USSI Global Announces Plans For A Multi-Purpose, Hardware Agnostic, Testing Lab

USSI Global is planning a new multi-purpose, hardware agnostic, specialised testing lab on its Melbourne campus to demonstrate and verify media transport options.

USSI Global will configure service testing in accordance with requirements from partners and customers affected by the potential second C-band spectrum clearing and relocation from the FCC this week at NAB New York.

Opening this fall, the Media Transport Solutions Lab will be the core of the company’s turnkey managed service offering for broadcasters, MSOs, services providers, and network operators potentially affected by a second C-band clearing, providing our partners with a sandbox in which to test various configurations to meet their overall transport objectives. Whether satellite, hybrid, or IP, USSI Global has the expertise and infrastructure to manage it all seamlessly.

The first initiative, completed in 2023, cleared the lower 300MHz of the C-band’s 500MHz spectrum for mobile and emergency services, and relocated existing tenants to the remaining upper 200MHz. The proposed second clearing would clear, at minimum, 100MHz of the remaining spectrum and force remaining tenants to decide: Continue operating and potentially relocate within the remaining C-Band spectrum, move to Ku spectrum or shift to an alternative method for program contribution and distribution. Ted Korte, VP Technology and Engineering, says that hundreds of existing C-band channels could be affected, and that the scenario is far more complex than the first initiative.

Anthony Morelli, USSI Global President and CEO, confirms that the Lab is one important component of the "one stop-shop managed service" solutions that USSI Global provides. These services include outreach verification, site surveys, hardware procurement, equipment warehousing and vendor ecosystem coordination to ensure all technologies specified in the system support the transport method selected.

USSI Global's large fleet of trained field technicians will also handle the installation of new equipment and infrastructure upgrades, with delivery timelines and service authorizations managed through the company’s global logistics team. The same teams will accommodate post-installation field support, project coordination and overall program management, among other services.

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