CARLSBAD--- ViaSat Appoints Tom Moore as Senior Vice President and President of ViaSat-1 Satellite Initiative
ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq:VSAT) announced today that it has appointed Tom Moore as Senior Vice President of the company and President of the recently announced ViaSat-1 Ka-band broadband satellite initiative, effective immediately. Mr. Moore, a co-founder, director and former president and CEO of WildBlue Communications, will lead ViaSat’s ViaSat-1 Ka-band broadband satellite initiative.
Announced in January, ViaSat-1 is expected to be the world’s highest capacity and most cost efficient broadband satellite. With the market demonstrating high demand for satellite broadband services, ViaSat-1 is designed to significantly expand the quality, capability, and availability of high-speed broadband satellite services for U.S. and Canadian consumers and enterprises. Compared to current Ka-band broadband satellites, the ViaSat-1 satellite, optimized to work in conjunction with the next generation ViaSat SurfBeam satellite DOCSIS networking system, is expected to increase the amount of Ka-band satellite capacity by more than a factor of 10.
ViaSat-1 is the North American counterpart to Eutelsat’s recently announced KA-SAT, a high capacity Ka-band broadband satellite for Europe, with a launch planned in 2010. ViaSat and Eutelsat are cooperating closely around ViaSat’s Ka-band SurfBeam networking system and a common wholesale business model to offer service through ISPs, telecommunication companies, and direct-to-home television providers. Both projects are focused on providing satellite and teleport infrastructure. The aggregate U.S., European, and Canadian coverage is projected to serve as many as 4 million satellite subscribers with unprecedented speeds and internet media capabilities – creating powerful economies of scale.
“Tom is a true visionary in the satellite broadband industry. His instrumental role in bringing WildBlue from concept to reality – including satellite design, procurement, financing, strategic partnerships, ground networking, launch and distribution relationships – makes him a great choice to lead our ViaSat-1 team,” said Mark Dankberg, CEO and chairman of ViaSat. “In addition to his vast expertise and enthusiasm for our Ka-band initiatives, his appointment demonstrates our commitment to operate this important venture with dedicated resources that enable us to execute well, while also maintaining focus on our core businesses.”
“My passion has always been in the creation of innovative technology and the application of that technology to significant market opportunities,” said Moore. “Working with Mark and the ViaSat team to develop this transformational, next generation platform for satellite broadband is not only necessary for the industry, but also a very exciting opportunity for me personally.”
Dankberg added, “On a personal level, I’ve known and worked with Tom for almost a decade and have always admired his ability to successfully see and bring ideas and businesses to market. Our history together on the DOCSIS standard exemplifies our close working relationship and the success we’ve had together. With Tom joining our company, we are very eager to get him immersed in this project.”
In 1998, Mr. Moore co-founded WildBlue Communications, the direct to home Internet by satellite provider. He served as president, CEO and director of the company from 1998 until 2005, and continues his involvement today on its board of directors. Under his tenure, WildBlue raised over half a billion dollars, built and launched its own special purpose satellites, and deployed a nationwide consumer service that continues to grow and attract new users.
Most recently, Mr. Moore served as a principal at TimesArrow, a telecommunications and technology venture firm located in Denver, Colorado. As part of his role supporting the firm’s investments, he serves in senior management positions in its portfolio companies including, president, CEO, and director of WaveBender, Inc., an innovative flat panel antenna technology company. Mr. Moore is also on the board of the Telecommunications Program at University of Colorado and serves as a founding member of the Colorado Governor’s Innovation Council. In addition, he was previously in senior management at Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs), a non-profit technology development consortium of the cable industry where he was instrumental in the creation of the world-wide DOCSIS cable modem standard.
About ViaSat (www.viasat.com)
ViaSat produces innovative satellite and other digital communication products that enable fast, secure, and efficient communications to any location. The company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies to the U.S. government; and is the primary technology partner for gateway and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services. The company owns five subsidiaries: US Monolithics, Efficient Channel Coding, Enerdyne Technologies, Intelligent Compression Technologies, and JAST. These companies design and produce complementary products such as monolithic microwave integrated circuits, DVB-S2 satellite communication components, video data link systems, data acceleration and compression products, and mobile satellite antenna systems. ViaSat has locations in Carlsbad, CA, and Duluth, GA, along with its Comsat Laboratories division in Germantown, MD. Additional field offices are located in Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Washington DC, Australia, China, India, Italy, and Spain.