News Analysis

by Elisabeth Tweedie

At the beginning of 2008 Carlsbad, CA-based equipment manufacturer ViaSat startled the world with the announcement of ViaSat-1. Startling not only because of the capacity of the satellite, announced at 100Gbps, (but now increased to 125Gbps) represented a ten fold increase on existing Ka-Band satellites, but also because ViaSat with no operating experience was planning to enter a market dominated by two major players: WildBlue and Hughes. These two operators currently have just under one million subscribers between them.

by Robert Bell

Executive Director, World Teleport Association

The Year of Living Dangerously" is a great 1983 film by Australian director Peter Weir about an Aussie  journalist (Mel Gibson) covering political turmoil in Indonesia during the reign of Sukarno. He gets caught up in the chaos of an abortive Communist revolution and manages to escape, barely, with his life.

by Lou Zacharilla

Director of Development, SSPI

Depending on whose science or projections you believe, the world is melting, its waters rising and its future looking a lot like the movie "2012." It may well be. Among the many stepping forward to help save it, the global teleport industry is now taking its turn.

by Dr. Andrea Franz and Dr. Gerhard Franz

With the introduction of digital TV a new way of video transport and delivery has emerged, using the Internet Protocol (IP). Video over IP is a general term to describe the use of IP in any or all stages of video transport to the subscriber (or end-customer). This has to be distinguished from the term IPTV, which means specifically the delivery of video as an IP stream to the subscriber set-top box or TV set. All digital video today that is broadcast, transported over satellite or distributed in cable systems is using the MPEG transport stream (TS) communications protocol. This worldwide standard describes the way a digital TV signal (audio, video and data) is encapsulated in a specific container format. It also includes metadata such as electronic program guides (EPG).

by Martin Jarrold

Director, International Programs, GVF

My previous column for this publication focused on the oil and gas exploration and production sector, with particular reference to the increasing attention of the energy industry on deepwater and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon reserves which now appear to be much more abundant than was thought ten years ago. A result of this is that the applications solutions and broadband communications solutions imperatives of the energy market, whilst they represent, in relative terms, a small fraction of energy companies’ total CAPEX and OPEX, well managed ICT networks can play a disproportionately great role in reducing expenditures in exploration, drilling, and production.

The World Teleport Association (WTA) has published its annual Inside the Top Operators research report. The  eagerly awaited report draws from data submitted to WTA by teleport operating companies around the world for the association’s 2008 Top Operator rankings.

by Robert Bell

Executive Director,  World Teleport Association

Specialization in one or two services brings benefits to teleport operators, including in-depth knowledge of customer needs, the ability to invest in technology appropriate to those needs, and a high degree of expertise. But specialization also carries the risk of having too many financial eggs in one basket. When asked to identify service from which their companies generated at least 25% of revenues, respondents put enterprise networking at the top of the list, followed by broadcast video, civilian government applications, Internet backbone and VoIP and military government applications. By diversifying into multiple markets, operators hedge against the major dynamics that continue to transform the markets they serve.

by Martin Jarrold

Chief, International Programs Development, GVF

Deployment of broadband satellite technologies is correctly recognized as an imperative to maximization of cutting-edge digital oilfield applications and to considerations of cost-effectiveness – it is a force multiplier, enabling return on investment, as well as facilitating mission critical communications links.

by Dan Freyer

New multi-megabit-per-second Ku-Band satcoms-on-the-move (OTM or SOTM) products and service offerings, some employing technology originally vetted in military use, are being brought to market for commercial services. These exciting new service opportunities include live news video streaming from moving vehicles, rear-seat entertainment for cars,in-flight and in-train broadband services, as well as law enforcement and first-responder systems.

by Lou Zacharilla, Dir. of Development, SSPI

At the recent Satellite Business Week summit in Paris, the buzz centered around emerging markets for broadband and mobile services, as well as an increased use of satellites in support of emerging economies in Africa, observational and environmental sciences and the appetite of the global enterprise.