MULTIMEDIA IN THE SKY: SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY HELPING THE INTERNET FLY

by Peter Brown

Satellites and multimedia are coming together in a very compelling fashion. The explosive demand for multimedia-based content-both in the public and private sectors-is having an impact on satellite companies. Some would go as far to say multimedia is reshaping the market for satellite-related products and services for both consumer and corporate applications. Existing satellite service providers are actively seeking new Internet-based markets and trying to determine how to best capitalize on the growing demand for Internet Protocol (IP)-based content. DBS companies, for their part, are pushing enhanced and interactive services in an attempt to woo customers.

Will all of them succeed? While that remains to be seen, this trend demonstrates the wide range of exciting IP-related possibilities in the satellite arena.

What Is Multimedia?

The term "multimedia" as it applies to this article is fairly straightforward. "Multimedia is the integration of text, graphics, animation, audio and video in a single interactive computer-based environment," says Gordon G. Miller III, former director of multimedia at Virginia Tech and president and CEO of G3 Systems Inc. in Blacksburg, VA. He labels any attempt to broaden the definition of multimedia as erroneous.

Three current trends dominate the multimedia world today, according to Miller. Internet-based multimedia content is slowly achieving an equal status with, although not quite displacing, prepackaged content such as DVDs and CD-ROMs. Aside from increased Web-based distribution of multimedia, Miller sees the emergence of database technology as another major factor shaping the multimedia world.

Having the ability to devise new satellite-delivered, multimedia-based training models, for example, is allowing G3 Systems to pursue a number of innovative alternatives for one of its larger clients, the U.S. Army. G3 Systems is contributing to the development of what is referred to as a systems architecture for a "Shareable Courseware Object," which will be able to flow over a 256 kbps satellite link. The goal is to greatly increase the effectiveness and the manageability of training-related multimedia content for the Army, as well as other branches of the U.S. military.

Miller believes satellites might represent better end-to-end solutions, and he characterizes Microsoft’s investment in the $9 billion Teledesic project as evidence of that fact, too. However, as more emphasis is placed on interactivity, this, in turn, is increasing the challenge faced by satellite service providers and hardware vendors.

Finally, Miller also sees a growing shift in multimedia content distribution away from the much-publicized procedure involving "push" content delivery strategies, to a highly synchronized process of flowing multimedia directly into a storage device or cache. This creates the effect or achieves a virtual simulation of real-time access, but with the focus shifting to the end-user, who may "pull" the content to his or her desktop or display on demand.

Eyeing 27 Million Dish-Equipped Households

Candace Johnson, founder and CEO of Europe Online, has been in the satellite business for a very long time. Her list of accomplishments include a leadership role, both in the creation of SES Astra in 1981 and in the creation of Teleport Europe-now Loral Orion Europe-in 1990, which emerged as Europe’s first private sector satellite venture. She served as an executive with Iridium from 1994 to 1996 as well.

Now her latest venture, Europe Online, has its eye on the Internet and the 27 million dish-equipped households that are found throughout Europe in a broad belt stretching east as far as the Ural Mountains. Europe Online offers multimedia caching and streaming services, and is headquartered in the Media Center in Betzdorf, Luxembourg, where one also finds the offices of SES Multimedia. And just 50 meters down the street is the château that serves as SES Astra’s headquarters. So, when Europe Online announced in May that it was taking two full transponders on Astra 1G, it seemed quite logical.

"Our goal from the beginning has been to bring freedom of choice to European citizens. It started with TV and radio, but today it has expanded to mean the Internet as well," Johnson says. "This is opening up a whole new world."

In Eastern Europe, for example, the opportunities are wide open. TV stations that could not previously afford a full Astra transponder are finding ways to fund the $180,000 to $360,000 that Johnson ballparks as the cost to stream their content at between 300 kbps and 600 kbps via Europe Online for a full year.

Europe Online is caching at every single part of the network, according to Johnson. In order to maintain the most efficient multicast stream, Europe Online is not multiplexing, while at the same time aggregating IP content at the Astra uplink in Betzdorf.

