By Peter Brown

Well-established VSAT hardware vendors, satellite operators and other satellite solution providers are starting to roll out a long list of new satellite-based Internet access platforms and services this year. It constitutes a wakeup call for a whole new group of potential customers, ranging from consumers and SOHO’s (small office/home office) to LAN/WAN-intensive corporate networks.

Satellite broadband ventures are extending the penetration of the IP footprint in innovative ways. They have names like Gilat-To-Home, Streampipe.com–both are VA-based–and Chello Broadband NV in Amsterdam which, among other things, is tapping Loral Cyberstar in order to provide direct-to-home (DTH) satellite-based and microwave multipoint distribution system (MMDS)-based Internet access services to customers of Austar United Communications Ltd. in Australia. But they need new tools in terms of both hardware and software. Fortunately, there is a lot from which to choose.

As these new satellite-based product offerings emerge, there is always the question of what it takes to launch a real moneymaker. Here, we touch base with a well-known group of companies that have shown remarkable dexterity in the past. These companies have substantial technical resources and staying power. They engage in forward-looking activity on a routine basis in a fast-paced global marketplace.

Two-Ways Get Ready To Fly

By the time this article arrives in your mailbox, Gilat-To-Home (GTH) will be well into an extensive field trial. This calls for approximately 5,000 or more two-way, triple- LNB-equipped VSATs to be installed at the homes of employees of Gilat Satellite Network Ltd., Microsoft Corp., Echostar Communications Corp. and ING Furman Selz, which are the four partners in the GTH project.

Derived from Gilat’s Skyblaster technology, the timetable now calls for GTH to initiate its two-way Ku-band commercial service in the final quarter of 2000.

“First to market is the name of the game. This technology works. We have it installed in 8,000 corporate sites today,” says Diane VanBeber, GTH’s acting vice president of marketing. “The product today is focused on two-way, satellite-based Internet access and down the line could play in the television-Internet convergence environment.”

While the ultimate goal is to reach out to major consumer electronics hardware vendors and mass produce a set-top appliance with a USB port, the trial revolves around specially configured PCs which have dual PCI boards inserted in advance.

On the ground, the pace is brisk at the fully redundant GTH primary uplink facility in Marietta, GA, at what was once an AT&T Tridom uplink. According to a GTH spokesperson, Atlanta-based Datapath Inc. is serving as the integrator, while the earth station component vendors for this project include VertexRSI, which is supplying a 9.3 meter Ku-band antenna; CPI, which is providing high-power amplifiers; and Miteq, which supplies the up- and downconverters. For redundancy, besides automatic switching, a spare antenna is deployed with a full arch view that backs up all other antennas at this facility.

The terrestrial connection to the Internet is provided by MCI/UUNet. UUNet is accessed in this instance by MCI’s OC-12 Sonet services into Marietta.

“We are providing always-on Internet services to the home, and we are maximizing the broadcast and multicast dimension of satellite in the process,” says VanBeber.

She describes one of the many objectives of the field trial as the attempt to better understand all the fine points with respect to the user’s expectations, and how this impacts upload management in peak hours. Although VanBeber indicated that GTH holds an eight transponder option on GE 4 with a projected capacity of 20,000 customers per transponder, during a conference call in early May, Gilat CEO Yoel Gat discussed the possibility that 20 to 25 transponders would be necessary by early 2002.

VanBeber describes the GTH service menu as targeting three basic classes of service, including the SOHO and telecommuter, the multi-PC LAN-based home networking environment and finally, a single PC-type unicast subscriber.

The back office/customer support elements are critical. GTH is tapping Echostar’s Dish Network support infrastructure along with the additional capabilities of Microsoft Networks, and SAP, with Seibel handling the help desk customer relationship management solution.

“We are there doing it today. With Microsoft and Echostar as supporting cast members, along with Radio Shack, we have created a dream team of companies with a broad consumer experience,” VanBeber says.

