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will provide the basis for new and innovative Virtual Earth content.Radar data will be used for the underlying DEM upon which all of VirtualEarth will be built. New spaceborne, aerial, and terrestrial radarsensors will fill gaps left by the limitations of optical sensors. Vexcel’scurrent radar software products will provide the basis for business-orientedapplications that leverage Virtual Earth to meet targeted businessneeds. Also, an ongoing robust radar R&D effort will supply new applications,many of which we can hardly imagine today.High-speed data handling technology underlies nearly every aspectof image acquisition. Vexcel’s expertise in this area comes frombuilding high-speed satellite data terminals (see Figure 6). The in-houseexpertise needed for these terminals spans data from reception and telemetryprocessing to precision product generation and image exploitation.The company has provided end-to-end, integrated, multi-satellitesystems to commercial and government customers needing real-timedata acquisition and efficient handling of large data volumes. Thesesame capabilities will be scaled up to real-time networks of sensors tostore and catalog vast information sources, as well as to process andpublish the information in real-time to Virtual Earth.Vexcel’s third contribution, though not least in the list of reasonsfor the acquisition, will be Vexcel’s experience with business in thegovernment sector. Vexcel has extensive experience working withgovernment contracts, providing solutions to geospatial problems ina broad set of areas for a range of customers. Microsoft is committedto expanding business in this sector, and Vexcel’s experience willplay a significant role.Since the Industrial Revolution, technological advances have consistentlyresulted in mainstream phenomena that impact our lives tothe extent that we wonder how we ever managed prior to their existence.The Internet is just such a phenomenon. Over the past 10 years,it has connected people from all over the globe, providing access to avast wealth of information by empowering individuals to share theirknowledge and experiences. It has created new business models, fromWeb-based businesses to Internet service providers to Web design and5aThe geospatial/////////////Internet revolution///////is destined to//////////////be the next wave/////////of the Internet;/////////////some day, we will///////wonder how we//////////managed without it.////6Figure 6 Vexcel’s ground station offeringsfeature the Proton TM high-speed, direct-to-disktelemetry processing system, supporting import andexport streaming data rates to 800 Mbps.24 s u m m e r 2 0 0 6 w w w . i m a g i n g n o t e s . c o m