commercial communications company . for viasat a dbs distributor and tv broadcaster see viasat . viasat inc. type public traded as nasdaq vsat industry communications founded carlsbad california united states 1986 1986 key people mark d. dankberg chairman ceo richard a. baldridge president coo products military communications equipment high speed satellite modems mids and tactical data links mobile satcom antenna systems secure networking vsat networks broadband systems satellite internet access revenue us 1 350 000 000 2014 net income us 9 400 000 2014 number of employees 3 300 2014 subsidiaries netnearu website viasat.com viasat inc. is a communications company based in carlsbad california with additional operations across the united states and worldwide . viasat is a provider of high speed satellite broadband services and secure networking systems covering military and commercial markets . 1 2 3 viasat is ranked on the spacenews top 50 space companies and is also included on the defense news list of top 100 defense companies . 4 viasat owns and operates exede internet a satellite internet provider for over 657 000 households . 5 6 7 8 viasat launched its satellite viasat 1 in 2011 and its second satellite viasat 2 will launch in 2016 . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1986 2004 1.2 2005 present 2 satellites 3 exede internet 4 security systems 4.1 government communications 5 references history edit early history 1986 2004 edit viasat was co founded in may 1986 by mark dankberg mark miller and steve hart . 9 10 11 mark dankberg became chief executive officer and mark miller and steve hart became chief technical officers . 10 viasat received venture capital financing of 300 000 from southern california ventures . 10 11 in december of 1996 viasat had its initial public offering ipo . 10 9 the company offered 20 million in stock to the public leaving the founders with 28 percent of the company and venture capital backers with 20 percent . 12 the acquisition of the satellite networking business of scientific atlanta for 75 million in cash in 2000 helped viasat to focus on providing technology for interactive services to businesses . 13 viasat launched a spin off company trellisware technology in 2000 . the self funded company focuses on solutions for ground communications problems . 14 15 in 2001 viasat started working with boeing on connexion broadband for airliners . 9 the company acquired lockheed martin global telecommunications products unit comsat laboratories in 2001 for an undisclosed amount . 10 16 17 comsat laboratories is viasat s technology and product development group for communication systems focusing on developing new technologies for extremely bandwidth efficient high data rate satellite transmission . 16 17 18 in 2001 viasat also purchased us monolithics a company focused on designing high frequency broadband circuitry for around 30 million . 10 19 20 viasat won a contract with wildblue communications worth 16 million in march 2001 to build wildblue s satellite modems to support the company s initial service launch . 21 wildblue signed a second contract with viasat in 2001 for 17 million and viasat would develop and produce satellite modem termination systems for six gateway stations . 22 eutelsat entered an agreement in 2001 to use viasat s linkstar high performance ip terminals for their broadband multimedia network over ku based fss satellites . 23 viasat entered a joint venture in 2001 with loral skynet to found immeon networks to develop the immeon satellite bandwidth on demand service sold in monthly managed service plans . abc news used immeon to improve its voice and data communications for on location news . 24 2005 present edit wildblue launched its internet service in october 2004 after gaining ka band transponder capacity on the telesat anik f2 satellite . it conducted formal technical testing until january 2005 followed by nationwide beta testing before the first residential retail customers had services installed in june . 25 the wildblue service was upgraded in 2007 using the satellite wildblue 1 which launched the year before . 26 27 in 2005 viasat acquired efficient channel coding a producer of broadband communication integrated circuits and satellite communication systems which gave viasat access to the ipstar satellite broadband market . 28 11 enerdyne a defense technology firm was acquired by viasat in 2006 for an initial investment of 17 million adding its enerlinks ii video data link equipment to viasat s defense products . 29 11 viasat acquired jast antenna systems based in lausanne switzerland in 2007 . jast develops microwave circuits and antennas for terrestrial and mobile satellite applications . 30 in december 2009 viasat bought wildblue based in colorado for 568 million in cash and stock . 31 viasat issued 4.3 million shares for the stock component of the purchase . 2 the united states government granted stimulus funding to wildblue to expand broadband coverage in rural areas . 32 33 34 in 2010 viasat bought stonewood group of dorset england an encryption company for 20 million in cash and stock . 35 in 2013 viasat contributed 1 million to university of california san diego s arthur c. clarke center for human imagination . 10 in january 2013 viasat broke ground for its expansion in duluth georgia . the building was 60 000 square feet and a 10.5 million investment which made duluth the second largest location after the company s headquarters in carlsbad california at the time . 36 viasat also acquired lonocloud a company focused on cloud networking software in 2013 . 37 38 39 in july 2013 viasat was licensed by the federal communications commission for ka band aeronautical earth stations . 40 in 2014 viasat partnered with thuraya telecommunications a mobile satellite services operator to provide m2m services machine 2 machine . 41 the same year viasat entered a partnership with lightsquared to work on m2m services in vehicular and aviation devices . 