By Jason Bates

A word that can be seen and heard throughout the show floor is “optimization.” Network operators are looking to use their available bandwidth as efficiently as possible, and companies throughout the exhibit floor are more than happy to demonstrate their technologies for optimizing that bandwidth.

While a satellite is an impressive piece of technology, one of the weaknesses is that once it’s in orbit, it is difficult to upgrade the performance. So network improvements have to be performed on the ground, and the industry has responded with an impressive array of hardware and software enhancements in areas such protocol acceleration, data compression, security and quality of service, to name a few.

It’s the perfect meeting of need and technology, with the end results being increased revenues for all sides.