Strategies Abound
The satellite industry is pursuing hybrid networking strategies along with the rollout of Ka-band broadband multimedia services. We see this underway, for example, with Panamsat Corp.'s launch of its new virtual teleport concept involving the consolidation of six Panamsat teleports, and decision to flow Panamsat video and data traffic through Level 3 Communications Inc.'s Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)-enabled network. With this in place, Panamsat customers will now be able to access this hybrid network via Level 3 points of presence in 70-plus cities in the United States and Europe.
Path 1 Network Technologies Inc., based in San Diego, CA, is providing its Cx1000 IP video gateway technology for this hybrid network. "Panamsat is using the Path1 CX1000 IP video gateways as part of the virtual teleport project to interconnect our teleports for transport of broadcast-quality video over fiber networks," says Bridget Neville, Panamsat's senior vice president of engineering. "We are also using a Tandberg 6120 to provide similar functionality to the Path1 product. The video over IP technology is geared toward contribution of broadcast-quality video. The video over IP technology is relevant to our ground infrastructure (fiber and teleports), and is therefore agnostic to the satellite frequency, whether C-, Ku-, Ka-, or even X- band."
Path 1's solution was demonstrated recently by ND Satcom, which used the video gateway to encapsulate and encode a high quality video signal via an ASI port into the fast Ethernet port of the ND Satcom SkyWAN system.
"Such a device is always required if a video signal is available via an ASI port and needs to be transferred via the Broadband Media Network solution. Our solutions work well with Ku-band, C-band and Ka-band geostationary satellites," says Peter Neu, manager of product marketing at ND Satcom. "The questions surrounding Ka-band involve cost, which is expected to come down, especially for the ODU (Outdoor Unit), and availability which is expected to be worse than with Ku-band because of rain fade. So, it will depend on customer requirements, applications and the specific rain zone where the customer is located.
"Today, most Ka-band projects are dedicated to the residential and SOHO business. Our approach is targeting high performance, professional applications for broadcasting and media companies. High quality and reliability is key, so Ku-band is adequate," adds Neu.
The emerging broadband multimedia marketplace will also be impacted significantly by advances in MPEG-4 encoding, and solutions that transcode pre-compressed MPEG-2 satellite video channels to H.264-enhanced MPEG-4 aka MPEG-4, Part 10.
For example, Santa Clara, CA -based iVast paired up with VideoTele.com, a division of Tut Systems Inc., to offer an MPEG-4-based digital headend. iVast has devoted considerable man hours to developing standards-based, interactive digital media solutions.
"Yes, iVAST's MPEG-4 solution will match MPEG-2 video quality at a lower bandwidth. This can yield two times or three times bandwidth savings, or broadcasters can use the same bandwidth to deliver higher quality video such as HDTV," says Alex Derecho, vice president of professional services at iVAST.
By taking advantage of MPEG-4's inherent compression efficiency and system layer support, iVAST is focused on enabling the delivery of high quality, rich media with previously unobtainable bandwidth efficiency, according to Derecho. "We expect broadcasters to migrate to MPEG-4. Our indications are that they'll likely do so to address the bandwidth issues associated with delivering HDTV first," Derecho adds. "The iVAST product suite will enable both increased channel density and the ability to offer more compelling services on existing Ku-band platforms."
These changes are coming quickly and furiously. Broadband multimedia via Ka-band and new terrestrial wireless breakthroughs, including Wi-Fi, video over IP and MPEG-4/H.264, unite under the banner of content delivery, whether the content in question arrives in real-time or not.
We also urge our readers to keep in mind that one of the strong selling points for Ka-band is the supposed shortage of Ku-band, among other things. To the extent that new digital encoding platforms and compression schemes, along with advances in video over IP free up Ku-band capacity, this will impact the demand side of the satellite transponder market as a whole, and it could reshape broadband multimedia strategies in a dramatic fashion going forward.
In a nutshell, how much goes up in the sky, and how much stays on the ground will certainly help to determine the future of the new cluster of Ka-band satellite broadband multimedia ventures.
Go online to read more about what is unfolding in the emerging Ka-band marketplace at http://www.viasatellite.com.
Peter J. Brown is Via Satellite's Senior Multimedia & Homeland Security Editor. He lives on Mount Desert Island, ME.
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