecomm currently provides the satellite bandwidth for the systems operation, operates the NOC for systems monitoring and performs maintenance on the systems continually. As part of the ongoing maintenance plan, Globecomm will travel to any State Department mission location worldwide within 48-72 hours to repair system problems that cannot be remedied via remote Monitoring and Control protocols. Inclusive of the maintenance program, Globecomm also performs site equipment “refreshes” approximately every 3 years, at which time all remote equipment is replaced with new, start of the art technology and the system is optimized and tested for quality assurance.
Due to the increased mission requirements in the Middle East, Globecomm will send staffed engineers to the “Green Zone” in Baghdad in support of ongoing State Department missions in that region.
