END-TO-END PERSPECTIVES. Industry leaders answer questions on satellite s role in the converged end-to-end network

Transcription

1 END-TO-END PERSPECTIVES Industry leaders answer questions on satellite s role in the converged end-to-end network

2 Contents Satellite s role in creating a truly converged end-to-end network is an ongoing industry discussion, and one that continues to generate more conversation with the introduction of new technology innovations and the growing demands that drive them. 03 Future VSAT Innovation By Carlos Placido Senior Analyst NSR idirect, Verizon, NSR, BT Global Services and Intelsat engage in a discussion on the role of satellite in the end-to-end network. Touching on the latest technologies, partnership dynamics and future trends, this group of industry leaders provides insights on all aspects of the converged end-to-end network. 04 Evolving Telco Capabilities By Renato Goodfellow Head of Global Satellite BT Global Services 01 Breaking Down the Satellite Silo By Eric Watko Vice President, Integrated Solutions & Space Systems idirect 05 Doing Business Globally, with Agility By Karen Emery, Director, Product Management, Broadband Services Intelsat 02 VSAT Making End-to-End a Reality By Stuart Burson Associate Director, Satellite Solutions Group Verizon 06 The Next Stage of Innovation By Eric Watko Vice President, Integrated Solutions & Space Systems idirect 2 3

3 Eric Watko Vice President, Integrated Solutions & Space Systems, idirect When will satellite become part of the billion machines will be coming onto the mainstream network offering? network. This influx of connections is set to satellite is employed as a key asset. service, and support for mobile generate emand for IP services unlike Many have established teams that specialize communications on the pause (COTP) This is an important question that continues anything currently experienced in satellite communications and can identify and communications on the move to garner a lot of discussion in the industry today with new revenue opportunity when a client will benefit from the applica- (COTM). All such use cases prove valuable today. In many ways, you could say that the across the board. tion of VSAT as part of a total solution. attributes for any global communications time for finally answering such a question In support, the satellite communications company looking to complete the reach has never been more important as the Such revenue opportunity can only be industry is creating next-generation technol- of their global service portfolio. volume of global IP services is projected to realized if communications companies are ogy that not only makes it easier and more hit an accelerated level of growth over the able to provide an end-to-end communi- cost-effective to integrate that technology In order to deliver most effectively, coming years. cation experience that reaches anywhere into the core network, but satisfies rigorous satellite must be seamlessly integrated into over any access technology. communications service cases. the core service portfolio. Looking at forecasts from Cisco, by 2020 it is expected that roughly 4 billion connected And today, communications providers are Satellite communications provides the people, 20 billion connected devices and 50 rapidly developing strategies to ensure value of wide coverage, immediacy of 4 5

4 Stuart Burson Associate Director, Satellite Solutions Group, Verizon How valuable is the role of VSAT in making VSAT is seamlessly integrated into our end-to-end global connectivity a reality? service portfolio. While satellite is an alternate access technology, it is not For Verizon, that is a question that we made located in a separate access silo. We work sure we addressed very early on in the hard to integrate satellite into our vast development of our network. array of services and idirect is an important part of making that happen seamlessly. From the outset, we designed satellite to interface directly with our MPLS-based IP To meet our customers expectations, we encryption and enabling system features and see the satellite network information. network. This fully owned and operated looked at our terrestrial network and to be easily managed. We collect data from our satellite services end-to-end network seamlessly integrates all matched the feature sets for our satellite and feed it into our overarching customer access technologies to deliver a highly secure, services. A satellite terminal acts as just For Verizon, it is important that we re able to portal, repackaging it into a common look robust private network solution. another access point to the MPLS network. show customers we re meeting their SLAs. and feel that the customer is used to seeing. It is designed to be as transparent as On our terrestrial networks, we have stan- For Verizon, satellite plays a critical role in You see, end users aren t aware of what access possible for the customer. dards on reporting. Customers with a completing the enterprise solution. technologies we integrate into our network satellite connection can visit the same design -- nor do they care. They just want to This enables Verizon to offer service level portal they do for their terrestrial network be assured our network delivers service agreements (SLAs) on its satellite network wherever and whenever they desire. For comparable to those it extends on its Verizon, that means we work satellite into the terrestrial MPLS network. In addition, solution to meet those end-user demands. the platform supports full VLAN separation, ensuring two-way data 6 7

