Inter-government Crisis Network

The U.S. government has a mandate to serve its citizens and remain in control no matter what disruptive incidents may occur, either within or outside its borders. That means in a crisis, government leaders must have access to highly reliable and resilient communications to coordinate effectively among and across national, regional, and local agencies. The Hughes Inter-Government Crisis Network (IGCN) is secure, cost-effective, and unaffected by events on the ground.

True Path-Diversity: A Necessity in a Crisis

Utilizing redundant or alternate paths to back up a terrestrial network is the most effective strategy to achieve high availability. But if the so-called alternate paths share common technologies or physical routing, they are vulnerable to sabotage or natural disasters that can simultaneously take out primary and backup systems. Similarly, deploying network services from two terrestrial carriers does not accomplish the goal of network resiliency. True path diversity, and the highest network availability, can only be achieved by employing alternate technologies and independent physical routing, which is inherent in the deployment of satellite services.

Deploying path-diverse satellite services is an important first step to ensure continuity of operations for an agency and its mission. No less important is the need for Federal, state and local agencies across many levels to rapidly share information and coordinate decision-making to ensure effective relief and recovery during an emergency. Both are critical to the nation’s safety and security, and require a national “Plan B” network, which Hughes provides via the IGCN.

IGCN FOR A COORDINATED MULTI-AGENCY RESPONSE

The Hughes IGCN is a private “network of networks” for government that enables maximum preparedness and rapid response in emergency situations. Instantly deployable and interoperable, IGCN provides:

• -Interoperable communications and rapid information sharing

• -Robust and path-diverse communications paths

• -Advanced private networking separate from the Internet

• -Physical diversity that eliminates network vulnerabilities and congestion during a crisis