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Missiles and Space
Company created a joint venture named MCI Lockheed Satellite Corp. which was the first company to request FCC authorization as a Specialized Common Carrier using satellite based communications. A year later, MCI and Lockheed sought an additional source of funding and Comsat Corp.
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In July 1984, Comsat left SBS, and exactly a year later, Satellite
Business Systems was sold to MCI. MCI migrated the voice and data traffic of most SBS customers to its terrestrial network. During the sale of SBS to MCI, four satellites (SBS 1-4) were then in orbit.
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Due to the divestiture of its fleet (to MCI & HCI, and to Comsat and IBM as well, the former founders of SBS), SBS no longer exists as an entity, with the last satellite left of its fleet, SBS 6, being decommissioned in July 2007 and last being owned by
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at each of its major sites. This strategy limited SBS' addressable market to corporations with enough concentrated voice and data traffic to justify the installation of multiple earth stations. Earth stations were generally not shared by SBS customers.
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created a subsidiary company named MCI Satellite, Inc. The idea was that satellites could provide 'long distance' service from anywhere to anywhere without having to build thousands of miles of terrestrial network facilities. In early 1971, MCI and
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In 1987, SBS' fleet was sold off. SBS 1 and 2 were sold to Comsat, SBS 3 remained with MCI, and SBS 4 was sold to IBM's
Satellite Transponder Leasing Corporation (STLC) together with the SBS 5 and 6 satellites, which were then still on the ground.
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Although the SBS technology provided switched digital, leased digital, switched analog, and leased analog connections between a customer's earth stations, most customers used it mainly for intra-corporate voice calls. Data
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In April 1990, Hughes
Communications Inc (HCI), a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft (who built the satellites) bought STLC from IBM. Sometime later (possibly around 1992) SBS 3 was sold to Comsat. Comsat was later bought by
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entered the venture which was renamed CML Satellite Corp. In need of cash, MCI sold its share of the venture to IBM Corporation in 1974 (Lockheed also subsequently sold its share to IBM).
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SBS was founded on
December 15, 1975 by the aforementioned companies with the goal of providing a digital satellite communications network for business and other professional clients.
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on SBS satellites were leased to other companies, and SBS adopted some of ISACOMM's marketing tactics and even pursued the consumer long-distance market on a limited basis.
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IBM owned one third of the company by 1975. It and Comsat brought in Aetna
Insurance Company as a third partner and renamed the company Satellite Business Systems (SBS).
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The high initial costs of deploying earth stations, along with the rapid success and expansion of terrestrial competitors like MCI and
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The first use of the NASA Shuttle for commercial purposes was the deployment of the SBS 3 satellite in
November, 1982 from
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SBS' fleet of satellites were the first in orbit to offer transponders in the
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The SBS earth station was designed by IBM. It consisted of a highly modified
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Through its existence as a company, SBS had six satellites in orbit:
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The original concept was for a large corporation to install SBS
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Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States
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SBS 1-6 are no longer in service and have been placed in
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SBS-3 satellite with PAM-D stage inside the space shuttle
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of the period were not efficient over satellite links.
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749:Telecommunications companies established in 1975
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
764:Aerospace companies of the United States
719:List of feeds on SBS 6 from lyngsat.com
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486:First commercial satellite launched by
754:American companies established in 1975
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
759:Companies based in McLean, Virginia
744:Derelict satellites orbiting Earth
739:Communications satellite operators
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16:Satellite communications company
697:from the original on 2008-05-14
34:needs additional citations for
683:Greenwald, John (1983-07-11).
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58:"Satellite Business Systems"
299:signals suffered more from
185:) was a company founded by
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622:platform. SBS-6 used the
179:Satellite Business Systems
122:Satellite Business Systems
686:"The Colossus That Works"
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206:geosynchronous satellites
251:communications protocols
510:Space Shuttle Discovery
341:SBS satellites in orbit
131:Satellite communication
614:SBS 1-5 were built by
468:Space Shuttle Columbia
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43:improve this article
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256:One SBS customer,
221:MCI Communications
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32:This article
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699:. Retrieved
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354:Launch (UTC)
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269:transponders
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145:Headquarters
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41:Please help
36:verification
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360:Launch Site
293:RF spectrum
728:Categories
701:2019-05-18
670:References
626:platform.
618:using the
601:April 2009
580:1990-10-12
563:March 2000
542:1988-09-08
504:1984-08-31
462:1982-11-11
430:Delta 3910
424:1981-09-24
392:Delta 3914
386:1980-11-15
372:COSPAR ID
275:Technology
69:newspapers
635:longitude
607:1990-091A
569:1988-081B
531:1984-093B
493:1982-110B
483:June 1995
451:1981-096A
435:Canaveral
413:1980-091A
397:Canaveral
351:Satellite
301:rain fade
236:Marketing
695:Archived
664:Intelsat
586:Ariane 4
548:Ariane 3
308:IBM 1800
226:Lockheed
127:Industry
598:Retired
560:Retired
522:Retired
515:Kennedy
480:Retired
473:Kennedy
442:Retired
404:Retired
369:Remarks
258:ISACOMM
215:History
137:Founded
83:scholar
624:HS-393
620:HS-376
616:Hughes
591:Kourou
553:Kourou
518:LC-39A
476:LC-39A
438:LC-17A
400:LC-17A
357:Rocket
310:and a
289:C band
265:Sprint
195:COMSAT
171:COMSAT
85:
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594:ELA-2
582:22:58
576:SBS 6
556:ELA-2
544:23:00
538:SBS 5
506:12:41
500:SBS 4
464:12:19
458:SBS 3
426:23:09
420:SBS 2
388:22:49
382:SBS 1
335:STS-5
315:modem
191:Aetna
167:Aetna
159:Owner
90:JSTOR
76:books
691:TIME
363:Fate
312:TDMA
285:band
169:and
62:news
291:of
203:FSS
199:MCI
187:IBM
183:SBS
163:IBM
45:by
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153:US
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87:·
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