Hughes Announces Research and Development Agreement with DISA for Next Generation Satellite Networking

Collaboration will Validate Architectural Capabilities of the SPACEWAY® 3 System

Germantown, Maryland — Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite network solutions and services, today announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to study Network Centric Enterprise Architecture validation of IP networking with the Regenerative Satellite Mesh (RSM-A) standard and the SPACEWAY 3 system.

Under this CRADA, Hughes and DISA will perform research and development that supports overall IP convergence as the basis for seamlessly integrating Department of Defense (DoD) SATCOM networking and information needs with the Global Information Grid.

“We look forward to collaborating with DISA on this important satellite networking effort using our SPACEWAY 3 system assets,” said Dan Fraley, CTO and general manager of Defense and Intelligence Systems at Hughes.

SPACEWAY 3 was designed and developed by Hughes as a next-generation, Ka-band broadband satellite system, the world’s first commercial satellite to employ on-board traffic switching and routing capability. Combined with many other advances in satellite technology, such as 10 Gbps overall capacity, fast packet switching, and spot-beam forming, SPACEWAY 3 ushers in a new world of bandwidth-on-demand satellite services, with true site-to-site, single-hop networking of high-performance ground terminals. SPACEWAY 3 was manufactured by Boeing and is based on Boeing’s 702 satellite platform.

About Hughes Network Systems

Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in providing broadband satellite networks and services for large enterprises, governments, small businesses, and consumers. HughesNet® encompasses all broadband solutions and managed services from Hughes, bridging the best of satellite and terrestrial technologies. Its broadband satellite products are based on global standards approved by the TIA, ETSI and ITU standards organizations, including IPoS/DVB-S2, RSM-A and GMR-1. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 1.5 million systems to customers in over 100 countries. Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes maintains sales and support offices worldwide. Hughes is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hughes Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH). For additional information, please visit www.hughes.com .

©2008 Hughes Network Systems, LLC. All Rights Reserved. HUGHES, HughesNet, and SPACEWAY are registered trademarks of Hughes Network Systems, LLC.