Hughes Network Systems, a provider of broadband satellite networks and services, announced the launch of its new machine-to-machine (M2M) broadband service that brings fast and reliable satellite networking for the nation's critical utility and energy infrastructures.

The new M2M service, according to Hughes (News - Alert) officials, enables the utility, energy, and other industries with remote unmanned equipment to extend faster network intelligence to their entire infrastructure, regardless of hard-to-reach locations or environmental conditions.

Available nationwide, the M2M solution helps improve the operational efficiency, maintenance and security of critical infrastructures while driving down costs.

The new service is ideal for electric, gas, and water utilities, oil and gas pipelines, compressors and well sites, railways, energy producers, and similar companies that rely on a growing flood of data from remote devices to keep their operations ready and on high alert, according to company officials.

The service also help companies to better meet new regulatory requirements for monitoring and control of their infrastructure, providing ubiquitous, reliable network coverage to even the most isolated or challenging locations, they added.

“New applications like the smart grid are causing explosive growth in the machines, sensors, and devices that must be networked to maintain reliability and control of critical infrastructures,” said Mike Tippets, vice president of the Enterprise Solutions Group at Hughes, in a statement.

“Older M2M networks can no longer handle the growing data load nor the speeds required for real-time communications with these devices,” Tippets added. “Our Hughes M2M broadband service is designed for these critical infrastructures that must not fail even in the severest of conditions.”

Featuring a full suite of service plans and hardware to meet a range of speed, environmental and physical format requirements, Hughes M2M is a fully managed broadband solution that offers 24x7 operations, network management, proactive fault resolution, and field maintenance.

Hughes M2M is a secure network service with strong encryption that doesn't connect to the open Internet, and therefore is protected from intrusion by outside parties, according to company officials.

In the words of Tippets, “Hughes M2M service represents the most advanced of today's IP-based satellite networks, providing high-speed connectivity, 99.99 percent availability, and virtually 100 percent nationwide coverage, making it ideal for large distributed M2M networks.”

Recently Hughes announced it successfully demonstrated 16 Mbps of TCP throughput and over 20 Mbps of UDP (News - Alert) streaming throughput to a single HN9400 Ka-/Ku-band broadband satellite terminal.