Enterprise Briefing

 

 

According to Northern Sky Research (NSR) there are now 2 million sites around the world using VSAT terminals to connect to the internet and corporate networks. By 2011, there will be close to 3.5 million. Homes and businesses are looking to satellite broadband where fixed and mobile connections are either non-existent or unreliable.

 

Satellite communications have come a long way since Inmarsat was set up by governments to provide the global maritime industry with communications for safety and navigational use. The range of Inmarsat services was successfully extended to portable phone and ISDN-like data services for use on land. This heralded a boom – and bust – in the industry. Portable satellite communications was on the verge of a new era in the late 1990s as billions of dollars were poured into building constellations of new satellites that could span the globe and provide pervasive telephony. But by 2002 the death knell had rung. As capital fled the telecoms, internet and IT industries on the back of the dotcom implosion, many investors realized that mobile was expanding so rapidly it would absorb most of the potential planned for satellite phones.

 

But now satellite communications are once again in the ascendance due to a demand for pervasive broadband. Satellite operators like SES New Skies, Eutelsat and Intelsat as well as VSAT equipment manufacturers Hughes, Gilat, and iDirect ensure there is no shortage of broadband satellite providers, while companies like Orange Business Services are successfully integrating satellite access services from these providers and seamlessly knitting remote sites into company networks.

 

 

“In many countries there is a chronic lack of network infrastructure even in the cities. And even where it does exist, companies operating there simply don’t trust it. Besides the basic lack of reliability, additional concerns are coming from network interruptions due to theft, vandalism, political interference and civil unrest. Companies want independence from this and VSAT satellite broadband provides it,” says Ferdinando Loiacono, Business Development Manager for satellite solutions, Orange Business Services.

 

Many Orange Business Services customers require satellite access into their company network. The service is in high demand in Africa and Russia, with 1,600 remote sites currently connected through eight teleports, 15 iDirect hubs and 28 satellites. Mining and oil companies are typical of those that may have facilities far from fiber yet need access to up-to-the minute schematics and survey data otherwise work grinds to a halt.

 

But they are not alone in needing to be connected to the outside world - virtually every company doing business in emerging markets is a potential VSAT user. “Even in cities, the network is not viewed as dependable enough,” adds Loiacono. “Financial services and the governments need communications to be reliable and with predictable performance more than they need it to be low cost. We estimate that 30% of embassies are better served with VSAT services rather than patchy terrestrial communications links.”

 

 

VSAT technology has brought reliable, high-performance, low-cost and unmetered broadband to some of the world’s remotest locations. Very small aperture terminals (VSAT) have a small dish attached to the outside of a building, deliver uncontended downloads typically up to 4Mbps. The technology is reliable, predictable and is not prone to rainfade that can plague fixed wireless technology. It is so reliable than many operators use VSAT to backhaul voice and internet traffic out of countries where there are poor international connections.

 

VSAT is independent of local operators, can be deployed in hours, and companies can share bandwidth over multiple sites. Most VSAT systems now use onboard acceleration of TCP and HTTP to reduce the impact of latency on network applications, and also support multicast so that data can be sent to multiple sites simultaneously for no additional cost. The addition of packet shaping ensures that traffic can also be optimized at the application layer. It means that Orange can offer satellite access as part of its global MPLS IP VPN with the same support for voice and ERP applications as sites connected by Ethernet.

 

One Orange customer, a major petroleum company, is using VSAT to connect 38 remote offices in 11 African countries into its global IP VPN. The sites appear as simply another node on the network. “It was developed with an IP mindset. From the beginning, we intended VSAT to be an integral part of our MPLS network,” says Loiacono.

 

The oil company’s network has 12 Mbps bandwidth that it shares over the 38 sites. Each site has an uncontended rate between 64-512kbps but can burst up to the whole 12Mbps downstream (hub to remote). To make the most of the available bandwidth, traffic is prioritized into classes of services so that delay-sensitive applications such as VoIP are not impeded by less delay-sensitive traffic such as email.

 

 

VSAT technology does not need to be cumbersome – dishes can be small and mobile. In fact, mobile VSAT is successfully challenging Inmarsat in its home market: maritime. “We’re seeing shipping companies use mobile VSAT instead of Inmarsat for certain applications. They get high-bandwidth and a flat fee, whereas Inmarsat is metered,” explains Loiacono.

 

Another user of mobile VSAT technology is the French national railway, SNCF. It is trialing mobile VSAT as a way of connecting TGV high speed trains to the internet while whistling through the French countryside at 320km/h. Passengers would use the on-board Wi-Fi relays to connect into the 2Mbps broadband satellite gateway. This will provide a much more reliable connection than 3G which is not designed to operate at such high traveling speeds.

 

Whether in deserts, jungles, train tracks or the prairies, satellite broadband is bringing vital communications links to homes and businesses that have no other option. The challenge that the satellite industry now faces is one of satisfying demand. The technology is proven, and potential customers are lining up. “We’re seeing VSAT grow at 30% a year and it’s a challenge finding enough capacity for everyone,” explains Loiacono. New satellites from SES New Skies and Eutelsat next year are expected to relieve the temporary dearth of available bandwidth on satellite transponders.