Orbcomm
Orbcomm (stylized as "ORBCOMM") is an American company that offers industrial Internet of things (IoT) and machine to machine (M2M) communications hardware, software and services designed to track, monitor, and control fixed and mobile assets in markets including transportation, heavy equipment, maritime, oil and gas, utilities and government. The company provides hardware devices, modems, web applications and data services delivered over multiple satellite and cellular networks. As of June 30, 2021, ORBCOMM has more than 2.3 million billable subscriber communicators, serving original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Caterpillar Inc., Doosan Infracore America, Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd., John  Deere, Komatsu Limited, and Volvo Construction Equipment, as well as other customers such as J. B. Hunt, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Canadian National Railways, C.R. England, Hub Group, KLLM Transport Services, Marten Transport, Swift Transportation, Target, Tropicana, Tyson Foods, Walmart and Werner Enterprises. ORBCOMM owns and operates a global network of 31 low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellites and accompanying ground infrastructure including 16 gateway Earth stations (GESs) around the world. ORBCOMM is licensed to provide service in more than 130 countries and territories worldwide. History. Founding and development of low Earth orbit satellite system. The ORBCOMM low Earth orbit (LEO ) system was conceived by Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) in the late 1980s. In 1990, Orbital filed the world's first license application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the operation of a network of small LEO spacecraft to provide global satellite services of commercial messaging and data communications services via the company's ORBCOMM program. During the initial stages of the program, Orbital pursued a multi-pronged approach: regulatory approvals; ground infrastructure development and procurement of sites; modem development and country licensing. In 1992, the World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) supported the spectrum allocation for non-voice, non-geostationary  mobile-satellite service. With WARC approval, Orbital set up a specific ORBCOMM program for the development of satellites and ground infrastructure, and ORBCOMM became a wholly owned subsidiary of Orbital. In 1995, ORBCOMM was granted a full license to operate a network with up to 200,000 mobile Earth stations (MESs). ORBCOMM began procuring gateway Earth station (GES) locations and contracted with a division of Orbital Sciences, located in Mesa, Arizona, to develop and build four sets of GESs and associated spares. Land for the four GESs was procured or leased in Arizona, Washington, New York and Georgia. After the 1992  WARC approval, ORBCOMM signed contracts with three modem developers and manufacturers: Kyushu Matsushita Electric Company, a division of Panasonic; Elisra Electronic Systems, an Israeli company with expertise in electronic warfare systems; and Torrey Science & Technology, a small San Diego-based company with long ties to Orbital Sciences. Panasonic provided the first ORBCOMM-approved MES in March 1995. Elisra followed with the EL2000 in late 1995, and Torrey Science provided the ComCore 200 in April 1996. During the development of equipment, ORBCOMM also pursued licensing and regulatory approvals in several countries. By 1995, ORBCOMM had obtained regulatory approval in 19 countries , with a number of additional countries well into the regulatory process. ORBCOMM was also in initial negotiations with groups in Indonesia, and Italy for becoming ORBCOMM licensees, as well as GES operators in their respective regions. During the conceptual stages of the LEO satellite communications system, Orbital Sciences purchased a small company in Boulder, Colorado, specializing in small-satellite design. This company built the first three satellites in the ORBCOMM system: ORBCOMM X, Communications Demonstration Satellite (CDS) 1 and CDS 2. ORBCOMM X was lost after a single orbit. To validate the feasibility of commercially tracking and communicating with a  LEO satellite, Orbital built an additional communications payload and flew this payload on an SR-71 in 1992. These tests were successful, and work on CDS 1 and 2 continued. CDS 1 and CDS 2 were launched in February and April 1992 respectively. These satellites were used to further validate the design of the network and were showcased in Orbital's plans to sign up an equity partner for the completion of the ORBCOMM System. In June 1992, Orbital created an equal partnership called ORBCOMM Global L.P. with Teleglobe Mobile Partners (Teleglobe Mobile), an affiliate of Teleglobe Inc., for the design  and development of the LEO satellite system. Teleglobe Mobile invested $85 million in the project and also provided international service distribution. Orbital agreed to construct and launch satellites for the ORBCOMM system and to construct the satellite control center, the network control center and four U.S. gateway Earth stations. In April 1995, two satellites (F Plane) were launched, and in the summer the ORBCOMM global mobile data communications network was tested. Teleglobe Mobile invested an additional $75 million in the project that year and joined Orbital as a full joint-venture partner in ORBCOMM. In February 1996, ORBCOMM  initiated the world's first commercial service for global mobile data communications provided by LEO satellites. ORBCOMM also raised an additional $170 million.<ref>