I

Business

Reaching
For The Stars

CALLED

MOM FOR LUNCH ON TUESDAY, BUT

SHE WAS GOING TO A BOOK REVIEW

IN THE LIBRARY.

I DROPPED BY ON

THURSDAY, BUT SHE COULDN'T COME

Gilat Satellite Networks
has become a key player
in the satellite
communications
industry.

BECAUSE SHE WAS BUSY IN THE ACTIVITIES

ROOM WORKING ON HER NEW EXERCISE

PLAN.

I INVITED MYSELF TO LUNCH WITH

HER ON FRIDAY, AND THE FOOD WAS

TERRIFIC. I TOLD MOM TO CALL MY

BROTHER AND LET HIM KNOW HOW

SHE LIKES HER NEW HOME AT

THE HEATHERWOOD.

NICKY BLACKBURN
Special to The Jewish News

I HOPE SHE CAN

I

FIND TIME TO CALL.

the AM

'ATHERWOOD

FE IME , ENT

_Retirement _Living for the
‘Active 5 Senior

For information call
Kathy Ostrowski

(810) 350-1777

22800 Crvic CENTER DIUVE
SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN

EOUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY

LINCOLN CENTER

SHOPPING THAT MAKES SENSE

L
I
N

C

0
L
N'

S

B
I
R
T
H
D
A
Y

Baskin Robbins
Bread Basket Deli
Book Beat
Discount Uniforms
Dillman Chiropractic Life
Dollar Castle
Dots
Eyes Right. Optical
Farmer Jack
Glory Jewelers
Kmart
King Lim's Garden
Lincoln Barber Shop

Magic-Touch Beauty Shop
Marianne Plus
Metropolitan Dry Cleaners
Nora's Fashions
Payless Shoe Source
Radio Shack
Rite-Aid
Secretary of State
Sherman's - Foot Care
Strictly Kosher Meats
T. Nails
Towne Theater
Winkleman's

GREENFIELD AT 10 1'2 MILE ROAD
OAK PARK

R
E
S
I
D
E
N

T '

S

D
A
Y

.1111,21111 ■ 1,

Call The Sales Department (248) 354-7123 Ext. 209

V'

40'

2/13

19 9 8

138

Get Resufts...A vertise in our Entertainment Section!

DETROIT
JEWEilllfEWS

'TN

t doesn't take much guesswork
to realize how rapidly Gilat
Satellite Networks Ltd. is
expanding. Drive down a half-
finished road in the Kiryat Aryeh
area of Petah Tikva and you soon get
the picture. There, amid all the rub-
ble and dust of a developing area,
stand two huge and luxurious build-
ings, one blue, one green, which
together cost Gilat some $20 mil-
lion.
While one block is already inhab-
ited, staff members are already
chomping at the bit to move into the
other, which is nearing completion.
Founded in 1987, Gilat, which
designs, manufactures, markets and
supports Very Small Aperture
Terminal (VSAT) satellite earth sta-
tions and related hub equipment and
software, has managed in less than a
decade to become a key player in the
satellite communications industry.
In 1992, sales were $5.5 million.
By 1996, they reached $75 million.
Estimates for 1997 suggest that sales
will reach an all-time high of $90-
$100 million, while cash reserves
have now reached $100, million;
making Gilat richer than ever.
Gilat, which is traded on the
Nasdaq over-the-counter stock
exchange and employs 400 people,
was set up by five friends.
During the first five years the
company developed two main prod-
ucts, both of which are geared
towards customers who have a large
number of remote sites. The
OneWay VSAT is a data broadcast
receiver which can be used for news
distribution and paging, while the
TwoWay VSAT is used by banks,
retailers, gas stations, etc., and has a
number of applications including
inventory control, credit-card autho-
rization, lottery transactions and pre-
scription adjudication. Gilat's secret
weapon was cost. It outsourced pro-
duction of its RF equipment to

Nicky Blackburn is a writer for the
Jerusalem Post Foreign Service.