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Satellite Week Monday, June 18, 2001 Satellite Internet is expected to grow dramatically by end of decade, but challenges could mean it might not advance beyond niche market, panelists at ACT Satellite-Over-Internet conference in Arlington, Va., said June 13. Satellite Internet "has not penetrated beyond its traditional niche," GE Americom Mktg. Dir. Peter Gustafson said. He said "satellite learning curve is steep," but niche market may be positive. "It's good to be a niche market in a huge market like telecom," he said. "There's a little bit different mindset" in which "we may end up competing" with would-be customers or partners, Gustafson said. Broadband market still will be wide open when satellite-based Internet industry develops in few years, SkyBridge Satellite Senior VP David Finkelstein said. Industry "needs to integrate so it doesn't become marginalized as a niche player," he said. Gustafson said competitiveness of industry meant that companies should "choose your partners very carefully." Price is key for consumer market, Aaron Falk, Net-36 dir.- advanced product development told us: "It's going to be a real challenge for satellites to compete in the Internet access base. If people have another way of getting Internet access that's cheaper, it's very likely that they'll use it." However, limited availability of alternatives is opportunity for satellite Internet, he said: "There are many more people in the world that don't have access to broadband." Satellite-terrestrial spectrum battle in U.S. must be repeated throughout world, Futron Corp. Technical Dir. Andrea Maléter said: "Within Europe there is greater coordination and common standards, but there are still individual and discrete regulatory regimes." Industry must work toward "ensuring spectrum availability in the U.S. and on a global basis" and having "consistent spectrum in all areas of the world," she said. Satellite won't achieve any significant share of Internet access market until manufacturers adopt standards for satellite- oriented, over-the-air protocols, SpaceBridge Semiconductor VP Dick Bakker said, and industry uses advanced chips to much greater extent. "The number of people who make a living by connecting to the Internet keeps growing," Bakker said. "Today there are 20 million qualified broadband customers that are off-net, and there will be 50 million by 2005." He said satellite needed to follow cable's example. In 1995, cable was thought of as expensive, unidirectional, inappropriate Internet access, but in 2001, it's dominant medium for consumer broadband, he said: "Cable has done a remarkable job just in 6 years using cable-oriented protocols and cable specific chips. Through these 2 developments, the key technical issues were solved, the volume increased and the functionality improved. The same issues have to be addressed in the satellite industry." Satellite Internet applications also will benefit International Space Station (ISS), but old problems at NASA haunt efforts, said David Beering, principal partner in Infinite Global Infrastructures. Communication systems used on station and space shuttle aren't up-to-date, he said. Shuttle and ground systems "were designed and built before the Internet revolution," he said, and budget cuts and delays have affected implementing program. Project is scheduled for 3-phase rollout: (1) System uses existing hardware and existing Ku-band, 18 month to 2 years after funding. (2) Data infrastructure is updated for a higher rate, implemented 3 to 4 years after funding and requiring new antennas and equipment as it switches to Ka-band. (3) Data coverage increase to nearly 100% from 50% with data rate upgrading due in 4 to 5 years. ISS systems were designed 10-15 years ago and "are not substantially more modern than the shuttle's communication system built in 1981," he said. Satellite is best way to send video, but competition is fierce, panelists said. "If you send over the Internet, many bad things happen," Falk said. "If you send over satellite, you bypass many of these bad things." Major benefit for satellites is ability to bypass Internet congestion, Falk said. "We want to be 1 to 3 router hops away from the end user" instead of nearly 20 router hops for typical Internet connection, he said. "We're able to bypass all those internet exchange points" and "reduce the opportunities for Internet congestion to degrade the IP stream." Orblynx Chmn. Ashok Thareja said economics and changing nature of content would be issues facing satellite Internet: "Satellite has enormous baggage. People don't believe in satellite in this country." |
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