SATELLITE NETWORKS: Every Enterprise Needs One

Satellite and terrestrial networks are both viable alter natives for the
deployment of broadband services, but in the IP-based world of
telecommunications, it does not have to be an either/or decision. To achieve
maximum cost/performance metrics, many businesses and government entities use a
combination of technologies, especially when large numbers of remote sites are
involved. For organizations with national or regional communications needs to
many locations, satellite offers a universal service solution that performs
consistently virtually anywhere and can be deployed rapidly. For users that need
to distribute digital content or data files simultaneously to remote sites, IP
multicasting via satellite is considerably more cost-effective than adding
bandwidth to a traditional wide-area data network.

Organizations with mission-critical applications are also using broadband
satellite to back up local frame relay service connections to their national
networks. Satellite offers a backup solution that is truly diverse and typically
costs far less than redundant landline facilities. At the same time, users can
gain additional returns by leveraging the satellite service for applications
like content distribution and media streaming. As the leader in broadband
satellite, Hughes Network Systems designs, implements, and manages complementary
satellite solutions that will improve your operations.

Complement to terrestrial networks for easy remote access, business
continuity and content delivery. In the United States, deciding on a satellite
or a terrestrial solution for an enterprise communications requirement used to
involve complex analysis and tradeoffs. Generally, if an organization needed
ubiquitous service coverage, the same level of performance at all locations, and
the ability to deploy the network rapidly, then the decision weighed heavily in
favor of satellite. Performance issues such as sub-second transaction response
times, internal telephony services, or trunked data between a few major centers
favored landline technology.

Today, it’s not a matter of choosing between satellite and land-based
alternatives; rather, it’s thinking about how the two technologies can
complement each other. Network planning and design are undergoing a paradigm
shift. A decade ago corporate networking pioneers in retail, automotive,
hospitality and financial services began combining satellite and terrestrial
communications technologies to optimize performance and provide maximum return
on their communications investments.

Prices of Ku-band VSATs have dropped almost eight-fold, making satellite networks more affordable

This trend continues to accelerate dramatically. In fact, the number of
businesses using satellite as a component in communications networks increased
more than 500 percent from 1990 to 2000, according to COMSYS, a specialized
consultancy company centered on the satellite industry.

In large part the convergence of satellite and land-based technologies and
the associated paradigm shift in network planning are the result of widespread
adoption of the Internet Protocol (IP). This new foundation for transport of
digital information has created an unprecedented opportunity for communications
executives to think about "the network" versus yesterday’s attitude
of coping with multiple disparate networks–each with different business and
financial drivers and numerous protocols. At the same time, satellite costs have
declined dramatically. On-premise small terminals have declined in price by over
80 percent from their introduction in the mid-1980s. Meanwhile, transmission
capabilities have been enhanced, reliability has increased dramatically, and
integration with applications and landline connections is seamless.

"There’s no doubt about the importance of satellite in today’s
business communications world," said Christopher Baugh, President of
Northern Sky Research. "Increasingly, Fortune 1000 companies depend on
satellite to complement their landline broadband networks. These companies back
up mission-critical operations and applications with satellite services, as well
as deliver large data files and video through multicasting and streaming video
simultaneously to hundreds and even thousands of sites. With satellite, delivery
time and costs are cut to a fraction."

The number of IP-satellites sites is projected to increase about five-fold from 2002 to 2007

Some of the companies leveraging the benefits of satellite services today
include very familiar names: Wal-Mart, Kmart, A&P, Circuit City, Lowe’s,
GM, ED Jones, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Exxon/Mobil … the list goes on.

Satellite use is projected to increase even more dramatically during the next
few years. Northern Sky Research projects 1800 percent growth in the enterprise
satellite access market from 2002 to 2007.

IP World Transforms the Real World

To keep pace with rapidly expanding data communications requirements,
business and government organizations are shifting to broadband speeds,
integrated applications and IP transport. Yet this digital solution often
presents an entirely new group of problems. How is it possible to provide
high-speed access to all of a Fortune 1000 company’s locations in a
cost-effective, timely, reliable, and secure manner?

By incorporating satellite into the enterprise network, users gain the
additional advantages of easy remote access, inexpensive network backup for
business continuity, and the ability to offload bandwidth-intensive content from
the land-based service.

This complementary and secure network configuration allows an organization to
easily connect remote locations directly to its corporate LAN and to determine
which applications better utilize terrestrial services and which are more
effectively transmitted by satellite. The satellite component is an overlay that
seamlessly integrates with and complements the terrestrial IP network
infrastructure.

