ANGEL’S HALO-PROTEUS™ TO FLY ACROSS ATLANTIC
TO DEBUT AT PARIS AIR SHOW
- Press Conferences Scheduled for 2:00 PM Saturday, June 12 and 2:00 PM
Tuesday, June 15 -
ST. LOUIS, MO (June 4, 1999)—Angel Technologies Corporation
(www.broadband.com), developer of the HALO Networkä , a
high-speed, high-capacity metropolitan-area broadband communications network, today
announced that its platform -- the HALO-Proteus™ aircraft -- will make its
international flying debut at the ’99 Paris Air Show, 12 June – 20 June, at Le
Bourget Aeroport, Paris. The HALO-Proteus is the first stratospheric aircraft designed for
commercial communications and the first of its kind to fly at the Paris Air Show.
Augmenting terrestrial towers and orbiting satellites, Angel's HALO-Proteus aircraft
will fly fixed patterns in the stratosphere (above 50,000 feet) over major cities to
deliver metropolitan wireless services at lower cost, with increased flexibility and
improved quality of service. Teamed with corporate partners, Angel will deliver a variety
of fixed and mobile wireless services including voice, data, and video.
"The HALO Network™ will provide high speed broadband services over an area
encompassing a typically large U.S. metropolitan area, enabling individual consumers and
businesses to send and receive data at multi-megabit per second rates," explained
Angel CEO Marc Arnold. "HALO Network services will be replicated over metropolitan
centers throughout the world, providing the commercial communications industry with a
reliable infrastructure that can be deployed instantly, even when there is an incomplete
or non-existant terrestrial infrastructure."
Arnold further explained that the applications that will benefit most from the
availability of airborne deployment will be new broadband data services in developed
countries and wireless telephony services in the developing world. "At Paris,
we’ll see the plane make its international flying debut" said Arnold, "and
we’ll be ready to open discussions with service providers and spectrum holders
worldwide."
The HALO-Proteus aircraft was designed by Burt Rutan, President, Scaled Composites,
best known for his design of the historic round-the-world Voyager™ aircraft. The
HALO-Proteus will be manufactured by Scaled Technology Works. Angel’s strategic
partner, Wyman-Gordon Company (NYSE: WYMN), is the parent company of Scaled
Composites and Scaled Technology Works (Hall 5/Stand B-6 at the Paris Air Show).
"The flight of the HALO-Proteus at the Paris Air Show will mark the
aircraft’s international flying debut," said Burt Rutan, President, Scaled
Composites. "To date, the Proteus has flown to 51,000 feet where we have tested cabin
pressurization, speed, and Mach number envelope expansion. We are pleased to report that
everything checks out perfectly for Paris."
Angel is teamed with Raytheon Systems, a division of the Raytheon Corporation,
(Hall3/Stand B-13) for the joint pursuit of stratospheric broadband wireless systems.
Angel has been working with Raytheon since 1996 to demonstrate the feasibility of
broadband services using High Altitude Long Operation (HALO) aircraft. In an August flight
test using ground and airborne electronics developed by Raytheon, the companies jointly
demonstrated a record-breaking 52 megabit-per-second wireless link between the ground and
Angel’s HALO Network testbed aircraft in flight. The demonstration included
simultaneous transmission of data such as movies, high definition video conferencing,
large (7MB) file transfers, web browsing through an ISDN connection to an Internet service
provider, and telephone calls. This type of capability today would only be available
through a high-speed fiber optic cable network. For example, a 100,000-page document sent
over a 28.8 Kbps computer modem would require seven hours; utlizing the Angel/Raytheon
technology, it takes just 16 seconds.
FIRST FLIGHT ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
The HALO-Proteus will leave Scaled Composites, Mojave, CA, on June 8 and fly to Bangor,
ME where the aircraft will be refueled and prepared for the Atlantic flight. The Proteus
will fly non-stop across the Atlantic at 45,000 feet, arriving at Le Bourget on June 8 at
approximately 6:00 PM (1800 hrs.)
PRESS CONFERENCES SCHEDULED AT THE PARIS AIR SHOW, LE BOURGET
Two Press Conferences to debut the stratospheric aircraft will be held at the outside
airfield (next to the Ariane Rocket) on Press Day, Saturday, 12 June, at 2:00 PM and on
Tuesday, June 15, at 2:00 PM. The HALO-Proteus aircraft will be on static display on the
airfield through the duration of the Air Show.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Information on the HALO-Proteus aircraft and the HALO Network will be available at the Wyman-Gordon
stand, Hall5/Stand B-6 and at Raytheon stand, Hall3/Stand B-13.
Additionally, a video of the HALO Network will be shown at the Raytheon exhibit throughout
the air show.
About Angel Technologies (www.broadband.com)
Angel Technologies Corporation, with headquarters in St. Louis, Mo., is a
privately-held wireless communications company using proprietary HALO aircraft to deliver
broadband services worldwide.
About Raytheon Company (www.raytheon.com)
Raytheon Company, based in Lexington, Mass., is a global technology leader that
provides products and services in the areas of commercial and defense electronics,
engineering and construction, and business and special mission aircraft. Raytheon has
operations throughout the United States and serves customers in more than 80 countries
around the world.
About Wyman-Gordon Company (www.wyman-gordon.com)
Wyman-Gordon Company (Nasdaq: WYMN) is a leading manufacturer of high-quality,
technologically-advanced forgings, investment castings and composite structures for use in
the commercial and defense aerospace, commercial power and energy and performance product
markets.
NOTE TO EDITORS
Angel Technologies™, HALO™, HALO-Proteus™, HALO Network™ and Cone
of Commerce™ are trademarks of Angel Technologies Corporation. All other trademarks
and trade names are the property of their respective companies.
MEDIA CONTACT
Diane Murphy, Federal City Communications Corporation. Tel: 202-662-1280; Fax;
202-662-1281; Cell; 202-255-6649. Paris Hotel: Le Meridien Etoile, tel: (33) (1) 40
68 34 34.
At Le Bourget: Hall 1, Information Desk; Wyman Gordon Exhibit (Hall 5/Stand B-6);
Raytheon Exhibit (Hall3/Stand B-13).
This press release contains forward-looking statements made in reliance
upon the safe harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward
looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results of the Company to differ materially from those matters expressed in
or implied by such forward-looking statements.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Angel Technologies™, HALO™, HALO-Proteus™, and HALO
Network™ are trademarks of Angel Technologies Corporation. All other trademarks and
trade names are the property of their respective companies.
Contact:
Angel Technologies
Diane Murphy
Federal City Communications Corp.
Tel: 202/662-1280
Fax: 202/662-1281
EMail:
diane@broadband.com
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