Focus: Telecom

The market for set-top boxes (STB) that combine Internet Protocol (IP) and direct broadcast service functionality is growing, and Michael Arden, an analyst with ABI Research believes satellite pay-TV operators will increasingly seek these hybrid strategies. "Among the satellite operators, it is kind of a pioneering effort to use a hybrid network and use an...

Some 130 years after the British government claimed the island of Tristan da Cunha as part of its empire, the South Atlantic territory is being officially welcomed to the 21st century, too, thanks to Loral Skynet and Global Crossing. Deemed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the remotest inhabited island in the world,"...

There have been some significant events throughout the past few months in the direct-to-home (DTH) market in Europe. A number of pay-TV operators have launched high-definition (HD) services as they look for new ways to gain competitive advantages over cable and other digital alternatives in the pay-TV market. In most major markets, customers now also...

Systems By Greg Berlocher Since their inception, network management systems have made the metamorphic change from basic monitoring aids to feature-rich management tools. Built on powerful and robust computing platforms, today’s network management systems now can deliver a host of valuable services to corporations, carriers and governments, and the term management system no longer is...

In our June column, we reviewed the history and status of small satellites, generally considered to be those weighing less than 500 kilograms when fully fueled, from the commercial side. The other area in which small satellites will play a growing role is governmental civil and military use. Under the 500-kilogram umbrella, a few subcategories...

Several years ago, Datatel, a provider of information management solutions for colleges and universities in Fairfax, Va., created a satellite-enabled intranet for its workforce. Initially, the technology, which acts as a private computer network, was going to serve as a corporate communication tool by offering company updates and easy access to proprietary information ranging from...

Recently, during a flooding episode, a business owner was able to document the damage through video surveillance. The camera captured rising floodwaters destroying inventory, office furniture, files and proprietary information that crippled business operations. Today, surveillance equipment not only assists during times of crisis, but also can protect day-to-day operations. A broadband satellite-based, video-surveillance system...

When a corporation has multiple projects underway simultaneously, and those projects are spread out around the globe, having an advanced network in place that can disseminate a wide range of applications is paramount. But corporate executives face a challenge when it comes to choosing the right network platform to deliver secure, always-on connectivity to the...

Even though The Boeing Company decided to shut down its high-speed broadband communications offering, Connexion by Boeing, in August, the move may have been one of the company’s strongest. Closing departments, services or business plans is always challenging and rarely viewed as a positive in the eyes of the industry, but when revenue is slow...

An increasing number of organizations are discovering that the only way to guarantee their communication systems stay online during times of crisis is to employ satellite backup systems to their terrestrial networks, which can be knocked out by any number of natural or manmade events. For IT/Network managers, such threats are all too real. Experiencing...