Alternative Uses Of Emergency Communications Networks Driving New Market

Benefits For Private Entities

The reliability of a business’ network systems and communications also is critical in today’s competitive global market. Companies must be online for their normal operations but also cannot afford to lose communications in the aftermath of a disaster. However the enterprise chooses to fund its continuity solution, the key question the enterprise must ask is not, ‘How much stand-by communications can I afford?’ but rather ‘How long can my business afford to be offline?’
Many big box retailers, brokerage firms, banks and restaurant chains have emergency applications scripted into their operational plans, with the systems in place to mitigate a projected lost of 2 percent to 16 percent of revenue that could occur during unexpected downtime. While serving as an emergency backup communications systems, a fully redundant satellite network does not have to sit idle waiting for a disaster to occur. By using the satellite system during normal operations for broadcast applications such as distance learning or digital signage as well as point of sale or credit and other web applications, a disaster continuity objective can be built into the business process, says Anthony Bardo, assistant vice president of government services for Hughes Network Systems, who cites Wal-Mart use of backup satellite system during Katrina to keep its stores operational.
Marc LeGare, CEO of PCI, which delivers IP-based communications in austere environments in the United States and around the globe, says businesses are seeing a real value in the dual use aspects of the emergency communication networks such as the company’s Spartan system, which can provides restoration communications to small businesses as well as emergency services for first responders. Regional medical centers throughout the Gulf of Mexico have needs for Voice Over IP communications and instant data access, while the alternative emergency communications network also can deliver communications for crews cleaning up oil spills. This can be self-supporting for the emergency agencies and profitable for private use. The network architecture will be multi-layer, interoperable and in an on-the-move-broadband status. “Building on the fly is always difficult, but it makes a lot more sense to have an always-on mode which is populated with people who have various needs,” he says.
Michael Gros, vice president of network operations for Broadpoint, says, “The biggest killer to an alternative use of the emergency networks is the affordability of the standby spectrum, which remains quite thin. The demand is high and availability still remains low. Still, latency remains a technical concern when satellites are introduced into a GSM or CDMA network. Gros believes one way of overcoming the realities of physics is to know how to implement the satellite capabilities into different sectors of the network. “You can move the processing core to remote and then move time sensitive traffic via IP over the satellite link,” he says. The Harris County Texas sheriff’s Department of Emergency Communication uses Broadpoint’s Flexible Emergency Response system. The network uses small amounts of bandwidth when no emergency exist and shares its bandwidth with the county school districts.
A consortium of universities in Kentucky, funded by the Department of Homeland Security, has spent three years developing and testing rapidly deployable incident command systems for use in the first critical hours following an emergency. To ensure data and voice communications over the Internet regardless of the situation, each system comes equipped with radio, cellular and satellite technology — including Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) capability from Stratos Global. Mark Garland, a researcher with Murray State University’s Center for Telecommunications Systems Management, says, “Wherever cell towers are damaged or inoperable, even in metropolitan areas BGAN would be invaluable.”
Ian Canning, vice president of marketing and product development for Stratos, says, “Using dual-use emergency networks has really stepped up. Now we have technology which is affordable and deployable in small mobile packages for MSS and terminals are now easier to set up with out a need for skilled tuning.”
With today’s technology and the need for communications, cost for an alternative use should not be a constraint, says Myers. “With on-demand services, an enterprise can pay a nominal monthly fee to be live and in hot stand-by mode on the satellite network. Then, in the event of a simple network outage or even a large-scale disaster, the enterprise only pays for the satellite bandwidth they actually use at the time they need it. This insurance policy approach significantly lowers the budget barrier for an organization needing telecom risk mitigation.”
To help maximize the [return on investment] of a VSAT risk mitigation solution, enterprises also can use the satellite during normal operations for multicast and broadcast applications such as digital signage or business TV. In the event of a terrestrial failure, these applications are put on hold while more critical voice and data traffic takes over the VSAT link. Once terrestrial lines are restored, the voice and data traffic automatically switches back to the landline and the broadcast applications resume service.