Hughes unveils new government hook

Hughes Network Systems has unveiled a new name that reflects changes to its ownership structure, and it has launched new managed services offerings for government and private-sector clients.

HughesNet is the new name for the service brand, replacing DirecWay, according to company announcements issued today. DirecTV, which had held 50 percent ownership in Hughes, sold its portion of the company earlier this year to Hughes Communications. Apollo owns about 70 percent of Hughes Communications, and the rest is public stock.

HughesNet’s Managed Network Services provides high-availability and optimized networks and continuity-of-operations (COOP) services. Tony Bardo, who recently left Qwest Communications International to join Hughes as assistant vice president of government solutions, said the company believes there is a market for COOP services that do not rely on the same ground-based networks as the main networks they are intended to supplement.

"The goal is to take all of our products and services and position them in the government market," said Mike Cook, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Hughes. "Up until now we've been looking at a relatively narrow part of the government's requirements."