Dramatic cost and time-savings are also realized by multicasting and
streaming content via satellite rather than using existing unicast connections,
such as with frame relay. One large Fortune 500 company saved more than $6
million in just the first eight months of satellite multicasting and streaming
content, according to Baugh of Northern Sky Research.

The savings came from reducing travel time and costs and increasing the
productivity of employees who could now spend more time in the office and less
on the road. In the case of a circuit outage, important data about revenue and
inventory operations, can be maintained by automatically rerouting the traffic
to a satellite network backup.

Rapid Content Delivery Multicasting

For organizations that need to deliver the same data to a large number of
sites, IP multicasting makes it possible to upload information to all sites
simultaneously, rather than one at a time. It’s tailor-made for distributing
software upgrades, bug fixes, marketing information, training videos, and other
rich media files.

The benefits are substantial. Multicasting can substantially reduce the time
needed to upload files to stores or properties and alleviate bottlenecks created
by polling windows. Further, the congestion control inherent to multicasting
automatically adapts to bandwidth loads on the network. This allows multicast
sessions to dynamically allocate bandwidth without causing network congestion or
conflicts with other TCP traffic, according to Frost & Sullivan.

Although some Internet service providers offer multicasting services over
their terrestrial backbones, performance can be erratic. That’s because this
performance depends on the differing capabilities of multiple network operators
and even differing capabilities at points of presence on the same Internet
service provider backbone. With IP multicasting over satellite, on the other
hand, users get the same high quality delivery to every location on their
private network. Information reaches remote locations faster, more efficiently,
and more dependably.

The same principle applies to streaming. Streaming media over the Internet
can present problems with quality, including delays, jagged pictures and jerky
motion. Further, it places a heavy bandwidth demand on the user’s network. In
contrast, multicast streaming over satellite bypasses the Internet bottleneck so
that individual users receive the media stream directly over a separate
multicast channel. Content quality is not only smoother and clearer, but it’s
also delivered faster and with more consistent performance and reliability.

"Satellite is an indispensable corporate tool for content
delivery," says Baugh of Northern Sky Research. "It just makes sense:
a higher quality service that is quicker and more cost-effective. Why spend days
distributing video or large data files to hundreds of locations when you can
accomplish the same task in just a few hours for less expense? Satellite
multicasting and streaming video also allow the landline portion of a corporate
network to remain free for less bandwidth intensive functions."

Cost-Effective Network Redundancy

Satellite services also are being combined with terrestrial systems for
backup of mission-critical network applications and operations, such as revenue
and inventory systems. This configuration allows enterprises to reroute critical
information from their data centers to satellite systems. Thus, companies are no
longer totally dependent on landlines, which can fall prey to carrier equipment
failures, human error, and of course, damage to the fiber optic cable or other
transmission facilities themselves.

Satellite backup offers a more dependable, cost-effective, non-intrusive, and
truly diverse-path alternative that enhances business continuity. The enterprise
can create an end-to-end connection independent of wires, cables and fiber by
installing an antenna on the rooftop.

In case of a business location change or an emergency that causes damage to
the facility, it is relatively easy to set up the antenna at a different
location and resume network connectivity. In addition, satellite-based backup
can be more cost-effective than many terrestrial alternatives.

The impact of network outages on corporations cannot be overlooked. A study
from Infonetics Research3 revealed an average medium-size company experienced a
$4.2 million annual revenue loss due to unavailability and degradation of
network service. Compounding matters, the related estimated worker productivity
shortfall was $3.6 million. Satellite backup to terrestrial IP systems
dramatically reduces network downtime and its related expenses, according to
Northern Sky Research’s Baugh.

IP Solutions and Broadband Satellite Networking

Today, satellite based broadband services to large businesses and government
agencies act as a complement or backup to land-based IP networks as well as a
primary IP platform.

Users can take advantage of Private IP and its multicast delivery
capabilities to send large files quickly and reliably to all remote locations
simultaneously. With multicast streaming, users can cost-effectively transmit
live streaming media and business TV to as many locations as they wish.

Cost will vary greatly depending on bandwidth requirement, contract period,
number of sites, and location of sites. Costs are based on file size, not the
number of recipients, so users can send data to as many sites as they like at
one flat rate. The more sites that receive the information, the lower the
per-unit cost. Customers improve their bottom line in other ways too.

Shifting the delivery of bandwidth-intensive files to satellite-based
broadband services reduces the need to upgrade bandwidth on the land-based WAN.
WAN performance improves overall. With satellite based broadband back-up
services, users can decide which applications to backup to meet both their
business and budgetary needs. The outcome is a truly diverse solution that
provides a constant connectivity backup with an alternate transport path in
which no landline connections are required.

Partho Banerjee, president and CEO,
Hughes Escorts Communications