"We are offering full pull capabilities at up to 8 Mbps at the downlink. Why are we not multiplexing? It simply takes up too much overhead. With the vast improvement in throughput that results, we find ourselves running 34 Mbps through a 34 MHz transponder," Johnsons says.

Europe Online has tapped Inktomi and Sun Microsystems for its caching platforms, among other providers. According to Johnson, the lengthy list of satellite PCI card and set-top box vendors for Europe Online includes Harmonic Data Systems, Philips, Telemann, Nokia, Technisat, Broadlogic, Technotrend, Media Star, Sagem, Kathrein, Grundig, Lemon and Radix. Prices for either the PC cards or set-top boxes are in the range of 200 and 350 Euros-at presstime this converts into only $209 to $366.

"We estimate that 200,000 subscribers will sign up in the first year, and we have hundreds of ISPs wishing to offer this service. These end-users can receive all of the Astra digital television and radio content as well," Johnson says. "We have an option for more transponders. We also have as much terrestrial Internet backbone available through KPNQwest as satellite capacity. We are speaking with other backbone providers, too. We have done this in order to ensure a good Internet pull service for end users, in addition to offering broadband streaming video and audio, as well as file transfers at up to 8 Mbps."

Ten-TV: A Simple Solution VIA Satellite

When considering multimedia over satellite with a strong emphasis on multicasting, it is important to step back and take a good look at one satellite-based enterprise that locked onto a solid bread-and-butter solution for content distribution in 1992-straight multiple-channel digital satellite broadcasts on separate channels-and is now adopting a more flexible approach.

"In 1998, we did no Webcasting to speak of, and this year, the trend here has been toward both digital satellite and Internet-based distribution of video content," says Bruce Hanson, president and CEO of Ardsley, New York-based Technology Education Network Inc. (TEN-TV). "We are technology-agnostic. When it comes to choosing the right tools to deliver content, we want to use the best of breed."

When TEN-TV does any Webcasting, it eliminates the terrestrial links and skips over the Web entirely to deliver the video. TEN-TV’s signal is replicated via its satellite network to so-called collocation facilities around the world. These facilities are similar to cable headends, but instead of using hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) as its last-mile solution, TEN-TV uses the Internet to stream the video, according to Hanson, thus eliminating or bypassing the congestion that often clogs the Internet.

TEN-TV has 600 downlink sites in the United States and between 35 and 40 downlink sites in Europe, according to Hanson. With a client list that instantly raises eyebrows on the IT circuit, TEN-TV recently added CompUSA Inc., which has 211 CompUSA Computer Superstores nationwide, featuring on-site classrooms. Microsoft, IBM, Lotus, Cisco Systems, Bay Networks and Compaq Computer Corp. are already on TEN-TV’s list of top 10 customers.

Since 1997, TEN-TV’s mix of special presentations and educational and training programs have been beamed at 3.3 Mbps all across North America using a satellite feed on SBS 6 reaching Digitalxpress terminals. In Europe, TEN-TV uses Intelsat K to access its growing customer base via Williams Global Access Services’ facilities in London, which have been rolling out Powervu and Powervu IP-based networks from Scientific-Atlanta. This transatlantic traffic flow is two-way, according to Hanson, who points out that many of the Lotus broadcasts on TEN-TV originate in Europe.

"We use satellite to our advantage, replicating the video in by using satellite receivers. It results in a dramatic improvement in performance over the Internet. Otherwise, there are simply too many bandwidth constraints and too many hops. Nothing we do over satellite is videoconference quality. It is all studio based with professionally produced lighting and sound," Hanson says. "With a satellite feed, the video can be split off easily to a projection TV or multiple TV monitors.

"Webcasting sounds great, but you really need to understand bandwidth. For example, one person on a dial-up connection will have dramatically better performance than, say, 15 people on a single T1," Hanson adds. "That essential degree of quality or watchability drops down dramatically when anything beyond a mere handful of viewers is involved on a single connection. However, it is never quite that simplistic."

