VSATs for Disaster Recovery Deployment: The UNHCR Tsunami Relief case study

BCom has provided VSAT installation services in disaster-stricken regions in the past, be it man-made disasters (Kosovo post war intervention) or natural disasters (Dec 26 2005 Tsunami)
In response to the devastating Tsunami that hit Asia on Dec 26 2004, and as part of the support for its relief efforts in the Sri Lanka and Indonesia area, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has appointed BCom in Jan2005 for the equipment supply and installation of ten earth stations using the iDirect TDMA platform for its fixed and mobile offices in the Tsunami-stricken areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The sites installed in Northern Sumatra were in Medan, Banda Ache, Lamno, Meulaboh, and Calang. In some places, the VSATs were the only means of communications between the relief teams and the outside world, the earth stations provided connectivity to the Internet and to UNHCR's Geneva HQ. The installations were conducted there by a BCom 3-engineer team in a compressed 2-week period in February 2005.

Click here to download a presentation on this project performed by Mr. Richard Dagher of BCom at the Intelsat GTM 2005.
Click here for photo album