Moving The Internet Closer To The End User

With its acquisition of Livermore, CA-based Intellicom Inc. in early 1999, Softnet Systems Corp. instantly tapped into a sophisticated VSAT-based transparent caching solution at a time when the demand for Internet Protocol (IP) services is on a steep upward curve. Among other things, Intellicom’s products dovetail neatly with both the Internet industry’s need for improved network performance and reliability, as well as with Softnet’s broad emphasis on the ISP channel that is designed for cable TV operators.

Intellicom reports that it is currently shipping 20 primarily two-way VSAT systems per week into Latin America.

“In the North American telecom arena, opportunity exists for those on the other side of the digital divide and for electric co-ops seeking optimal Internet distribution channels,” says Brian Geraty, Intellicom’s vice president of engineering.

Geraty says that Intellicom has been deploying two-way IP satellite connectivity since 1995 with its T1 Plus and Edge Connector products. Intellicom’s Edge Connector is a Unix- based caching platform, while Intellicom’s T1 Plus offers an E1 or 2 Mbps broadcast capability, along with an uplink data rate in the range of 32 to 256 kbps for U.S. customers. Outside the United States, the two-way platform is deployed with a 512 kbps return channel.

“Intellicom caching can operate in a standalone mode or in a two-way satellite operating environment. We provide network edge services such as mirroring–also known as reverse proxy caching–and domain name services, or DNS, which entails the translation of a host name to an IP number. All of these services move the Internet closer to the end-user,” says Geraty. “Our Edge Connector is a full-service Unix-based Internet server with integrated caching that operates in a transparent mode.

“We began pushing network edge caching long before it came into widespread use,” Geraty adds. He says that rapid deployment is one of Intellicom’s distinct advantages. “We can install the VSAT platform quickly, and have it all up and running in 30 days. In addition, we are not using TCP/IP, so we can run at the same rate as the physical layer by using a set of proprietary applications and interfaces,” Geraty says. “Our experience in the protocol layer has always been our primary advantage.”

Geraty says that Intellicom uses a forced caching model with Inktomi, and that in low-volume settings, a Squid-based solution is deployed.

“With both transparent or forced caching, which involve protocol interception where HTTP and NNTP packets are redirected to the local cache network, the end-user really has no idea what is going on. Everything in the HTTP protocols is forced into the caching network, and the end user does not have to set a browser setting to the proxy,” Geraty says.

One of the objectives is to eliminate redundant data in the network, and by engaging in regional user profiling, Intellicom can accomplish this task. Geraty says that the caching of multimedia objects is proceeding quickly at Intellicom, and that plans call for the commercial deployment of a service based upon the multicasting of pushed objects.

Intellicom’s teleport in Livermore taps Satmex 5 as well as GE Americom satellites. Geraty says that additional Intellicom teleports on the East Coast as well as in Asia are in the early development phase.

The DVB Return Channel System Emerges

Peter MacAvock, executive director of the DVB Project Office at the Geneva-based Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Systems reports that the new standard, known as the DVB Return Channel Satellite (DVB-RCS), is now in draft form as “EN 301790” at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

“Once DVB finishes with a document, we pass it to ETSI, where they finalize the editing style of the document before proceeding with their approvals process. The document is in this editing phase,” says MacAvock. “However, the DVB bluebook specification is available from the project office to anyone who would like it.

“It was approved by the DVB on February 22, and it is available immediately from us,” MacAvock adds.

For Atlanta-based EMS Technologies Inc., the emergence of the DVB-RCS standard represents the culmination of a long and vital process.

“EMS Technologies has been involved from the beginning in defining this standard, which is designed as a two-way standard capable of supporting a large number of users,” says Peter Garland, Montreal-based vice president of broadband products, who describes DVB-RCS as an evolutionary path that can be applied to any regional satellite system or operator in the world. Outside the United States, he sees much more receptivity to an open standards approach in general.

“There is still much more that needs to be done before DVB-RCS takes hold in the marketplace. Look at DVB-S, for example. It was not fully accepted in North America until DVB-S was widely accepted and deployed worldwide,” Garland says.

