By Nick Mitsis

Enterprise users of satellite-enabled services continue to show strong signs of revenue growth. In fact, this segment of the satellite business promises to be a profit driver in the near-to long-term future for both seller and buyer. Enterprise clients, long governed by engineering goals, has made the satellite service providers more focused on building solutions to satisfy their precise business needs. Today, those needs are being met.

Regardless of vertical market, enterprise users of satellite-enabled networking platforms are today, much more savvy than in years past. They know specifically what they want and have a greater understanding of what satellite can offer. And these facts remain true regardless of corporation size.

Such is the case of franchise home improvement chains. While the national home improvement stores seem to dominate the marketplace, a second tier of hardware chains exists, and the competition is at times more fierce among them than among the big guys. Do it Best Corp. is one of those smaller players, but garners a sizable market share. The company is a full-service, full-line, hardware and building materials buying cooperative whose global member stores that are all independently owned. By far, Do it Best Corp. provides its 4,200 member retailers with competitive up-front pricing and support programs to help them grow their business–including advertising, merchandising and store design programs. It appeared that in order for executives to remain one step ahead of the competition, they had to advance their network connectivity. With most of these applications being driven over the Internet–and with the constant interaction between the co-op stores and headquarters, a satellite network was established to offer secure, on-demand connectivity service.

The Do it Best Corp. members are located all across the country, with many not always served by terrestrial connectivity. Because of this challenge, store owners needing to securely transfer files such as inventory, pricing updates and other proprietary information were not always able to do so in a timely manner. Member retailers were transmitting much of this data over the Internet and dial-up simply was no longer efficient.

"It is important to have broadband access. The solution we were seeking needed to provide a seamless, secure transfer of information to and from all locations, including the most remote stores, as well as product maintenance sites," says Kay Williams vice president, information technology with Do It Best Corp.

Do it Best Corp. launched its satellite network in 2002, connecting 370 of its stores with each other and headquarters. Managed by Spacenet, the network is used in part for credit card processing yielding a response time of about four-to-six seconds versus the 40 seconds with a dial-up connection. It also provides the stores with Internet access, in- store music and communications with headquarters or others throughout the cooperative. In addition, the satellite network is tailored to every store’s need, offering a secure communications infrastructure.

"The integration was not a cookie-cutter operation," says Williams. "Given the uniqueness in needs and location, each store was catered to individually with the establishment of the network." Williams adds that Spacenet’s flexibility and customer service were added benefits in selecting a satellite partner. In fact, many end users continually stress that above all else, a long-term partnership is most important when looking to sign contracts.

In terms of savings, the satellite connection turned out to be a significant factor for Do it Best. "One of our largest stores has been saving about $80,000 per year with the satellite network in place," adds Williams.

Like Do it Best, Schneider Electric’s North American division (Square D) also uses satellite for increasing its revenue. Best known for its Square D brand of electrical products, the Palatine, IL-based division oversees 160 locations. Its executives have committed to maintaining an open line of training and corporate communication for its operation to succeed in its business. That is where satellite comes in. Roughly 117 out of the 160 locations are currently linked with a satellite network and this information platform provides Square D with a competitive edge.

With employees dispersed throughout North America, making sure every sales region remains current on the latest offering is paramount to Square D’s success.

"Square D fits a classic model for business television [BTV]," says Mark Klocksin manager, business television for Square D. "Our satellite network has been in place since 1992. Linked to SES Americom’s AMC 3 spacecraft, this connectivity gives us the ability to disseminate information to everyone so they get the same information at the same time."

Square D had significant problems with the logistics of getting important training and corporate information out to its sales force before satellite technology was introduced into the communication network, Klocksin says. "Satellite can do for us in a few hours what would otherwise take months," he adds.

The company is on the air about 110 hours a year, split evenly between training seminars and executive communications. According to Klocksin, the real justification for the implementation of a satellite network is recognized in the speed of the delivery. He adds that company analysis of the network showed that the payback of the initial investment was very rapid in terms of the original installation of the satellite system. "We do 18-20 broadcasts a year and the satellite network is pretty much ingrained into the culture of the company now," says Klocksin. "We survey every broadcast and try to address that input through modifications on our next broadcast. Everyone is involved in making the system better."

In the future, Square D is looking for a Voice Over IP (VoIP) solution via satellite. "A satellite solution with local storage would ease the problem of bandwidth on our WAN," says Klocksin. "That is where we need to move to. We have been very good at maximizing our initial investment."

