Cisco partners with Inmarsat, builds satellite service delivery platform

Inmarsat and Cisco recently announced that they are entering a long-term Global Partnership. The two companies will use Inmarsat’s Global Xpress satellite broadband network to deliver applications, business collaboration, video-to-multimedia content, and other advanced satellite communications services.

Cisco will develop a satellite applications service delivery platform and an access network for Global Xpress that will take advantage of the Inmarsat network’s capability to provide mobile Ka-band connectivity. Cisco will also create a router that satellite network end-users can use to access both the GX Ka-band network  and the BGAN L-band network.

The Cisco-designed network is scheduled to be introduced in 2014. Before it is turned over to Inmarsat, the new satellite network will be operated by Cisco on a fully managed basis. Advanced network capabilities such as voice, video, cloud application services and high speed Internet access will be enabled by Cisco’s Service Delivery Platform and Prime software stacks.

Inmarsat and its partners will develop and remotely deploy innovative applications on Cisco’s GX/BGAN integrated platform, which will deliver the new services across the entire Inmarsat network.

According to Rupert Pearce, Chief Executive Officer of Inmarsat plc, the Company’s Partnership with Cisco was an important part of Inmarsat’s future plans. Cisco will create world-class infrastructure that Inmarsat and the latter’s partners can use to offer services not limited to providing Internet-from-satellite connectivity.

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Dish Network debuts dishNET satellite broadband service

Starting this October, Dish Network will be bringing their much-touted Ku-band satellite broadband services to American customers. Its new Internet-from-satellite service is called dishNET and is rolled into Dish’s satellite TV service. Customers who subscribe to both services will get a monthly discount of $10.

In an announcement, Mr. Joseph Clayton, CEO of Dish Network, said that the company was launching a “revolutionary” consumer broadband service that will bring high-speed Internet to rural markets nationwide. “With nearly one-in-four rural residents lacking a high-speed connection, reaching these underserved markets is vital,” he explained. “Our mission is to provide broadband at an outstanding value with fast speeds and large data plans.”

The basic dishNET package offers 5 Mbps download speeds and 1 Mbps upload speeds with a monthly data plan that maxes out at 10 GB. It costs $39.99 a month. Dish’s other satellite broadband Internet service offers double the download speed (10 Mbps) and a maximum data plan of 20 GB while retaining the same 1 Mbps upload speed. The second plan costs an extra $10.

Dish has been able to decrease the price of satellite broadband to make it more economically accessible for rural areas that have made do with DSL connections for the past decade. In addition, dishNET uses the well-established Ku-band to deliver high speeds.

For those leery of inclement weather and other disruptions cutting off their Internet-by-satellite connectivity, Dish Network also offers a wired broadband solution. The most expensive of the three wired options costs as much as the basic dishNET service and has double the download speed and a bigger data plan. Of course, this particular set of broadband Internet options requires a landline connection in the first place.

The new high-speed Internet-on-satellite service will be available wherever Dish Network can deliver its service. Coincidentally, Dish has nationwide coverage, including plenty of rural communities that can now enjoy faster Internet speeds thanks to Dish's new satellite broadband solution.