According to new research released by Northern Sky Research, the market for standards-based broadband satellite solutions has become somewhat more positive than in early 2003. The independent market research firm noted in its “DVB-RCS and DOCSIS: 2^nd Edition: Reassessing the Viability of Satellite Standards” that a range of DVB-RCS equipment is available today and standards-based compliance is increasingly a requisite in many RFPs distributed to the VSAT community. Northern Sky noted the increasing demand for DVB-RCS platforms lest Gilat and ViaSat to offer the standard as an option for their platforms and claims that DVB-RCS-based platforms are no longer a niche in the broadband satellite landscape.

Northern Sky Research “does see the long term benefit of a bi-directional satellite standard; that is lower cost through multiple vendors, interoperability and customer choice,” Christopher Baugh, firm president and report author said. “Standards will likely generate more widespread acceptance once costs are significantly reduced, large orders for standards-based equipment are placed, standards are able to improve bandwidth efficiency or a large player such as WildBlue builds a successful large-scale business based on a standards-based platform.” He said that at least two of these market developments may happen over the next 12-18 months, but if none occur, “the standards-based VSAT market will only post marginal gains for the foreseeable future.”