But for organizations whose business plan revolves around continual content dissemination, a satellite-enabled network is paramount for success. Such is the case with Reuters Inc. Reuters’ business relies on disseminating tailored information to global financial and media services. Without a seamless communication network, Reuters would have no business. Around 200 global news bureaus supported by more than 2,300 editorial staffers, journalists, photographers and camera operators send content back to its U.K. headquarters where, in turn, roughly 450 broadcast customers around the world receive tailored news and information from Reuters.

But the business of news has changed throughout the years and Reuters has remained in-step with those changes. What may at one time had been considered a daily wire service is today a multimedia clearinghouse of text, graphics, video and pictures.

For Reuters, not all of its 450 customers have the same needs. Given this fact, Reuters has to tailor the frequency and the content delivered to each of its broadcasting clients.

"Reuters collects more than 2,000 hours of content a year and we cannot simply send all that content to everyone," says Tony Donovan, managing director, Television

Reuters. "We needed an always-on distribution environment that could help us catalog, encrypt and seamlessly disseminate the right news to each broadcaster without wasting our time or the client’s by flooding them with content they would never use."

Even though the communications network at Reuters is inherently a hybrid system, Donovan quickly points out that the satellite component is the company’s "arteries and veins." In its North American operations, Mainstream Data distributes Reuters’ digital photos and real-time news to broadcasters, newspapers, Web portals and other media points through an integrated wireless, Internet and satellite platform. The satellite evolution for Reuters, however, was to find new ways in which to ease the sorting of the content by its clients and to increase its own information collection business segment. That is where attention focused on satellite.

"One of the enhancements satellite brought us was the ability to watermark our content so we can track what is being used and by whom," says Donovan. "Today, we have great data at our fingertips and know what types of news events are most in demand, thereby enabling us to collect the most pertinent news. In addition, satellite cache services have given our clients the ability to download, edit and record only the content they need from what they receive. We could not operate without satellite connectivity."

Like Reuters, CitiGroup also relies on a robust, always-on network connection. But this financial services company found itself enveloped in a business challenge when the corporation brought together banking, insurance and investment entities under one corporation. With such a diverse array of products and a mammoth workforce employing 260,000 individuals who, together on average, manage roughly 200 million customer accounts across six continents in more than 100 countries, the top executives soon realized that seamless training and communications was going to become a necessity. But solving that issue in the most economically viable way was indeed proving to be a challenge. That is when satellite technology helped CitiGroup increase its corporate presence.

Like Rome, this infrastructure upgrade was not built in a day. CitiGroup decided to start with its Smith Barney investment group and Antonio Raimundo senior vice president, digital media technology, was tasked with this challenge. Once successful, other divisions would join in. According to Raimundo, upgrading the terrestrial network was not a viable option. "We need live multicast and video-on-demand. To upgrade terrestrially in order to gain the necessary bandwidth, it would have cost us in excess of $3-$8 million," he says.

Prior to the upgrade, both price and time taken away from the business day were astronomical limitations when it came to training. Utilizing Hughes Network Systems’ Direcway Broadband Via Satellite services, CitiGroup wanted to find a way to enhance the current offering that was no longer providing what was needed. "We were holding eight one-hour training sessions a week during prime business hours [10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.] at a cost of $500/hr for occasional satellite use," he adds. "This was inconvenient for our brokers who needed to be in the field during those hours and becoming quite expensive for us."

Raimundo adds that the more sites added, the cheaper this network becomes. "We upgraded from occasional use of satellite time to continual use."

In the future CitiGroup is looking to expand its satellite service throughout its entire branch offices and divisions. Once complete, a seamless network infrastructure will be in place tied to the corporate office in New York, reaching Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

The Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), faced a similar network connectivity need. The GDLN is a worldwide partnership of public, private and non-governmental organizations enabling knowledge sharing, dialogue training and consultations on development topics to the developing world. Formed in June 2000 out of the World Bank Learning Network, GDLN began with 11 centers. Within a year, GDLN had grown to 28 centers with two-way videoconferencing capabilities and Internet access. Today, GDLN counts more than 60 centers around the world with 15 of them connected via satellite, and more than 30,000 people participating in GDLN events every year.

