MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 8, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq:GILT) today announced it has been selected by Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd. (KCB) to provide a SkyEdge II broadband satellite network.
KCB is a leading commercial banking group in East Africa, with branches and ATMs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Southern Sudan. It will use the new VSAT network for both primary enterprise networking connectivity, as well as for back-up in branches that have existing broadband connectivity. The SkyEdge II network will be integrated with KCB's communication network and will provide immediate backup services to sites where the terrestrial infrastructure fails.
The SkyEdge II network meets the mission-critical application requirements of the financial-services industry, such as those specified by KCB, including high-speed connectivity for banking applications, voice over IP telephony, and high-throughput file transfers. Advanced Quality of Service (QoS) is used to prioritize and ensure that the required network resources are available for the critical applications.
"Gilat's advanced SkyEdge II platform offers us cutting-edge technology for our advanced banking needs," said Dr. Tony Githuku, Head of Information Technology, KCB. "It excels in its support for our critical applications, such as data and voice, as well as in a low Total Cost of Ownership. Gilat's experienced support team will provide remote monitoring and management of the network, in addition to seamless integration with our existing infrastructure. These were critical factors for our selection of Gilat."
The installation and maintenance of the Gilat equipment as well as the space segment for this new network will be provided by iWayAfrica, previously AFSAT, the largest satellite broadband provider in Africa. iWayAfrica has over 15 years of experience in building VSAT networks in Africa and deliver their satellite service to a substantial customer base of corporates and banks including KCB.
"We are honored that KCB chose to use iWayAfrica to help support the new VSAT infrastructure," said Job Ndege, iWayAfrica Services companies' General Manager. "We value the long-standing relationship with KCB and the confidence KCB has in iWayAfrica as a Wide Area Network (WAN) and WAN Support Services partner. Indeed since the inception of this partnership in 2005, KCB has had a robust WAN with corresponding reliable and online Branch Banking services."
Gilat has a long history of successfully deploying broadband satellite networks for many of the world's most prominent financial-services companies. Gilat's satellite communications networks provide dependable, high-speed data networking to banks, government agencies, energy companies and citizens at thousands of sites throughout Africa, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia, Angola, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa.
Nir Korman, Gilat's Regional Vice President, Africa, said, "We are confident that our proven combination of technology and support will help KCB meet its demanding networking requirements. Gilat's SkyEdge II is an excellent solution for the banking sector. With its high efficiency and full adaptivity, SkyEdge II gets the most out of the satellite link while providing high-speed connectivity to allow: high throughput for file transfer; voice quality for telephony; and other critical services for this sector."
About Gilat SkyEdge II
Gilat's SkyEdge II is a multi-service platform enabling the delivery of high-quality voice, broadband data and video services for diverse environments including enterprises, rural networks, cellular backhaul and government network applications. SkyEdge II is a standards-based system using DVB-S2 and DVB-RCS. With better efficiencies and full adaptivity for both the inbound and outbound channels, it provides higher performance that serves the growing requirements of end-users. Gilat's diverse portfolio of SkyEdge II VSATs are all supported by a unified platform, offering service providers the most suitable product for their application needs as well as the flexibility to evolve their networks.
About Kenya Commercial Bank
KCB is the leading commercial banking group in East Africa, with 212 branches and more than 370 ATMs in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Southern Sudan. For more information, please visit www.kcbbankgroup.com.
About iWayAfrica Limited.
iWayAfrica, previously Afsat, is the leading Pan African provider of converged ICT solutions, has its headquarters in Mauritius and has subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Nigeria. iWayAfrica distributes its satellite service through a network of 41 distributors in over 30 countries across the African continent. For more information, please visit
About Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd.
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. is a leading provider of products and professional services for satellite-based broadband communications networks worldwide. Gilat was founded in 1987 and has shipped over 750,000 Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) to more than 85 countries across six continents. Gilat's headquarters is located in Petah Tikva, Israel. The Company has 16 sales and service offices worldwide. Gilat markets a full line of high-performance VSATs under the SkyEdgeTM and SkyEdge II Product Family. Gilat's wholly-owned subsidiary, Spacenet Inc., is a leading provider of managed services in North America to the business and government segments. Visit Gilat at .
The Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. logo is available at
Certain statements made herein that are not historical are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Gilat to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, changes in general economic and business conditions, inability to maintain market acceptance to Gilat's products, inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications, rapid changes in the market for Gilat's products, loss of market share and pressure on prices resulting from competition, introduction of competing products by other companies, inability to manage growth and expansion, loss of key OEM partners, inability to attract and retain qualified personnel, inability to protect the Company's proprietary technology and risks associated with Gilat's international operations and its location in Israel. For additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties associated with Gilat's business, reference is made to Gilat's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. Robert Bell +972-3-925-2472 robert@gilat.com