TEN-TV itself will account for roughly 40 percent of the 406 hours of the network’s programming this year, according to the company, with programs such as "TEN Tech Live." That may not seem like much, but it breaks down to more than 30 hours per month, and it includes live coverage of Comdex each year. High-tech events in Europe, along with a selection including content from the Gartnergroup, IBM PC Institute, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Nortel Networks, are on TEN-TV’s programming menu as well.

"Our set-top box approach, where the customer never even moves the dish nor turns off the receiver, may sound almost too simple and too easy in this day and age," Hanson says. "But there are still many customers without multimedia PCs or who are unable to install plug-ins and streaming video for one reason or another. We never have to worry about latency, and in terms of a video-rich experience, nothing can beat satellite."

Abovenet Communications: Doing Deals In The Sky

What do Panamsat, Loral Orion, Ibeam Broadcasting and ATC Teleports all have in common? Besides the fact that these are forward-thinking companies with a strong interest in shaping the future of satellite communications, each has struck a deal recently with Abovenet Communications, which was created in 1996 in San Jose, CA. And each agreement or alliance represents another chapter in the ongoing tale of how companies are effectively meshing together their point-to-multipoint, satellite-based agendas with Internet service providers on the ground.

According to Michael Brookins, Abovenet’s manager of systems engineering, Abovenet is a solid, ultra-reliable, Internet-based facility on the ground with incredible redundancy. Congestion goes away entirely thanks to Abovenet’s way of addressing the needs of large and fast-growing Internet-centric businesses. Not only is service maintained at the highest possible level, according to Brookins, but he describes Abovenet as a "Switzerland of the Internet," which carefully avoids competing with its customers and partners as well.

"We deploy a clean network via Ethernet, while bringing as many content providers and ISPs together as possible on the same floor," Brookins says. "We will peer with anybody. We want to be connected to as many places as we can in order to provide both our customers, and their customers in turn, with the best possible experience on the Internet."

Abovenet is the creator of the Internet Service Exchange, or ISX, concept that includes more than 10 Gbps of global capacity and is a critical component in Abovenet’s "Global One-Hop Network."

"ISX is all about putting Abovenet and the content providers on the same LAN, although in this instance, our LAN extends out to users on a global basis," Brookins says. "A good deal of the infrastructure in many countries is quite old and limited in capacity. In addition, as far as undersea cables are concerned, there is much more trans-Atlantic fiber capacity than trans-Pacific fiber capacity. This stems from the fact that, among other things, Asian countries are less likely to work together, thereby necessitating arrangements with each country."

Abovenet co-founder and chief technology officer Dave Rand is the inventor of Multi-Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG), which allows network operators to see exactly how much bandwidth they are using. It also enables operators to plot the history of a circuit to identify more precisely all the inherent usage trends on that circuit. Abovenet’s expertise in this area of Internet performance has manifested itself in Abovenet’s policy of providing 100 percent headroom. In other words, any aggregated traffic on an Abovenet line can burst to double its baseline flow in an instant without disrupting the network as a whole.

One look at a map of Abovenet’s facilities tells the story. The company deliberately places its enormous clusters of Cisco systems 12000-series routers and other high-performance internetworking gear close to the critical exchanges or intersections on the Internet, such as San Jose, CA, and Tysons Corner, VA, for example. These two locations are where Metropolitan Area Exchange-West (MAE-West) and MAE-East are located. Abovenet also connects to Uunet in eight different locations, for example. Abovenet is taking the ISX concept to Europe, too, by leasing space from Telehouse in New York City and London for a transatlantic service that will tie into new, jointly run Abovenet facilties in Frankfurt, London and Vienna.

The satellite service providers mentioned above enter into Abovenet’s equation in vastly different ways. The one-hop world of Abovenet is ideally addressed by satellite-based services in general. For Loral Orion-which is busy serving a growing list of clients in Eastern Europe and Asia with a wide range of satellite-based multicast services, for example-Abovenet offers a very attractive networking option.