In its infancy, the GDLN spread its information by going through the World Bank’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and linking to the centers by relying on the Bank’s existing communications network. It became clear that a larger network was necessary to meet the growing demand for connecting new centers where terrestrial did not exist. That is when satellite took a leading role in the process.

"Distance learning is always a challenge in the developing world because there are frequent connectivity problems," says

Sonia Schmitt, technology education specialist with the GDLN. "But we still needed to connect leaders of the developed world with the developing."

But the GDLN was not looking to connect all 60 sites with satellite. At the time, 15 centers needed a communications infrastructure bridging them to the GDLN.

Through the centers, GDLN beamed an average of five to 10 learning programs across the globe each day. Likewise, these centers have facilities for videoconferencing, Web-based learning, and face-to-face interaction. Activities do not need to be delivered in a concentrated period of time because people can continue working even as they participate in events. This gives them the flexibility to read background materials; prepare real assignments related to their actual work; and interact with local peers for an enhanced learning experience.

"The satellite-based centers received a $7,000 monthly stipend during our FY04 to assist them with the satellite connection costs," says Schmitt. The centers, however, have to pay for the equipment cost and maintenance that tends to run $1,500 and $2,000 per site per month. "Now, we are able to offer customized just-in-time training and provide local centers with satellite connectivity that in many countries is the only type of network linking them to the Internet and the rest of the world," adds Schmitt.

Obviously, one of the major buying points for satellite services is connecting remote locations. Satellite industry professionals are also providing customers with the ability to generate additional revenue throughout the use of satellite for connecting remote locations, and nothing is more remote than a vessel out at sea.

Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN) provides Carnival Cruise Lines’ shipboard satellite communications. MTN’s proprietary ShipNet product, short for Satellite high-speed IP network, can move TCP/IP data between ships and shore at speeds of up to 2.227 Mbs. Better yet, Carnival ships on ShipNet are integrated seamlessly into the company’s shoreside LAN, through Cisco routers installed onto the network.

Functionally, Carnival’s liners are as connected to the corporate LAN as an Carnival shoreside office. "The satellite coverage we get from MTN is global so even on transoceanic cruises, our ships are always in contact," says Doug Eney, vice president for information systems engineering at Carnival Cruise Lines. "Fleetwide, we have an ‘up-time’ of more than 98 percent all year round so our guests are always able to phone or e-mail their families, friends or business associates."

In addition, this satellite network is key to Carnival’s new "teleradio- logy" medical service. Doctors onboard can transmit X-rays, electrocardiogram images and other patient data to shoreside doctors. Once received, the land and ship-based medical staff can converse via satellite in real-time; both to analyze the patient’s condition and to jointly decide which treatment to administer.

But corporations are not the only clients for satellite service providers to solicit when it comes to enterprise networks. Government agencies are in as much need for connectivity as any Fortune 500 conglomerate. The American Red Cross responds to a disaster every eight minutes, around the clock, 365 days a year. This quick response is due in great part to satellite technology. In addition, each year the Red Cross trains more than 12 million people in lifesaving skills.

"The American Red Cross has been using satellite technology for years starting with Inmarsat A, C and M units, American Mobile Satellite mobile units, Iridium, Globalstar and now VSAT systems," says Gary Gilham, manager, mobile communications and automated systems for the government agency.

One of its newest communication tools is the Linx. Based on the Ford Excursion SUV, the nine trucks were donated to the Red Cross by Ford Motor Co. The Red Cross then spent $250,000 each equipping these emergency response vehicles with phone and radio operation systems, digital satellite TV and live video transmission capabilities.

According to Gilham, one of the benefits the satellite-enabled Linx offers is that, "It does not rely upon local infrastructure, and even with a large-scale telephone system outage it allows unit-to-unit communications." Another benefit is efficiency. "The major purpose of using satellite technology for disaster response is for speed in providing service to the disaster clients that need assistance," he says.

Besides providing communication services in situations where conventional phone and cell phone calls do not always work, satellite technology affords beneficial cost savings to the Red Cross. "There will be long-distance savings and savings on local line installation charges that we would have paid if we used land lines," says Gilham.

The benefits of having a satellite-enabled IT network for any company are indeed being more understood today than ever before. Because of that, satellite services providers will have to increase their offerings in an effort to further garner increased revenue through pursing business within the enterprise arena.

Nick Mitsis is the editor of Via Satellite magazine. He also sits on the board of SSPI’s Mid-Atlantic chapter.