Inmarsat Goes ISDN At 30,000 Feet

INTERNET SPACE

Inmarsat Ltd owns and operates a unique global mobile satellite network and delivers its communications solutions through a worldwide network of approximately 250 distributors and other service providers operating in over 150 countries to end users in the maritime, land and aeronautical sectors. At the end of December 2001, approximately 240,000 terminals were registered to access Inmarsat Ltd's services.

London - Apr 18, 2002
Inmarsat Limited, global mobile satellite communications provider, today announces at Inflight Passenger Entertainment and Communications Conference in London (IPEC), the commercial availability of Swift64, a service which gives aircraft passengers the ability to access Internet-based applications such as email, video streaming and file transfer whilst in the air.

Swift64 will give the aero traveller all the functionality and applications he expects in his office even crossing the Atlantic at 35,000 ft.

The initial service offering will provide passengers in the corporate jet market with ISDN speeds of 64kbits/s. Later this year this will be expanded to include a Mobile Packet Data service based on IP-protocol, and by the end of the year will be available to the commercial airline market.

Inmarsat announced that Telenor Satellite Services of Norway and USA, have been authorised in all four ocean regions for Swift64 services. Initially the Swift64 compatible avionics are being provided by Honeywell/Thales, with other manufacturers expected shortly.

The Inmarsat Swift64 platform will offer clear cost benefits to aircraft operators by utilising existing aircraft communications infrastructure to provide fast email and Internet access, video conferencing facilities and file transfer capability to aircraft passengers.

Today, up to 80 per cent of modern long haul commercial aircraft and over 1000 corporate jets already have the Inmarsat satellite communications antenna infrastructure needed to carry Swift64 services.

"Inmarsat's Swift64 platform uses existing aircraft antennae and satellite communication avionics to the maximum extent possible. A limited technology upgrade is needed which in turn delivers an important cost benefit to the airline, government or business aircraft operator," said Michael Butler, managing director of Inmarsat Limited.

"Significantly, this solution is starting to be rolled out as a commercial service now - well ahead of potential competitors, who have yet to prove their infrastructure-intensive broadband initiatives," he said.

The solution comprising mobile ISDN and mobile packet data services, will utilize elements of Inmarsat's existing Inmarsat Global Area Network (GAN) platform already delivering up to 64kbit/s data rates to land-based business worldwide and will be introduced to maritime customers as Inmarsat Fleet F77 this week. Ultimately Swift64 users will benefit from 64 kbit/s ISDN speed or packet data `always on' technology which means that the user is only charged for the data that they send and receive, not the time they are connected.

Passengers of Swift64 enabled aircraft will be able to access Inmarsat's services via on-board servers as part of an email or aircraft intranet solution. An email server will manage passenger capacity assignment and switching of Satcom, Gatelink and other transmission systems. Passenger-to-server connection can be delivered by a range or methods including an Ethernet LAN at data rates up to 100Mbit/s or future wireless alternatives.

"Swift64 data rates are a significant step towards extending hi-bandwidth services to aircraft and already give up to a 27 fold increase over many PC data services available in aircraft today," said Michael Butler.

Manufacturers already committed to Swift64 avionics program include Ball Aerospace, EMS Technologies, Honeywell/Thales, Rockwell Collins, and Thrane & Thrane.

SPACEWAR

Stratos To Provide US Govt Agencies Global SatComm Support

Bethesda - Mar 26, 2002
Stratos, a leading global provider of remote communication solutions and services, today announced that it has been selected by ADC International, LLC, a provider of complete satellite communications solutions, as a subcontractor for their Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) contract.

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