Department of Defense, through its own dedicated gateway, relies on Iridium for global communications capabilities. Iridium manages several operations centers, including Tempe, Arizona and Leesburg, Virginia, U.S.A. Iridium sells its products, solutions and services through a network of service providers and value-added dealers. Department of Defense, as well as other civil and government agencies around the world.

Iridium provides service to subscribers from the U.S. Iridium solutions are ideally suited for industries such as maritime, aviation, government/military, emergency/humanitarian services, mining, forestry, oil and gas, heavy equipment, transportation and utilities. Iridium is constantly finding new ways to expand the possible, including our next-generation constellation, Iridium NEXT, which will bring enhanced and entirely new services and capabilities to our customers, and is anticipated to begin launching in 2015. The Iridium constellation architecture ensures high reliability and low-latency. Iridium's constellation - the world's largest commercial satellite constellation - consists of 66 low-earth orbiting (LEO), cross-linked satellites operating as a fully meshed network and supported by multiple in-orbit spares. Iridium delivers reliable, near real-time, mission-critical communications services and creates the vital lines of communication that help improve lives, build businesses, and develop new opportunities. Iridium's mobile voice and data communications solutions, for a wide variety of industries, are supported by the only truly global communications network, with coverage of the entire Earth, including oceans, airways and Polar Regions. is a publicly traded company headquartered in McLean,VA. Even with the economic challenges of 2009, the company continues to demonstrate growth in the satellite communications sector. Leadership in the industry is reflected through the company's efforts to proactively address broad emerging markets, such as the machine-to-machine (M2M) market and the two-way, satellite-based location, tracking and messaging market.Ī consistent pattern of growth is another hallmark of Iridium's leadership. Iridium is the only company offering customers a guarantee of 100% satisfaction with Iridium service. With a strong track record as an innovator in terms of technology, partnerships and solutions, Iridium offers the only truly global coverage for satellite communications. Please contact us for further information and advice on our satellite phone solutions.Iridium is advancing the way global enterprises conduct daily mission-critical activities. The more links in the chain, the greater the chance of the signal being lost. This happens because they rely on the passing of signals via a number of satellites before routing them to their final destinations. The service is available but not to the standards that Inmarsat and Globalstar can provide.Īlso, as mentioned briefly in regards to Inmarsat’s service, Iridium run a higher risk of loosing a signal once it has been sent. The main criticism that has been levelled at Iridium is the fact that they are limited in their data and fax capabilities. As long as the handset has a clear line of site to the sky it will maintain communication with at least two satellites at any one time. This configuration ensures that an Iridium handset will be able to send and receive calls from any location on the planet (the only exceptions to this being countries who have declined to support the service for political reasons). Travelling at 16,832 miles per hour, each satellite is able to circle the globe every 100 minutes. To achieve this the Iridium network uses 66 satellites, 450 miles high, orbiting the globe on 6 different planes. Iridium’s mission was to create a satellite service that would provide truly global coverage, a service that Inmarsat and Globalstar have not yet realised. Iridium was re-launched in 2001 and has been operating ever since.

They very publicly went bankrupt in 1999 one year after the service was launched. Iridium is probably the most famous, or rather notorious, of the satellite systems on the market.

Iridium satellite network