He indicates that his company played a pivotal role in particular in the development of the scheduler for the media access control layer system, or MAC layer system, for DVB- RCS, which divides up bandwidth between terminals. In late June, EMS Technologies will deliver a hub with a DVB-RCS-based return link system to Luxembourg-based SES Astra to be used in conjunction with extensive field trials of SES Multimedia’s two-way Ku/Ka-band broadband Internet (BBI) services.

This is a significant component in what was formerly known as the Astra Return Channel System (ARCS). Garland says that the plan for this BBI-related system is to upgrade it in stages to a final fully functional, fully redundant hub early next year. This hub has been designed to easily support 100,000-plus users.

“The goal here, among other things, is a completely frequency-independent indoor unit (IDU) which features extremely efficient bandwidth assignment,” says Don Osborne, Montreal-based vice president and general manager of the space and technologies group at EMS Technologies. “We spent the last five years creating a potential model for this unique applications environment. This meant analyzing traffic profiles, looking at fractals, and sorting though protocols.”

Garland says that EMS Technologies succeeded in creating a seamless way of replicating a variation of quality of service (QoS), whereas the Internet currently offers no such QoS mechanism.

“Our suite of MAC protocols can assign bandwidth on the basis of both constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR), while allowing for the GEO induced delay,” Garland says. “We are focusing on a star configuration now, but once onboard processing is available, we will shift accordingly and offer peer-to-peer connectivity through a satellite.”

For now, you can bet that the availability of a 40 Mbps downlink, combined with return path speeds of 2 Mbps via BBI with no requirement for any terrestrial return path whatsoever, will generate lots of interest.

“Our top priority now is implementing a working system or solution that provides operators with a tool to launch a revenue-generating business,” Osborne says. “We manufacture hubs, and we see the trends in hub architecture. While we are creating a hub on the ground today for SES Astra, we also have been able to port it the other way. This entails taking the hub’s functionality and software and putting it up on the satellite.”

Beyond SES Astra’s BBI, which is using the Astra 1H satellite launched in mid-1999, EMS Technologies will supply advanced digital signal processors based on the DVB-RCS Spacemux for satellites such as Anik F2, which will fly in late 2001.

“SES Astra is a test bed for Anik F2 functionality,” Garland says. “As the price of terminals is forced down, everything will migrate more quickly from the business to business transactional realm over to the consumer. DVB-RCS is simply going to drive this process even faster.”

A New Generation Of Terminals

In order to draw new customers, you need compelling products. From the RF micro-electronics level on up to the satellite-based device or appliance in question, there are lots of interesting plays unfolding. Gordon Deans, vice president at Norsat Broadband Networks, which is a unit of British Columbia-based Norsat International Inc., reports big strides at his company in the development of broadband outdoor units (ODUs).

“The goal is achieving consumer price points. I can report that we have completed the design and pilot manufacturing of ODUs in the 0.5- to 2-watt range for both Ku-band and Ka-band, and they are solid. We are now seeing good manufacturing yields on these units,” Deans says. “This is important because in the last quarter the talk has turned from strategies and filings to ‘When can you deliver?’ We are getting numerous requests for volume price quotes,” he adds.

LG Information and Communications Ltd. has ordered 2,000 two-way, Ka-band ODUs from Norsat Broadband Networks with delivery scheduled to begin later this year. These systems will be deployed as part of a distance learning program using three Ka-band transponders aboard the Koreasat 3.

Norsat Broadband is also an ODU solution provider for the above-mentioned SES Astra BBI. Deans describes the DVB-RCS as a vital step forward.

“There is already a DVB standard for the outbound feed to the terminals. With DVB-RCS, the return air interface and data transmission protocol will be standardized,” Deans says.

With the acquisition of Winnipeg-based Spectraworks Inc. earlier this year, Norsat Broadband Networks is now positioned as an end-to-end solution provider, and not just an access provider or enabler, according to Deans. At NAB 2000 in Las Vegas, Norsat and Spectraworks not only demonstrated live IP broadcasts via satellite using two of Spectraworks’ hubs, they also displayed the Spectraworks billing and subscriber management tools.

