In response to the growing use of the Internet and packet-switched networks around the world, eSat Inc. created a new satellite technology platform called Virtual Onboard Switching, and recently demonstrated its ability to improve the performance of geosynchronous earth orbit satellites.
“The core of VOS’ strength is its ability to scale to a service provider’s bandwidth needs …, ” said Michael Palmer, chief executive officer of eSat.
The VOS system, consisting of both hardware and software, is managed centrally from a ground-based network operation center where each VOS node maintains simultaneous single-hop connectivity to all other VOS nodes in a network. This configuration reduces signal delay and allows for real-time management of data traffic, eSat said.
“The differentiator is it’s very IP-centric. It’s designed purely for packet switching, whereas other technologies are designed for circuit switching. It doesn’t have any network capacity limitations except for on the spacecraft itself,” said Michael Massey, chief technology officer for eSat. “The Internet is comprised of 70,000 different networks, and it (the VOS system) operates as an Internet exchange point between those networks.”
The system offers aggregate network speeds up to the full capacity of a given satellite, or more than 1,000 times the capacity and speed of a traditional T1 line.
ESat said it will market the VOS system to service providers in international regions where fiber optic transmission lines are either filled to capacity or limited in availability.
“We’re deploying it in a network fashion. What we’re doing is creating a network backbone over the region to carry regional traffic,” Massey said.
The company expects to conduct a beta test of the VOS system during the fourth quarter, and it should be available for deployment early next year.
ESat is headquartered in Universal City, Calif.