42 43 viasat also teamed with southern california edison to provide an easy transition into operational networks . 44 netnearu based in bryan college station texas was acquired in 2014 . focused on government and enterprise customers netnearu has a wifi management system called trackos a cloud based software . 6 7 8 satellites edit viasat has three satellites viasat 1 wildblue1 and anik f2 . 45 it purchased wildblue in 2009 which had 2 satellites and 400 000 customers . 9 space systems loral built viasat 1 and it launched from kazakhstan in october 2011 and entered service in january 2012 . 9 31 10 viasat 1 can handle about 1 million users and covers the residential us with additional coverage in hawaii canada and alaska through a ka band connection . 9 viasat 1 runs on fixed beams trained on certain geographic areas and that will be expanded with the launch of viasat 2 . 46 viasat 2 is under construction and due to launch in 2016 . 5 viasat has partnered with boeing to build the satellite . 47 the coverage area will include mexico central america the caribbean parts of northern south america and aeronautical and maritime routes across the atlantic ocean . 47 9 in november 2015 viasat announced that it was planning to order the first of three viasat 3 ka band satellites that would expand coverage globally with throughput capacity of one terabit per second for each of the satellites . 48 exede internet edit exede internet is a satellite internet provider owned by viasat and reliant on viasat satellites . the company provides satellite internet voice over internet voip in flight internet and business satellite internet to over 657 000 customers . 5 6 8 exede internet was launched in 2012 exede voice was announced june 13 2013 which works through exede internet and is paired with satellite internet . 49 exede in flight wifi is used by jetblue united airlines and virgin america . 50 51 52 exede internet supports speeds of up to 12mbps 53 and its business internet supports speeds of up to 15mbps . 51 exede partners with directv to offer customers internet and tv bundles . 54 security systems edit eclypt hard drives and external usb drives produced by viasat are encrypted to ensure that data stored can not be retrieved if a computer or storage device is stolen . eclypt drives are used by governments military forces and law enforcement agencies . 55 viasat critical infrastructure security was introduced in 2013 designed to stop security breaches and monitor operation of grid networks using real time intelligence . 56 the process adds encrypted sensors to the critical national infrastructure networks and monitors all abnormal activity through a security operations center . 57 viasat is working in conjunction with southern california edison to enhance their critical infrastructure security systems through a funding from the u.s. department of energy meant to improve protection of the nation s electric grid and oil and gas infrastructure from cyber attack . 58 59 government communications edit viasat also offers mobile two way satellite broadband solutions to the united states government . 60 tactical communications for the us military involves tactical data information assurance and satellite communications . tactical data links provide secure networking for voice and data . information assurance for encryption devices allow for the transfer of classified data across public networks . satellite communications give real time intelligence for command and control functions . 61 the us government uses arclight technology over a managed private network that operates on ku band satellite links and can use the yonder global satellite network as well . 40 the worldwide satellite broadband access that viasat offers allows for airborne mobile broadband for en route communications . the company has an airborne mobility program for c 17 jets and encrypts the satellite to hub link connections for the government . 62 viasat s satellite access manager sam supports department of defense missions through airborne intelligence for surveillance and reconnaissance operations . sam increases bandwidth utilization and efficiency through real time network monitoring systems for the arclight2 broadband terminals . 63 references edit a b mark fidelman october 30 2013 . this high speed satellite company is defying the naysayers and changing everything . forbes . retrieved march 2 2015 . a b bruce v. bigelow december 24 2009 . viasat sells shares as part of wildblue deal . xconomy . retrieved march 2 2015 . mike freeman november 2 2013 . race heats up for faster cheaper in flight wi fi . ut sandiego . retrieved march 2 2015 . top 100 for 2014 . defense news . archived from the original on february 19 2015 . retrieved march 2 2015 . a b c bandwidth for all viasat future proofs delivery . eva international media . retrieved march 18 2016 . a b c joan engebretson june 10 2014 . viasat netnearu acquisition should generate wi fi backhaul business . telecompetitor . retrieved march 2 2015 . a b rachel scharmann june 10 2014 . viasat acquires netnearu expands wi fi services . satellite today . retrieved march 2 2015 . a b c viasat acquires netnearu for wi fi management . converge network digest . june 9 2014 . retrieved march 2 2015 . a b c d e f g expanding in flight services . executive & vip aviation international . november 2013 . a b c d e f g h viasat inc. . uc san diego . retrieved march 2 2015 . a b c d viasat inc. . skybrokers . retrieved march 2 2015 . viasat inc. company profile information business description history background information on viasat inc. . reference for business . retrieved march 2 2015 . company news ; viasat to acquire scientific atlanta satellite business . new york times . january 20 2000 . retrieved march 3 2015 . tresllisware technologies inc. . evonexus . retrieved march 3 2015 . trellisware technologies career opportunities . uc san diego . 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