Firm brings satellite technology to relief workers

A Portsmouth company specializing in technology solutions for the nonprofit sector has enter into partnerships with satellite communications providers to bring satellite services to emergency relief workers.

Global Relief Technologies has teamed up with GeoEye Inc. of Dulles, Va., and Telenor Satellite of Rockville, Md. to provide satellite communications and imagery, data collection software and GIS tools to humanitarian and relief workers operating in remote and sometimes dangerous areas around the globe.

“Humanitarian and emergency response organizations’ demand for satellite imagery has persisted from one crisis to another; through the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the tsunami-impacted area of the Indian Ocean, and even in the response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster,” said James Abrahamson, a former Air Force general, founding director of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI or “Star Wars”) and a board member Global Relief Technologies.

Global Relief Technolgies’ Web-based application combines Telenor Satellite Services’ Broadband Global Area Network service and GeoEye’s satellite imagery capabilities into one tool that can be accessed anywhere in the world.

Abrahamson said, “We can now obtain imagery rapidly, and in some cases within just a few hours, then process the data in a way that it can be transmitted by cellular, Internet or satellite communications to the Internet, desktop and laptop computers and even hand-held PDAs.”

“All the pieces are coming together to create one complete end-to-end solution that will seamlessly transmit critical data to relief workers just about anywhere in the world,” added Michael Gray, president and CEO of Global Relief Technologies. — CINDY KIBBE