Rio via Aberdeen to Washington DC: High Throughput – the Common Thread
by Martin Jarrold
London, UK, May 3, 2013--GVF’s recent Rio de Janeiro conference, Oil & Gas Communications Brazil 2013: Big Oil, the Deep-Water Ocean Expanse, and Big Data was lauded as a great success by attendees, speakers, and sponsors alike; a very satisfactory precursor to both the next event in the GVF-EMP Oil & Gas Communications Conference Series, and, indeed, to the GVF High Throughput Satellite (HTS) Roundtable.
Whilst, of course, the Oil & Gas Communications Series is, and continues to be, vertical market-specific, and the HTS Roundtable references satellite technologies, services, and solutions targeting communications end-user markets more generically, all these events feature a strong common thread – that of the importance of recent, current, and near-future generations of high throughput/high capacity satellites.
GVF-EMP has now produced a total of 17 Oil & Gas Communications Series events around the world since 2006. Over that time the conference programs have progressively included an increased focus on the energy industry exploration & production (and also general offshore/maritime) applications imperatives environment that are linked with, and dependent on, satellite broadband technologies, services, and solutions. More recently, in fact since December 2012, this focus on the fact that satellite broadband has arrived – that high capacity satellite communications are being delivered today to millions of corporate, enterprise, and consumer users at subscription rates that transform the broadband value proposition... as well as the business plan – has been reflected in a new element of the GVF-EMP Conference Partnership portfolio – events exclusively covering HTS.
The program of the recent Brazil conference, sub-titled ‘Big Oil, the Deep-Water Ocean Expanse, and Big Data’, covered a wide range of topics as a series of Operator, Networks, Oil & Gas Business Strategy, Remote Operations, and Business Balance Sheet panel discussions and presentations covering such wide-ranging themes as: The Global & Regional Satellite Operator View from Earth Orbit: Satellite Capacity Supply, Service Models, Solutions Delivery, and Oil & Gas Patch Capacity Demand; Satellite to the Cloud: Evolving New Commercial Oil & Gas Applications to the Satellite & Satellite-Hybrid Communications Environment; Data Monitoring, Data Management, Remote Operations, Collaboration & Value Added Services; High Capacity, High Throughput: New Satellite Systems Meet Big Oil’s Big Data; Wasting Bandwidth, Wasting Money: Bandwidth Monitoring and Optimization in Oil & Gas Satellite Networks; Bandwidth in Ka/Ku/C/L: Is There a Clear-Cut “Versus” for User Profit Margins?; Telepresence over Satellite: Scaling Technical Expertise & Maintaining Secure Lines of Communication to the Field; ‘Satellite Connectivity Enables New Applications for the Mobility Industry, including the Oil & Gas Vertical’; Digital Oilfield 21st Century: The Rise of “Big Data”; Telemetry, Monitoring & Asset Tracking: M2M Terminal Application Dynamics for Oil & Gas; Defining the Mission Critical Networking Solution Communication Requirement for Deep-Water E&P: VSAT and Stabilized Microwave Wireless Backhaul; Oil & Gas & Satellite: South American Networking Case Studies in E&P; and, Radio Frequency Interference in the Oil & Gas Space: Industry Mitigation Strategies.
Several of these topics, either directly or indirectly, pertained to HTS, because of the expansion of oil & gas “Big Data”, because of the rising importance of bandwidth-hungry video-based content in the exploration & production (E&P) environment, and because of the increased industry focus on leveraging use of application software and data resource storage in “the Cloud”.
Unsurprisingly, these topics attracted a big attendance, representing such organizations as: Anadarko Exploração e Produção de Petróleo e Gás Natural Ltda; Arycom Comunicação via Satélite Ltda; Baker Hughes; BP Energy do Brasil; Brastrading; BT Global Services; Carrierweb; Ceragon; Comtech EF Data; Comtech Xicom; Embratel; Gilat Satellite Networks; Grupo Hispasat; GVF Training Brazil; Hispamar Satélites S.A.; Harris CapRock; Hughes; Intelsat; Newtec America do Sul; O3b Networks; Odebrecht Oil & Gas; Orange Business Services; Petrobras; PUC University; Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás S.A.; Rictel Petroleum Service; RigNet Brazil; Schlumberger; Seadrill; SES; SkyWave; Star One; Statoil Brazil; Subsea 7; Telespazio Brasil; Telnav Telecomunicacoes Navais; Tesacom do Brasil; Union Engenharia de Telematica LTDA; and, Unisat.
