Skyware Global
Skyware Global, formerly known as Raven Group, Ltd. was one of the world largest suppliers of Consumer Broadband and VSAT antennas. The company was since 2008 operating as a subsidiary of Satellite Holdings, LLC. As per 2015 it is operating as a subsidiary of Global Invacom, Ltd. and is trading under the name Global Skyware.
Skybrokers offers for more the 10 years Global Skyware mainly new VSAT antennas. The Skyware Global VSAT antennas are sold to satellite service providers, telecom operators, governmental organizations and disaster recovery. We supported recently a client with a network rollout of Skyware Global VSAT antennas.
Company History
Skyware Global was formerly known as Raven Group, Ltd. and was founded after the acquisition in 2009 of the VSAT Antenna Division of ASC Signal. Since December 2008, the company was operating as a subsidiary of Satellite Holdings, LLC. and as per 2015 it is operating as a subsidiary of Global Invacom, Ltd.
Satellite Holdings, LLC, a partnership between private investment firms Granahan McCourt Capital and The Edgewater Funds acquired Raven Group on January 1st, 2009. In May 2009, Satellite Holdings continued its expansion and acquired the Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Very Small Aperture (VSAT) businesses of ASC Signal, their Chinese operating entity, ASC PRC, as well as their radio frequency (RF) electronics business, Skyware Radio Systems GmbH, a unit formerly owned by Philips Electronics. Together, the merged companies had an expanded product set, first-class engineering capabilities, and manufacturing operations on 3 continents, all offering global logistics. Skyware Global was the only worldwide provider of complete ODU (outdoor unit) solutions for any satellite application.
Satellite Holdings, LLC. was newly formed after the purchase of the Raven Group of companies (Raven Group, Ltd, Raven Antenna Systems, Inc and Raven Manufacturing) in 2008. Raven was founded in 1984 and was one of the world’s major players in the DTH and VSAT markets. Raven offered the broadest product line in the VSAT Satellite antenna industry including, Receive only and RX/TX systems and a range from 75cm to 2.4m VSAT antennas. Raven had type approved antennas for Intelsat, Asiasat, Eutelsat and many other international satellite platforms.
Later in 2009, Satellite Holdings, LLC. changed the name of the Raven Group to Skyware Global that became a leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of systems for the global satellite industry through strategic acquisitions. Skyware Global provided direct-to-home (DTH), enterprise VSAT and satellite broadband equipment for residential, commercial and government use.
Skyware Global antennas are the former called Channel Master, Andrew and Skyware Antennas. They are marketed under the brand ‘Skyware Global’.
Channel Master
Channel Master was a manufacturer of prefabricated aluminum TV antennas. The 23-year-old former Merchant Marine radio operator and DuMont TV antenna installer Joe Resnick founded Channel Master in 1949. Its principal innovation was that its antennas arrived with elements folded, not disassembled, so that during installation the antenna could be quickly unfolded with the elements automatically locking into place. This saved time and effort for rooftop antenna installers, who were often working at awkward heights and in unfavorable weather.
Established with 7,000 USD in capital from cabbage farmer Louis Resnick, who sold his Ellenville farm, the company was manufacturing 12 million USD annually in prefabricated antennas by 1954 and had expanded its product line in the 1960’s to include transistorized signal boosters along with antenna rotors.
Avnet Corporation acquired Channel Master in 1967, moving its manufacturing facilities to Smithfield, North Carolina. Avnet sold the company in 1998 at a 33 million USD profit. Channel Master filed for chapter 11-bankruptcy protection on October 2nd, 2003 after losing its largest client, EchoStar. Its Smithfield, NC satellite dish factory, which formerly employed 1600 people, was turned over to Andrew Corporation.
Andrew offered a complete line of satellite antennas from 43cm to 9.4m for all enterprise and consumer satellite communication applications. Andrew-designed and -built products cover C, Ku, K, X, and the emerging Ka-band. The company provided complete electronics for both receive and transmit, monitor and control software and hardware. Andrew offered a selection of antennas with international certifications to meet the industry’s needs.
Skyware was the designer and supplier of the world’s first Ka-band consumer broadband antenna deployed by Wild Blue in 2004. Since that time Skyware had manufactured more than 3 million consumer broadband antennas, which were deployed in North America and Europe.
In 2013 the Global Invacom Group acquired Raven Manufacturing, Ltd, an producer of antenna systems, metal pressings and sub-assemblies for the automotive sector for 3.2 million USD, expanding its manufacturing capabilities within Europe. Global Invacom renamed the Raven Manufacturing group into Global Invacom Manufacturing (UK), Ltd.
In June 2015 Global Invacom, Ltd. acquired Skyware Global. Through this acquisition, Global Invacom added Skyware as its US manufacturing presence to its existing SatCom production footprint in Asia, with two locations in China, one in Israel and one in Malaysia and two locations in Europe (UK).
On 24th of October 2016, Global Invacom, Ltd, changed the trading name for its US subsidiary Raven Antenna Systems, Inc, formerly trading as Skyware Global, and is rebranding Global Skyware. The rebranding included a new trading name, logo and slogan and will bring the business in line with Global Invacom’s wider brand, providing consistency across all areas of the Group.
All trademarks, logos and images mentioned and showed on this page are property of their respective owners.
Resources
www.skywareglobal.com
www.globalinvacom.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.sky-brokers.com
www.skywaretechnologies.com
www.cpii.com
www.channelmaster.com
www.bloomberg.com