ATLANTA and MONTREAL, Feb. 23, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- As part of High-Tech Day at the Capitol being held in Atlanta on Feb. 25, EMS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ELMG) will perform a live distance-education demonstration with students from Norcross High School. The demonstration, featuring EMS's DVB-RCS satellite networking equipment, will involve students receiving remote space science lessons over the Internet from an EMS instructor in Montreal, Canada, and a streaming-video lesson from former astronaut Dr. Norm Thagard, member of EMS's Board of Directors.
Sponsored by the Technology Leadership Coalition, High-Tech Day brings together state lawmakers and leaders in the high-tech community. The EMS demonstration will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot in downtown Atlanta.
"Providing students with fast access to the Internet is an important goal, but it is not yet a reality for many of Georgia's schools outside of metro Atlanta," notes Al Hansen, president and CEO, EMS Technologies. "We are pleased to showcase our broadband technology available today that makes connecting to schools affordable and easy."
EMS's DVB-RCS product and technology solutions enable two-way broadband access for a wide range of networking applications. Applications range from Internet access and simple web browsing, to more sophisticated virtual private networks, videoconferencing and voice-over-IP. EMS's DVB-RCS solutions are the only multiple-access solutions capable of delivering data transfer rates of up to 45Mbps for downloads and up to 2Mbps for the return channel.
EMS already has conducted trials of its DVB-RCS hardware with education institutions in Mexico, Canada and India, and is actively partnering with satellite service provides to make the service available in the U.S. education market.
Don Osborne, senior vice president and general manager for EMS Satellite Networks, the division that manufactures the equipment, explains that EMS's technology embraces the same standard used to deliver direct-to-home satellite communications from providers DISH Network and DirecTV.
"We developed an open standard for the return link path, thus enabling a two-way high speed Internet-via-satellite communications system. Several equipment manufacturers in our industry will supply terminals that are interoperable with our system. We believe that by using an open standard, more suppliers enter the business, ultimately driving down the price of the equipment," he said. "For countries where education is key to their future development and where they recognize the need to connect not just people to the schools but the schools to the schools, this becomes a way to connect everybody."
Members of the media are invited to visit the EMS booth from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
About EMS Technologies, Inc.
EMS Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ELMG) is a leading innovator in the design and manufacture of wireless, satellite and defense solutions, and focuses its unique range of advanced technologies on the needs of broadband and mobile information users. The Company is headquartered in Norcross, employs approximately 1,700 people worldwide, and has manufacturing facilities in Atlanta, Montreal, Ottawa and Brazil. For more information, visit EMS on the World Wide Web at www.ems-t.com.