Satellite Services – From Supply Push to Demand Pull
Bruce Elbert
President, Application
Technology Strategy, Inc.
(As published in the
September 2004 issue of SatMagazine.com)
The Satellite
Industry Association (SIA) survey quoted in this issue SatMagazine
by Editor Virgil Labrador shows the growth and dominance of DBS TV services
over other segments of the satellite industry. This is as much an outgrowth of
consumer acceptance as it is the surplus transponder supply at geostationary
orbit. Getting into the DBS business now requires investment measured in the
billions of US dollars, while the best orbit slots and domestic markets having
been taken. Growth of the services segment from here would seem to involve
applications which either are emerging or yet to appear. So, how do we uncover
these requirements, from where will they come, and with what technology may we
address them?
Stepping
back, the Internet and Telecom boom emboldened many startups and existing
operators to invest in risky systems with money that seemed plentiful. Now that
we approach the middle of the first decade of the second millennium, satellite
operators and service providers are much more realistic and far less willing to
bet on the come. Instead, we look for customers who have quantifiable
requirements and the financial muscle to back them. I would expect that many
large organizations in major industry segments outside of telecommunications
and IT are evaluating new strategies to put themselves ahead of competitors. Included
here are members of the defense segment who already consume large blocks of
transponders. They and their commercial counterparts are always interested in
ways to gain control of spending and better manage their IT infrastructures.
In the
past, satellite services were reserved for those who already understood them.
Corporations and government agencies which lacked satellite expertise tended to
rely on the major carriers who, in turn, provided conventional voice and data services
over landlines. Thanks to the aforementioned DBS as well as satellite digital
audio radio service (S-DARS), global positioning satellite (
A good
approach for uncovering service demand is to heed the advice of an IT executive
at Kodak, whose name I cannot recall but who was a key figure in American
industry’s first massive IT outsourcing project. He complained that traditional
vendors provided what fall into the category of “partial solutions”; yet what
he wanted to see from these companies were “solutioneers”
who would listen to needs and propose responsive systems and technology.
This all
begs the question, “What do companies and government agencies really need?” Often,
they are no better today at verbalizing or communicating what their needs are.
Worse still, they may put up barriers to this communication that prevent us
from doing the necessary fact-finding that could result in a solution. Back we
come to the role of the rain-maker with “the Ability” to break through
barriers, learn what is needed, and manage the “solutioneering”
process.
Coming back
to the “what” question in the first paragraph of this article, I have presented
listings in past SatMagazine articles of the systems
and technologies that have been borne of a decade of innovation. For example,
MPEG broadcasting gives us the ability to distribute multimedia content to
remote locations, and TDMA the ability to return data back at speeds up to 2
Mbps or more. Consider also that DIRECTV has announced that they are
repositioning the broadband Ka-band Spaceway
satellites from the enterprise and home Internet markets to the distribution of
local TV channels.
Both of
these technologies offer a great deal of resource for meeting business and
operational needs. Working out what, specifically, is best for a particular
requirement is the role of the “solutioneer”. Just
recently, I received emails from technical staff on different sides of the
planet at solid organizations - with the simple question, “should I use a star
network or a mesh network?” They also wanted to know how to choose the right
equipment to implement the architecture.
This
coincidence seems to me to be a symptom of the confusion out there among
potential users of satellite services who know that satellite technology is an
answer. However, they lack the knowledge to compile their requirements
sufficiently to conduct trade studies and proceed with implementation. As we
learn how to communicate with these needy users, we gain the ability to create
the revenues needed for growth and profit.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Bruce
Elbert is a leading satellite industry expert and consultant, and is president
of Application Technology Strategy, Inc.,
(805)
531-9692