By James Careless
Private satellite networks. The name conjures up visions of Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) antennas perched atop banks, retailers and gas stations, all sending the most basic of data files into space.Times, however, have changed. Although credit card validation remains an important part of private satellite traffic--as do corporate communications--today's private networks are branching into new and different markets. These cover everything from customized TV network feeds to retailers--in which they can sell and insert commercials--to fast-deploy voter validation programs in the remote regions of Venezuela.
Why Private Networks Are Changing
Two trends are transforming private network satellite traffic. One is the Internet; the other is digital technology.
Actually, it is not the Internet that is driving change, but rather it is the Internet Protocol (IP) data standard by which all Internet traffic is defined and encoded. In the IP world, all manner of applications can be reduced to common file formats, whether they are based on data, voice or video. Better yet, a satellite network based on the IP standard can carry all these files, thus providing VSAT operators with unprecedented flexibility.
"In the old world of satellite networks, each user had a specific kind of network that supported one kind of application, either credit card-style data, voice or video," says David Hershberg, president and CEO of Globecomm Systems. "Today, IP networks are capable of carrying all of these applications and more. In fact, if you are running your network on the IP data standard, you can move data, video, VoIP, or pretty much anything you want to."
But business is becoming more diverse, technology is becoming more complex and information is moving away from stagnant literature to rich media. This evolution alchemy is requiring a mature carrier and satellite-enabled solutions are gaining profits from these developments.
"IP makes it easy for your network to support a full range of broadband applications," says Emil Regard, vice president of marketing for Hughes Network Systems. "Again, this future-proofs your network. It now has the ability to carry whatever new applications are coming down the pipe."
Hand-in-hand with IP is digital technology, which has changed the very nature of satellite transmission. In the digital world, satellites can now carry much more data than before due to the advent of compression software and the 'space-saving' nature of IP files, compared to conventional analog transmissions.
Combined, these two elements are transforming the private network market. No longer do VSAT users have to satisfy themselves with sending data-only files. In an IP world, it is relatively easy to send video, voice and even multimedia via satellite either point-to-multipoint or point-to-point using a Mesh network. (In a Mesh network configuration, any one site on the network can communicate to any other site without the need to first connect to a central hub site.)
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