|
OVERVIEW
VSAT
technology is a telecommunication system based on wireless
satellite technology. The term 'VSAT' stands for 'Very Small
Aperture Terminal'. As the definition itself indicates, VSAT
technology is made up of a small satellite earth station and a
typical antenna of 1.8 meter diameter.
There are three components in a VSAT network. The first is called
the Master Earth Station which is the network control center for
the entire VSAT network. The configuration, monitoring and
management of the VSAT network are done at this location.
The
Master Earth Station also has a large six-meter antenna, a fully
redundant electronics, self-contained backup power system, and a
regulated air conditioning system. This Master Earth Station is
manned 24 x 7 days throughout the year.
The second component is the VSAT remote earth station. This is the
hardware installed at the customer's premises that includes the
outdoor unit (ODU), the indoor unit (IDU) and the interfacility
link (IFL). The VSAT outdoor unit consists of a standard 1.8 meter
offset feed antenna, a solid state amplifier (SSPA), a Low Noise
Amplifier (LNA), and a Feedhorn. The indoor unit is a VCR-sized
unit that houses the communications electronics that includes
interface with the customer's equipment such as computers or
telephones. The IFL consists of coaxial cables that connects the
outdoor unit to the indoor unit.
The third component of a VSAT network is the satellite itself. All
signals sent between the VSAT earth stations are beamed through
the satellite. The VSAT system uses a geostationary satellite,
which is orbiting at 36,000 km above the ground
BENEFITS
OF VSAT
Our
VSAT technology offers many advantages
Ease of Implementation
After
the order is placed, putting up a VSAT network can be done in a
matter of days depending on the number of sites. The antenna dish
can be installed virtually anywhere - on rooftops, in parking
lots, or on the sides of the buildings. The size of the antenna
dish ranges from 1.8m to 2.4m in diameter, depending on the type
of application.
Likewise, moving the VSAT unit to a new location can be done very
quickly. Once the antenna site has been established, our field
technicians will be able to erect the antenna in hours and usually
complete the installation of the Indoor Unit on the same day.
Availability
The
wireless nature of VSAT system allows its installation at
virtually any location within the footprint of the satellite. Our
current satellite,TELKOM-1 covers from the northern part of
Australia to the mainland China. Naturally, it includes the entire
archipelago of Indonesia and the neighboring ASEAN countries.
With this advantage, Customers may setup offices in a promising
location without being constrained by the availability of
terrestrial lines. At the same time, Customers may relocate
offices to a lower cost area and still maintain the communication
link with the use of our VSAT links.
Reliability
Satellite communications is extremely reliable. Our VSAT system
has a Bit Error Rate (BER) of approaching 1 x 10-9.
This BER is similar to that available on many of today's advanced
digital terrestrial circuits. Our historical network uptime is
approaching 99.98%, exceeding typical terrestrial cable lines. Our
VSAT Master Earth Station has built-in redundancy that ensures
continuous operations in case of failure.
Regardless of where the sites are located, each VSAT remote unit
receives the same level of performance and signal quality.
Network Management
Our
entire VSAT network is constantly monitored and managed by a
qualified team of engineers at the Network Operations Center (NOC),
located at the Master Earth Station. We are therefore able to
detect problems early and provide quick resolutions before they
affect the network continuity.
We remotely manage the remote VSAT equipment that is installed in
each of the Customers' sites. Configuration updates or parameter
changes can be downloaded from the NOC without physical visit to
the Customers' sites.
This network management feature gives added assurance to our
Customers that their private networks are in constant care, 24
hours, 7 days a week throughout the year.
Recovery
One of
the great advantages of wireless VSAT technology is its direct
connectivity between end-points. Every VSAT link is established
directly through the satellite, bypassing intermediate terrestrial
lines. Hence, faulty problems with the network can be identified
and fixed quickly. For hardware failure at the remote earth
station, we can bring up the VSAT unit by simply replacing the
faulty module.
For mission critical applications, we are able to provide dial
modem backup system that allows automatic cut-over to terrestrial
line for temporary backup until the VSAT remote unit is fixed.
Security
Satellite networks offer excellent security against unauthorized
access. All transmissions in our VSAT system are scrambled in
digital format. Gaining access to a VSAT system is virtually
impossible without authorization. Every remote VSAT earth station
is controlled and monitored from our Network Operations Center.
Banks and financial institutions around the world predominantly
use VSAT system to carry critical and sensitive financial
transactions. The Canadian and U.S. Armed Forces also use VSAT for
their communication networks, further testifying the security of
the network.
Scalability
One of
the strengths of our VSAT network is the ability to scale
according to the Customer's requirements with low incremental
cost. This is especially important as business grows over time. A
new site can be added to the network by installing a remote VSAT
unit. A VSAT network can support thousands of VSAT remotes.
Customers may start with data service. Adding more bandwidth over
time can be done by a simple reconfiguration at the NOC (Network
Operations Center). In addition, Customers are able to add voice
capabilities or video applications at a later stage. These add-on
services can be done on the existing VSAT remote unit by
installing additional modules to the Indoor Unit.
Flexibility
VSAT
streamlines Customers' communications into one powerful and
dynamic network. Changes in the communication requirements can be
adapted quickly and cost-effectively by reconfiguring the network
with ease.
VSAT also gives Customers complete freedom in designing the data
network whether it is based on Centralized or Distributed
architecture. The VSAT network can be tailored to optimize
response times to satisfy the application requirements. Unlike
terrestrial networks, there are no geographic constraints in
configuring VSAT multi-point links, thus minimizing network
traffic peaks and transmission capacity.
Lower
Cost
Our
VSAT services bring about cost savings to the Customers. The
advantages of the VSAT technology already give tangible and
intangible benefits to our Customers. As Customers add more
services, they will find that the incremental cost is very low
compared to terrestrial networks.
The service costs are distance insensitive. The monthly service
fees are fixed and priced according to the network capacity, not
the distance between the head-office and branch locations. As a
result, Customers pay only for the amount of data throughput used.
TYPICAL
VSAT APPLICATIONS
Most companies develop their private wide area networks to
interconnect the network of the remote offices with the main
computer center. While data communications is the primary use of
VSAT, there are companies that require internal telephone network
for inter-office communications.
Corporate communications can be divided into the following
categories:
Interactive applications
The
interactive applications can be based on centralized or
distributed concept. In a centralized system, all terminals in the
offices operate "on-line" and communicate intermittently with the
host or servers at the data center. These include client-server
applications and Web-based intranet applications. In a distributed
system, each remote office has terminals linked to its local host
or servers. The servers then communicate with each other in a Wide
Area Network (WAN). Besides real-time data applications, our VSAT
network supports two-way voice capability for telephone or
facsimile. Remote offices can make phone calls to each other or to
the central headquarters, bypassing the local public phone
network.
File Transfer
These
applications send a large amount of data in one transaction. These
include the use of the TCP/IP File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to
transfer files and the printing of large reports.
File Broadcast
A
recent file transfer application requires support of file
broadcast or IP multicast. These applications send the data to
multiple sites in one transaction. Typical applications include
audio and video broadcast, distance learning, data distribution,
and software updates. A VSAT network is inherently broadcast in
nature. Thus a VSAT network naturally and efficiently support
these new broadcast applications. Using a VSAT network, a large
file can be distributed to hundreds of sites simultaneously. Our
VSAT network supports IP multicast, which improves broadcast
performance even more.
|