The presentations from the Brazil conference may be downloaded from the following webpage: www.uk-emp.co.uk/emp-home/future-events/o-gcomms-brazil-program/.
Just as with the Rio event, the next conference in the GVF Oil & Gas Communications Series – the 18th globally, and the 6th for the European hydrocarbons industry communications environment – which is Oil & Gas Communications Europe 2013: North & Northwest - The North Sea, The Arctic Ocean & The Atlantic Margin (taking place at the Marriott Hotel, Dyce, Aberdeen on 14th & 15th May 2013) – offers free-of-charge attendance for representatives of oil & gas industry communications solution end-users, i.e., specialists in IT/IS/ICT/Telecoms, Connectivity & Networks/Procurement/SLAs from Oil/Gasfield Operators, Drillers, Shipping & Transportation, Support Vessels, Rig Owners/Operators.
North Sea oil & gas is again booming, as new reserves are discovered and already-known reserves become more cost-effective to exploit through newer drilling and extraction technologies. Additionally, interest in the exploitation of the Arctic Ocean’s reserves continues to grow, and in the waters of the Atlantic Margin exploratory activity is increasing apace. At the time of writing this column, some 42 organizations had registered to attend or speak in Aberdeen – a figure and level of interest one would not formerly have associated with what was, until recently, considered (at least as far as the North Sea was concerned) to be a declining, residual, or marginal part of the global oil & gas patch. A full list of these attending and speaking organizations can be seen on the event website at www.uk-emp.co.uk/emp-home/future-events/oil-gas-communications-europe-2013/.
The Aberdeen program will feature themes that are of key significance for the European oil & gas communications markets – including, as in Rio, video and “the Cloud” – such as:
Analyst Keynote
Trending Now! Global Broadband Satcoms & Europe’s Oil & Gas Patch Future Evolution
Operator Session
· Satellite Communications at the Cutting-Edge: Leveraging the High-Capacity/High-Throughput/Ka-band Advantage in E&P
O&G Business Strategy Session
MegaBits per Second and Dollars per Day: Defining the Most Cost-Effective Communications Solutions for Oil & Gas
Remote Operations Session
Telepresence over Satellite: Scaling Technical Expertise & Maintaining Secure Lines of Communication to the Field
Operator Session
The Global & Regional Satellite Operator View from Earth Orbit: Satellite Capacity Supply, Service Models, Solutions Delivery, and Oil & Gas Patch Capacity Demand
Technology Session
Offshore Communications: Solutions in Diversity, Reliability, Economy
Networks Session
· Cloud-over-Satellite for E&P Networking: Risk Assessment & Data Security
Remote Operations Session
Telemetry, Monitoring & Asset Tracking: M2M Terminal Application Dynamics for Oil & Gas
Technology Session
Terrestrial Communications Technology Environments: Stabilized Microwave Wireless
Networks Session
· Network Performance Optimization: The Technical Analytics Understood
Technology Session
· VSAT & Wireless Connectivity in the Energy Sector - Case Studies Analyses
Remote Operations Session
Delivering Comms in Challenging O&G Environments
Networks Session
· Network Hierarchy Flexibility in Oil & Gas
Technology Session
Stabilized Antennas & Maritime Auto-Deploy, Offshore & Deepwater: Performance, Reliability & Maintenance Variables in Remote Oil & Gas Applications
O&G Business Strategy Session
Licensing & Regulation in Europe’s Mature & Emerging Oil & Gas Space
General Session
Oil, Gas & Communications Spectrum: Interference Challenges & Challenging Interference
And the Aberdeen speaker line-up will feature (alphabetically by company name): Brendan O'Mahony, Market Access and Licensing Management, Access Partnership; Mark Lambert, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Managing Director, EMEA Region, Advantech; Arnaud Feletin, Senior Manager, Global Remote Communications Services, Baker Hughes; Jason Celaya, Director, Global Vertical Markets, Oil & Gas, Ceragon; Chris Insall, Manger, Commercial Programs, Cobham SATCOM; Mike Gold, Vice-President, Sales, Europe, Israel, CIS & Russia, Comtech EF Data; Jag Rai, Sales Director, Eutelsat; Fabrice Barbedette, Manager, Line of Business Data & Telecom, Eutelsat; Peter Slade, European Sales Director, Gilat Satellite Networks; Kevin Blyth, Global Technology Innovation, Harris CapRock; Bill Green, Account Director, Hermes Datacomms; Andrew Faiola, Global Accounts Director, Intelsat; Bradford Grady, Analyst, Northern Sky Research; Ton Ebbenhorst, Business Development Manager, Orange Business Services; Dr Harald W. Stange, Managing Director/CEO, Romantis GmbH; Simon Gatty Saunt, Regional VP, Data & Mobility Services Europe, SES; Colin Grainger, Business Development Director, Signalhorn; Anu Sood, Global Channel Marketing Manager, SkyWave; William Hudson, Senior Sales Manager, Oil & Gas, Telenor Satellite Broadcasting.