“We track and manage data right down to the byte. When you combine these attractive administrative and managerial elements with our track record in Ka-band outdoor units, which dates back to the early 1990s, you begin to see how we are taking the necessary steps to build our leadership position,” Deans says.

At Atlanta-based Echostar Data Networks (formerly Media4), part of CO-based Echostar Communications Corp., the Dishlink 100 emerged in early April as a new desktop file delivery and streaming media solution that accesses capacity from the same fleet of satellites as Dish Network’s MPEG 2/DVB-based DBS service.

Jim Stratigos, vice president and general manager of Echostar Data Networks, indicates that although the Dishlink 100 has its roots in the Media4 Internet Commerce Engine, or ICE, the Dishlink is state-of-the-art, incorporating all of today’s advances in IP multicast, edge router and server technology. Affordability, with prices beginning at $1,000 per unit and $30 per month for service, is also emphasized.

“Dishlink is intended for the small to medium-sized enterprise. The 27 Mbps inbound performance ceiling on this system is constrained only by the physical or transport layer on the ground. Over a LAN, the user can use output either 10BaseT or 100BaseT Ethernet,” Stratigos says. “We have plenty of headroom and we can easily accommodate streaming media on the Dishlink 100VR at 30 frames per second in the 100 kbps to 1.5 Mbps range.”

Broadband content delivery, especially very large file delivery, is handled by Dishlink with the presence of security or a conditional access option via Nagrastar as another important feature. A 10 GB hard drive provides storage for packages that are accessible from a Web browser.

Stratigos points out that parent company Echostar Communications Corp. is casting a wide net now when it comes to pursuing broadband satellite solutions. Besides offering Dishlink, and the earlier Dishplayer–a hard drive-equipped consumer set-top device uniting Dish Network’s DBS programming with Microsoft Corp.’s WebTV service–Echostar has made investments in Gilat-To-Home and Isky, which is a Ka-band broadband solution scheduled to launch in late 2001.

Internet2 Via Satellite

Starting from Star Tap, the connection point for all Internet2 traffic in greater Chicago, the world’s first hybrid fiber satellite (HFS) Internet2, QoS-enabled link provided by Gilat Communications Ltd.extends all the way from the United States via Intelsat 801 to Israel where it connects to a dual ATM, OC-3-based (155 Mbps) Internet2 network which is maintained by the Israel Inter University Computation Center (IUCC) consortium.

LA-based Mentat has installed a SkyX XH45 Gateway at Star Tap for IUCC, according to DC Palter, Mentat’s vice president of sales and marketing. Mentat offers two 1RU Gateways– the SkyX XR10 and XR45– which are TCP replacement engines designed to overcome the adverse impacts on TCP/IP streams of high latency and asymmetric bandwidth in satellite-based transmissions.

ATC Teleports’ Holmdel, NJ teleport has been handling the Internet2 traffic for IUCC since July 1999. From there, a Level 3 protected DS-3 fiber link runs to Star Tap. Israsat, a Gilat subsidiary, is completing work on a Standard A 16-meter earth station in greater Chicago which should be up and running this summer. According to Hank Nussbacher, an Israeli network engineer and consultant to the IUCC, Israsat is currently having trouble shifting the link to the Chicago ground station.

The price of satellite transponder time is always an issue. “Since the prices of fiber have been cut in half since a year ago, we have to continuously evalute the economic case for satellite versus fiber,” says Nussbacher. “However, even on a fiber link from Israel to the United States, the delay is 200 ms and we would expect to see a boost from the SkyX Gateway.”

Data rates of 44 Mbps have been achieved on a link between Star Tap and the Giga-POP at Tel Aviv University which is overseen by the IUCC. According to Palter, absent the XH45, the Internet 2 throughput on the Intelsat 801 72 MHz transponder would probably drop from a routine level of 30 to 35 Mbps down to well under 1 Mbps, given the background mix of standard IP which rides along with the Internet2 traffic.

The status of any plans to expand this Internet 2 satellite pipe to 155 Mbps is unknown; however, a similiar high speed IP link is in use by Embratel in Brazil via ATC Teleports.