5 Future VSAT Innovation Carlos Placido Senior Analyst, NSR What does future innovation across satellite look like? Characterizing the current state of technology progression in satellite can often be tricky. Truth be told, satellite has been on a fruitful path of technology progression for many years. Of course, much of this stems from the overall shift to IP that satellite made many years ago. This set the stage for making satellite a powerful broadband IP technology that supports enterprise-quality applications with service reliability and quality that mirrors that of terrestrial networks. Despite this shift, however, the high cost capacity remained a limiting factor for many years in satellite s path of progression. The introduction of High Throughput Satellites (HTS), and the emergence of new high-efficiency LEO constellations as of late, have since change this limitation. Given this influx of new capacity, you could say that satellite technology innovation is more important than ever. And in recent years we have seen a more concentrated progression of innovation associated with improving overall spectral efficiency. We see technology platforms leveraging adaptive carriers with new advances in technologies like ACM, Adaptive TDMA, beam roaming and dynamic SCPC. The development of smarter network management systems and even the path towards adopting more common networking standards like DVB-S2X further this progression, all with the end goal of driving better efficiency and flexibility around this new finite resource in the sky. Now what comes next is even more exciting. Future technology progression within satellite is being driven by mainstream technology developments, such as cloud and virtualization. More and more terrestrial infrastructure is being developed around cloud-based technologies, with services being developed for a virtualized environment. This is the path down which satellite is heading as well. We will begin to see more in the form of software-defined satellite networks and ground systems, or transitioning the functionality of network management and protocol processing out of fixed server hardware and into a virtualized environment. Such development has ripple effects throughout the value chain, where services are re-engineered and relationships redefined. From software-defined networks to software-defined satellites, there will be an increasing relevance of smart software in end-to-end satellite networks. This will, in turn, foster a new interplay among satcom value chain players, possibly towards an environment with more infrastructure sharing and software-driven value creation. Perhaps the biggest trend to watch is just how quickly satellite embraces such technologies going forward. 8 9

6 Evolving Telco Capabilities Renato Goodfellow Head of Global Satellite, BT Global Services Which trends within telco will In addition, we are also creating solutions drive even greater need for future that fit specific industry practices for innovation in VSAT? customers particularly in such markets as oil and gas, mining and manufacturing, BT Global s communications network among others. Satellite is often a more provides connectivity to nearly 200 cost-effective backup for us to provide to countries, most of which rely on terrestrial fiber. We also serve over 37,000 sites around the globe to which fiber will not reach and this is where satellite enters the discussion. Over recent years, BT Global Services has invested heavily in growing our VSAT infrastructure to take advantage of VSAT strengths. Satellite is a quick-to-deploy and secure solution that enables global connectivity, and has played a vital role in helping complete our BT Connect Global MPLS network reach. sites than duplicating the terrestrial MPLS infrastructure, for example. Most of our customers will say, "We don t care if it s terrestrial or satellite, as long as you can give us connectivity and it works for our applications." We say to these customers, We will create the connectivity you require. We map in the cloud with our MPLS network to provide the dedicated bandwidth and deliver the customer applications. end-to-end, so that local applications can easily map over MPLS and extend reach with satellite. The growing demand for seamless services that reach all parts of the globe is a major trend that satellite must adapt to fulfill. This is why we are happy to be working with idirect and their new Layer 2 over Satellite (L2oS) feature as part of the idirect Evolution platform. L2oS enables us to overcome proprietary satellite protocols, allowing the satellite connection to With this, BT Global Services is launching end-to-end Ethernet connectivity initially in Turkey, the Middle East, western Asia and sub-saharan Africa. By connecting sites through a Layer 2 network, it simplifies the process for our enterprise customers to make local applications available across all sites. This is a very significant step forward in continuing to innovate with satellite technology. As we build our infrastructure and technologies around cloud-based services, satellite is a key connectivity and We have installed dedicated VSAT hubs in key regions of the world, which helps us optimize communication performance, with a single BT managed solution for our customers. We have, however, sometimes been constrained by proprietary satellite protocols, which have limited what can be achieved. Ideally, our customers want full transparency, emulate a transparent Ethernet link. This provides the freedom to pass any protocols and provide more flexibility in network management. can now better play its part