Latest updates on the Aberdeen program, and other details of the conference can be found at the event website at www.uk-emp.co.uk/emp-home/future-events/oil-gas-communications-europe-2013/.
Washington Bound…The HTS Themes Continue
The HTS-related threads reflected in the above will expand to a full two days of comprehensive discussion at the High Throughput Satellite Roundtable – High-Capacity Ka, Ku and C band Satellite Communications: On Planes, Trains, Ships,… in Cities, Villages and Living Rooms taking place at the Renaissance Downtown Hotel, Washington DC, on 21st & 22nd May 2013.
The HTS Roundtable content will be built around a number of discussion-orientated panels, rather than presentations. The panels – or “Roundtables” – begin with the perspective that the scale and the scope of current changes in the satellite industry cannot be over-stated. A mere 10 years ago, a good year for the satellite communications industry was a terminal deployment total of 80,000 units worldwide. Today, in one country, one service provider is installing 30,000 terminals per month. Not surprisingly, questions abound. What are the new pricing metrics? Have service level agreements changed fundamentally and, if so, how? What about reliability? How high is "high capacity"? New value-added resellers are entering the market; who are they (and do they know what they're doing?)?
Additionally, high throughput technology poses its own questions: What are the relative merits of C band, Ku band and Ka band? Is one application delivered as effectively as another? What about mobility? What are the implications for different user groups? And what is the truth about Ka band rain attenuation?
Answers are forthcoming. These answers draw upon the recent track record of a growing list of industry leaders, including Eutelsat and Avanti in Europe, Yahsat and Arabsat in Africa and the Middle East, IPStar in Asia, and Hughes and Viasat in the Americas. Added to their experience are the innovation and short-term plans of competitors such as Inmarsat's Global Xpress service, Intelsat's EPIC offering, O3B's medium-earth orbit (MEO) solution, and more than a dozen other launches. Indeed, more than half of the world's dozens of satellite operators have either ordered or plan to order high capacity satellites and 14 million households and 50% of enterprise terminals are predicted to be using high capacity platforms by 2020.
The GVF High Throughput Roundtable will serve as a forum where these trends, these companies – and their customers – will provide insights into how this exciting new chapter in satellite communications is rewriting the way that applications are delivered in the world today.
Participating organizations will include, from the user sectors, Broadcasters; First Responders/Humanitarian Agencies; War Fighters; Wireless Operators’ Civil Aviation & Rail interests; Maritime operators; Oil, Gas & Mining Companies; Governments; and, Consumers. From the provider sector, the contributing organizations will include, satellite operators, network and service providers, equipment manufacturers and vendors, value-added resellers, etc – the entire satellite industry value and supply chain.
Remember, the GVF HTS Roundtable is the only event to bring the whole industry together, and go at least some way to answering the difficult questions cited above. See more program information at: www.uk-emp.co.uk/emp-home/future-events/high-capacity-satellite-roundtable-hcs-dc/.
The Oil & Gas Communications and HTS Series organizer’s contact details are, with GVF, David Hartshorn at david.hartshorn@gvf.org, Martin Jarrold at martin.jarrold@gvf.org, and Liz Grimm at liz.grimm@gvf.org; and with EMP, Paul Stahl at paul.stahl@uk-emp.co.uk.
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Martin Jarrold is Chief of International Program Development of the GVF. He can be reached at martin.jarrold@gvf.org