Palter welcomes the news that DVD-RCS is soon to become a reality.

“DVB-RCS works to everyone’s advantage in the sense that it drives volume sales. However, it does not really make a difference to us because it sits at the link layer,” says Palter

Palter says that many readers assume that data compression and header compression are the same thing.

“We do not do header compression, just data compression. Header compression is best done by hardware developers at the link layer to ensure that everything fits together in a single cell,” Palter says. “We do IP compression as an added benefit for the customer.”

Pops, DISHES AND A PR POWERHOUSE

At NAB 2000, two VA-based companies, Streampipe.com and ATC Teleports (ATC) announced they were launching a new service called Vistos. Weeks later in April, ATC made a non- exclusive investment in Streampipe.com, joined by PSINet Inc. and Young and Rubicam at the same time.

David Liddle, vice president of broadcast services and new media at ATC, says that both of these developments signal the formation of a complete streaming-centric multimedia solution. Vistos is an Internet broadcast delivery mechanism in the 28.8 kbps to 100 kbps range, and while this may appear to be in the range of relatively thin client-type applications, looks can be deceiving.

“Streampipe.com has developed proprietary encoding software that greatly enhances the quality of the stream,” Liddle says. “We have done comparisons against another company’s 300 kbps streams, and the Streampipe.com stream at 80 kbps blew it away.”

Liddle says that while the present encoding scheme involves IP over frame with Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies frame relay switches, “the plan is to migrate eventually to an ATM backbone network.”

Level 3 and Abovenet facilities are tapped in addition to 40 transponders. Available too are the 160 antennas which ATC has installed at its 10 domestic, and two overseas teleports. ATC has interconnected its facilities in New York, Texas and Washington, DC, with a 1.5 Gbps terrestrial link. Liddle says that this venture is quite unlike Panamsat’s Net 36 service, for example, although he does identify Teleglobe as a competitor.

Providing streaming media services to government agencies, advertising agencies, and Washington, DC-based associations and corporations is high up on the Streampipe.com priority list, according to Liddle, who indicates that this is changing the face of the broadcasting services industry.

“We are aggregating content, performing broadcast management functions, and delivering a full supplemental broadcast channel for Internet-based content on a streaming or push basis. And this just begins to describe our capabilities,” Liddle says. “With PSINet, we span 5 continents and access more than 900 POPs and more than two dozen Super-POPs. With Young and Rubicam, we get a PR and marketing powerhouse with annual billings well over $14 billion.”

Playing To Win

By virtue of its 81 percent stake in Greenwich, CT-based Panamsat Corp., and along with its two units, DirecTV Inc, in El Segundo, CA, and Germantown, MD-based Hughes Network Systems (HNS), CA-based Hughes Electronics has a powerful role to play in the rollout of new satellite-based services on all ends of the spectrum.

With the allocation of 24 Ku-band transponders to its new Net 36 satellite networking concept, on top of the 10 Ku-band transponders which will be used by HNS as part of its new AOL Plus via DirecPC service in the United States, Panamsat is showing no sign of slowing down. Net 36 follows close on the heels of Spotbytes, and demonstrates that Panamsat is intent on pursuing all facets of the value-added side of the market.

By moving to position its line of DirecTV consumer hardware, HNS is demonstrating a transformation from a top contender in corporate VSATs to a consumer electronics company. HNS is launching a two-way version of DirecPC later this year, and it can certainly leverage its own farflung DirecTV hardware distribution and installation network in order to rocket this two-way satellite solution for the consumer forward.

Now, HNS and GTH have all the resources at their disposal to heat up the U.S.-based, consumer-based satellite return channel market in a hurry. Look for both of them to go after the telecommuter and SOHO sectors with intensity.

The stage is set for a sizzling summer. Trucks are rolling, ships are sailing and all the indicators on the satellites are distinctly green.

As Via Satellite’s senior multimedia writer, Peter J. Brown tracks the global satellite industry’s multimedia and Internet applications. He lives on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

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