Much like the automobile industry, the satellite industry is looking for more miles per gallon, higher speeds, wider lanes and regulated traffic, writes Serge Van Herck, CEO Newtec, as he looks ahead at 2013.
The multiservice approach mitigates risk. People are asking for platforms that can handle different vertical markets and terminals to make sure they are not putting all of their eggs in one basket
Where is the industry going? Despite having been up there for many years in the satellite communications industry, bandwidth efficiency continues to be top priority for service providers and manufacturers.
With the new DVB-S2 standard coming in 2013, it will be a major talking point in the industry over the next year. The industry will also be talking about High Throughput Satellites (HTS), perhaps even more so than Ka-band itself. Ka-band has been a huge topic. At the forefront of everyone’s minds in the industry is the question of what to do with all that capacity.
Though still important, the topic will broaden with HTS with the mix of Ku-band, Ka-band and C-band, becoming more important. The questions regarding the positioning of satellites, the services they will carry and how the cells will be positioned on the ground, are becoming more important than Ka-band specifically.
The HTS discussion will lead to a lot of questions related to multi-service and multi-technology platforms. Although many providers launched their services initially with the consumer in mind, it is clear now that they need to diversify their service offering in order to be able to speed up their satellite fill ratio. This will enable them to speed up their return on investment.
The multiservice approach mitigates risk. People are asking for platforms that can handle different vertical markets and terminals to make sure they are not putting all of their eggs in one basket.
Therefore multiservice solutions will be top of the agenda next year.
The television market is also changing, which is impacting the satellite industry. TV is not pure linear technology anymore. Satellite broadcast used to be relatively conservative in the way it handled content but this coming year will be pivotal. There will be a new open-mindedness in how broadcast networks will be implemented, from sports contribution and distribution, to news gathering and distribution of content in general.
We will see new satellite technologies in an innovative industry that is in transition. Whichever direction you look, satellite technology though finite in nature, is taking centre stage with bandwidth efficiency and workflow technologies in demand.
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