Army looks to Encompass Digital Media for SATCOM imagery distribution from Middle East

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill., 19 Dec. 2013. U.S. Army communications experts needed satellite communications (SATCOM) media-distribution hub to connect worldwide media with military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. They found their solution from Encompass Digital Media Inc. in Atlanta.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., have awarded a $10.9 million contract to Encompass Digital Media for a Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) operations hub, which will transmit and receive broadcast-quality high-definition and standard-definition video, two-way data, stories, stills, audio and data from DVIDS worldwide satellite transmitters.

DVIDS is a state-of-the-art, 24/7 operation that makes available real-time broadcast-quality video, still images, and print products to media around the world from the military serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain.

DVIDS uses a network of portable Ku-band satellite transmitters located in-theater and a distribution hub in Atlanta, and also distributes interviews with service members, commanders, and subject matter experts.

The media communications hub will maintain uplink and downlink service to all government portable SATCOM terminals accessing the DVIDS integrated network.

The service links local, national and international media to military units around the world; enables embedded journalists to transmit broadcast-quality video from the field; distributes imagery, text, and voice products quickly via satellite, optical fiber, and the Internet; provides news wire services for media; coordinates holiday greetings, and special events programming involving U.S. military personnel; and maintains a searchable archive of video, photo, news articles, and audio products.

The DVIDS mission is to serve as a turnkey operation that facilitates requests for military video, audio, still imagery, and print products; coordinates interviews with soldiers and commanders in a combat zone and provides an archive for ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

For this contract Encompass Digital Media will do the work in Atlanta, and should be finished by December 2016. For more information contact Encompass Digital Media online at www.encompass-m.com, the DVIDS network at www.dvidshub.net, or the Army Contracting Command at Rock Island Arsenal at www.acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc_ri.