All of Loral Orion’s clients have a vital stake in accessing the most reliable Internet backbone service possible in the United States. Abovenet already handles 40 percent to 50 percent of total Asian traffic arriving in the United States at its ISX in San Jose, involving 22 of the largest Asian-based ISPs, according to Brookins.

By placing its servers in Abovenet’s ISXs on the East and West coasts, Loral Orion is better able to feed its Internet traffic directly into the U.S. backbone. Brookins emphasizes the presence of seven different telco facility providers, which together bring 25 Gbps of capacity directly to the floor of the Abovenet ISX in San Jose.

While Abovenet’s link to Loral Orion is based on an agreement, the announcement in March between Abovenet and Ibeam about a strategic alliance is nothing less than a major matchup in the streaming media world. Given recent investments in Ibeam by companies such as Intel and Liberty Media, this tie with Abovenet is significant because content providers can now blend together the network performance advantages of Abovenet’s ISX infrastructure and Global One-Hop Network with the Ibeam Maxcaster on-site server solution.

ATC Teleports signed on with Abovenet in May, and now has an interconnection with Abovenet’s ISX in Tyson’s Corner, VA. Coordinating Internet traffic so it passes through a teleport that taps into an Abovenet ISX is a great way to ensure that customers are receiving the best treatment possible. ATC Teleports also has facilties in New York City and Dallas, where it ties into other major Internet exchange points such as 60 Hudson Street and MAE Dallas.

"We are giving everybody a better feel for the Internet. We see all of our satellite-related agreements and partnerships as joint business relationships where we all benefit. These extend the reach of our customers, while Panamsat, Loral Orion, Ibeam and ATC Teleports are able to deploy Internet services, with the assurance of knowing that Abovenet offers the highest level of reliability for their customers in the most cost-efficient manner possible," Brookins says.

EDN: Interactive Terminals Are Here

Atlanta-based Echostar Data Networks (EDN)-formerly Media4-is in the process of rapidly growing its work force, and it is moving into a new 27,000-square-foot facility, according to David Schmitt, marketing manager for data services at EDN.

While EDN’s parent company, Colorado-based Echostar Communications Corp., is focused upon taking the Internet to the consumer in a number of ways via a new line of DVB-compliant products such as the Dishplayer, EDN is focused upon enterprise solutions.

News of EDN’s expansion comes at the same time Intelsat is "proof of concept" testing four of EDN’s two-way satellite terminals that have been designated by Intelsat as the Interactive Multimedia Service System (IMSS). IMSS is derived from work at EDN on the so-called ICE, or Internet Commerce Engine, technology.

"We have already deployed Ice Box products for video-on-demand applications in Europe, and we will be using them to support private IP video applications for Dish Network customers in the United States," Schmitt says.

Echostar and EDN are taking full advantage of the demand for Internet-based services, and together they are finding numerous enterprise and consumer applications. With Echostar’s Dish Network DBS service, for example, subscribers may now access a growing list of interactive services that seem to support the notion that Echostar has a few more surprises up its sleeve as far as the Internet world is concerned. Echostar’s set-top box-based Dishplayer, for example, taps into WebTV.

At the same time, EDN and Swedish Internet/telecom powerhouse Telia, have undertaken a joint pilot program to explore satellite platforms with push applications, among other things.

"We’re at the forefront of the rapidly emerging markets for streaming satellite services," Schmitt says. "With our powerful combination of technology and DBS bandwidth, we’re going to make a big impact."

And The List Goes On

Any attempt to provide an exhaustive list of satellite companies involved in the multimedia market is doomed from the start because of the shear volume of participants. The above companies represent just a small sampling of the many ways in which multimedia and satellites have been wed successfully, and more importantly, profitably. Many more business plans are on the discussion table even now, and industry observers have only to wait for whole new methods and markets to emerge.

Peter Brown has been tracking the satellite and DTH sectors in the United States and Canada as a freelance writer since the mid-1980s. He lives on Mount Desert Island, ME.