A major challenge that continues to hold the SATCOM industry’s attention today is that of a speedy and affordable Internet.
In example, SES Techcom Services, a fully owned SES affiliate, provides their Astra Connect satellite Internet services to underserved areas of Europe at speeds that are comparable to terrestrial networks—and at competitive prices—and required a system that would accommodate such business needs.
SES Techcom Services selected Gilat Satellite Networks to develop and provide a cost-effective system that could operate large-scale, high-performance networks. In addition, the solution would need to support a variety of service plans and allow for self-installation.
To accommodate SES Techcom Services needs, Gilat’s ability to deliver a high-performance broadband network for large-scale consumer use, over SES Ka-band satellites, with high performance, self-installed, VSAT systems, sealed the deal.
The Solution
Meeting head-on the challenge of delivering the necessary performance at the desired price, Gilat’s Sky Edge II-c chassis was successfully implemented for SES Techcom Services, offering a specially designed satellite terminal and an easy-to-install antenna unit. Recently, the Astra Connect network was extended by adding Gilat’s ground segment platform, which is powered by X-Architecture. This inclusion will allow SES Techcom Services to scale up and expand their services.
To reduce end-users’ equipment expense, Gilat designed a solution with simplified system installation and activation. The customer premises equipment (CPE) kit includes the full antenna assembly, modem, transceiver, RF cables and instruction manual. This self-install option has been selected for implementation by many end-users.
SES Techcom Services chose the SkyEdge II-c high-performance, compact chassis as the system can operate large networks and is fully optimized for Ka-band multi-spot beam systems, providing flexibility for consumer networks, enabling triple-play services, like high-speed Internet VoIP and IPTV.
This chassis is ideal for Astra Connect service as the ISPs are allowed to have full control over their service parameters, such as terminal speeds, usage quotas, over-subscription and QoS profiles. Today, Gilat’s high-speed modem reaches speeds
of up to 40 Mbps in broadband performance to the home over satellite.
The CPE enables reliable antenna self-installation with simple audio feedback, helping the end-user point the antenna at the correct satellite and fine-tune the reception without any additional equipment or professional installation.
Gilat also designed a combined transceiver and low noise block to reduce the complexity of setting up the system. Once the outdoor equipment is in place, a web based interface walks the user through the final setup, activation and authentication process.
The process is automated for the ISP through Gilat’s network management system, TotalNMS, which provides service-oriented network management for the entire network that can support large-scale deployments greater than one million subscribers.
This solution suited SES Techcom Services perfectly, as ISPs can manage their own network services directly and independently. SES Techcom Services also uses TotalNMS to configure, control, and monitor the gateways and chassis.
Through a single interface point, TotalNMS also allows:
• Profile-based CPE configuration for fast service introduction and modification
• Detailed reporting on network performance and usage per CPE
• Enhanced troubleshooting and diagnostics tools
• Fast and reliable resource allocation
• Detailed reporting on network performance and usage per ISP
The high performance broadband network for consumer use began shortly after the first commercial Ka-band satellite, Astra 2F, was launched, using spot beams to cover areas throughout Europe. Since the start of the service, Gilat has shipped approximately 40,000 VSATs to more than 18 European ISPs.
Doreet Oren (doreeto@gilat.com) is Director of Product Marketing for Gilat Satellite Networks. In this role, Oren is responsible for defining product positioning, messaging and “go to” market strategies and is responsible for market research as well as analyst relations.
Oren has more than 20 years of industry experience and has held management positions in R&D, product management and product marketing for international high-tech companies. In this capacity, she contributed to nexgen product definition and was responsible for delivering the company’s vision to the media and analyst community.
Oren has published thought leadership articles in renowned international journals and has spoken at numerous industry conferences worldwide. Oren received a BSc in Computer Science from George Washington University.