7 Doing Business Globally, with Agility Karen Emery Director, Product Management, Broadband Services, Intelsat "What are the next steps in innovation designed to allow service providers to seamlessly augment their network around the globe?" Let s talk about the notion of doing business globally. At the close of 2015, there were nearly 3.2 billion Internet users around the globe. That number is more than triple where it stood a decade earlier. And a good majority of these Internet users are utilizing that connection to conduct business. It s no surprise that over 90% of businesses in high-income countries use a broadband connection. But where it starts to get interesting is the fact that 68% of businesses in low-to-mid income countries are doing the same up from 39% just four years earlier. In addition, the adoption of broadband is directly linked to improving economic conditions in emerging countries around the globe. However, the local terrestrial infrastructure is often insufficient to support their growth ambitions while in other areas limitations come from network congestion. When we talk about serving emerging countries, hard-to-reach places or congested networks, we talk about the need for a scalable network backbone that can be deployed swiftly where needed. That means the telecom industry must take the next step to seamlessly integrate terrestrial and satellite assets into a high performance ubiquitous network around the globe. The goal here is to enable enterprise networks to become more agile, to expand beyond physical constraints in a way that is profitable and can correlate expenses to immediate revenue realization. It is precisely the strategy that Intelsat has implemented with our IntelsatOne Flex for Enterprise service offering. This wholesale managed service provides easy access to Intelsat s Globalized Network, and in particular to its high-performance Intelsat Epic NG fleet, enabling accelerated deployment of Internet services in underserved or congested areas. The service aggregates multiple redundant layers of high-speed connectivity over high demand zones with an overall global coverage. Purchased capacity can be consumed anywhere within large service regions and can even be ported across regions for maximum flexibility. And when we say high-speed connectivity to the terminal, we are talking about carrier-grade connectivity. The name of the game for network providers is the ability to capitalize on new business opportunities and areas of growth without breaking the bank. That strategy tends to run into three hurdles: Trying to respond to unpredictable market shifts by adjusting the network incrementally, thus missing out on revenue opportunities. Providing a consistent and superior user experience across the entire footprint as the reach expands with a hybrid network. 3. Getting the network ready for the era of data-heavy applications without expending enormous amounts of money to do so. The IntelsatOne Flex for Enterprise service has been built with the intent of tackling each hurdle head on: Access to mega-pools of capacity everywhere needed. This can be done with a simple web application, whether you want to jumpstart a service, extend your network in hard-to-reach places or satisfy traffic growth. Seamless integration with the core MPLS or Ethernet network. This guarantees ultra-high availability and incorporates multiple levels of redundancies. Buying Mbps and terminals to bring next generation high-speed connectivity to the network with almost no capital outlay. By acquiring Mbps incrementally as demand grows, this helps establish a direct correlation between cost and revenue profiles. You can stack up more traffic on your existing equipment to accommodate new bandwidth-hungry applications and deploy small, cost-effective terminals to new sites. With these features, we provide next-generation Mbps services that help network providers be nimbler and earn extra revenue as they swiftly extend their network to support growth opportunities and new business applications, all of this with limited financial exposure. Source: WDR

8 The Next Stage of Innovation Eric Watko Vice President, Integrated Solutions & Space Systems, idirect "What are the next steps to innovating increasing scalability and reliability, and around modern networking technology enabling providers with greater ability for in order for satellite to continue operating dynamic service delivery. right at the heart of IP networks?" For idirect, the answer is clear: We must be able to support the service needs of the industry as a whole. We cannot simply focus on the space segment, but instead examine every aspect from the edge of the core network, to the terminals, to the endpoint of the customer. The reality is this: Each service provider has its own way it wishes to differentiate services. And as their partner idirect must be able to offer a range of capabilities to Gateway Virtualization: Maximizes processing throughput and capacity while simplifying IT infrastructure. Dynamic Service Delivery: Ultimate flexibility through integrated management APIs and network orchestration. RF Performance: Greater RF efficiencies in the form of DVB-S2X with increased symbol Next-Generation Terminals: Higher performance, DVB-S2X remotes are future-proof for longer life through over-the-air software feature licenses, coupled with adaptable functionality to deliver specialized services at the user edge. To reach from end-to-end, we will continue down the path of holistic innovation in order to further bridge the gap between satellite and terrestrial networks. L2oS uses switching to pass Ethernet packets end-to-end over the network enabling a satellite network to behave like a mainstream access network. L2oS enables new satellite service delivery models based upon carrier-grade Ethernet and facilitates converged services. With this comes the underlying foundation to help service providers and carriers seamlessly deploy well-integrated networks and services that span from one end of a network to the other. satisfy these different approaches. As such, we are taking a holistic approach to innovating our technology. This approach is designed with the intent of driving down IT and management costs, rates and higher, more efficient MODCODs. As service providers experience greater demand to deliver global services, satellite connectivity allows them to reach beyond their traditional area of coverage. idirect is helping to lead the way with Layer 2 over Satellite (L2oS), as part of the Evolution platform. For more information, go to:

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