IPoS: Lifeline of the satellite industry

Some enterprises are dumping satellites as their primary medium of connectivity. And despite growth in the number of satellite terminals, the revenue per terminal is declining sharply. For the industry to survive it was necessary for it to develop new technology and value-added applications for commercial use. One such technology is Internet Protocol over Satellite (IPoS), says RAHUL NEEL MANI

Shivaji Chatterjee says that broadband satellite is the best hope for small and medium businesses that need a broadband service to stay competitive

SATELLITE broadband provider Hughes Network Systems (HNS) is betting heavily on the open standard called IPoS (Internet Protocol over Satellite) to transmit satellite broadband signals. The company got IPoS endorsed by the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) in December 2003, and is now forming alliances worldwide to promote the adoption of this standard. HNS has decided to licence (free of cost) some of its intellectual property related to IPoS to other companies working on IPoS-related products.

Need for a standard

An open satellite broadband standard was badly needed to infuse life into the satellite broadband industry. Until now, most satellite broadband providers have been using proprietary standards in their satellite systems. Result: systems that could not talk to each other and adoption on the decline. Shivaji Chatterjee, senior director, Marketing, Hughes Escorts Communications, says that more than just being a technology, IPoS is the result of a compelling need to break the proprietary nature of VSAT technology: “The purpose of developing it was to create an industry standard. With broadband over satellite becoming an established concept, IPoS is an offering over that to tell users it is a technology which will be offered by different vendors using the same standard.”

Even more critical is the fact that terrestrial technology developments cannot be easily ported on satellites because of the proprietary nature of the latter. Developing IPoS had a dual objective. One, to create an industry standard, and second, to spur the growth of satellite services. Actually, this is not the only broadband satellite standard. The DVB-RCS standard, created through an organisation called the Digital Video Broadcast Forum, allows two-way communication with satellites. But HNS wanted to create a standard for broadband that is applicable to the whole industry and based on IP-centric technology. A big advantage that IPoS has over DVB-RCS is that the latter works on QPSK (a frequency band requiring a linear radio), which is not as cost-effective as saturated radio. By contrast, IPoS works on offset QPSK, which works on satellite radios; this provides huge benefits on radio costs, and the IPoS terminal is cheaper by about 30-40 percent as compared to an RCS terminal. “IPoS has been developed keeping in mind broadband as the driver app on satellite, whereas RCS was developed as a very generic satellite return channel,” says Chatterjee.

What’s unique about it?

The underlying technology was the broadband technology developed by Hughes. The company ported the software and made the architecture, modified to form a standard, which was endorsed by TIA and HC, the technology standards endorsement bodies in the US and Europe respectively. “Since the architecture was common, all it needed was software porting and layering. As a result, all Direcway NOCs in the world are now IPoS ready. In India this service is available since December 2003,” informs Chatterjee.

The basic difference between IPoS and IP over any terrestrial media lies in the physical layer and latency. IPoS resides over physical and data link layers, which are specific to satellite technology. The network layer where the IPv4 and IPv6 reside is on SI-SAP (Satellite Independent-Service Access Point) defined by HC. SI-SAP creates a well-defined interface between satellite dependent functions and the application layers, thereby enabling an open service delivery platform. As a result, applications designed to be compliant with SI-SAP can easily be ported without modification, and can operate over a majority of today’s satellite systems. “On this layer, any sort of networking protocol or application can be created and used as a standard. What IPoS does is that it talks via SI-SAP to the open world. It manages Layer 1 and 2, and adheres to SI-SAP and connects to the open world,” says Chatterjee. That’s the real difference between IP over satellite and IP over any other terrestrial media.

Plus it is scalable. IPoS is employed in Hughes’ Direcway broadband satellite systems and supports applications from a single home office to multinational customers operating a worldwide VPN network. Using SI-SAP open interface yields a low-cost terminal architecture that’s optimised for satellite transmission, and enables the development of plug-and-play applications such as VPNs, VoIP, distance learning and video conferencing.

Banking on industry support

Hughes has lined up support for IPoS from several technology companies including Microsoft, Intel and HP. We have rarely seen such a broad-based support in favour of any satellite vendor worldwide. Although there is no other satellite broadband player on board this initiative yet, Hughes foresees a significant interest in IPoS. But why is Hughes seeking support from industry players? Explains Chatterjee, “In 2002 Hughes kick-started a broadband alliance programme in the quest of getting active support from technology leaders. Companies like IBM, Sun, Net2Phone, Microsoft, HP and Intel soon came on board for developing applications to be delivered on IPoS.” For example, Nortel brings in VPN client support to IPoS services to enable the spoofing of data before encryption. Net2Phone developed an application which ensures that VoIP works smoothly over the Internet through satellite. With Microsoft, work is in progress on various peer-to-peer applications. “The idea was to get the development fraternity excited about IPoS-based services and applications, and tell them not to worry about working over satellite,” says Chatterjee.

With IPoS in place a host of new applications will now be available; they can be ported over satellite without compromising performance. This will lead to more satellite-friendly services. Once this standard is adopted, the company is confident of providing better practices in tele-medicine, tele-education, etc. The Hughes Fusion Centre concept, where the company has made available broadband access through retail kiosks (powered by IPoS), is a live example of how different innovative services could be created through IPoS.

IPoS is compatible with Web browsing, video conferencing, voice over IP and WiFi services. All applications—from e-mail and Web browsing to video conferencing and distance learning—can be delivered more cost-effectively as IPoS-compliant solutions. IPoS, already used by more than 50 percent of the broadband satellite market, will open doors to enhanced and optimised products and services for delivery over satellite networks.

Hughes has already demonstrated IPoS’ interoperability with the following applications and standards with the help of its alliance partners:

• VPN
• 802.11b
• H264
• H364
• VoIP
• Apple over Direcway
• Videoconferencing
• Web browsing

Conclusion

Many call it a marketing gimmick from Hughes. Satellite broadband vendor Spacenet says that even they use an IP-based broadband system. The general opinion is that IPoS is an interesting marketing tactic that probably has little relevance to reality. But Hughes officials say an industry-standard open interface is essential for the future of the broadband satellite industry. “With other broadband services such as DSL not available in all areas, broadband satellite is the best hope for small and medium-size businesses that need a broadband service to stay competitive,” says Chatterjee.

Worldwide, Hughes has between 300,000-350,000 IPoS terminals. In India there are already 3,500 of these. “These terminals are controlled and directed by 12 Direcway Network Operating Centres, one of which is located in India. There is one IPoS NOC coming up exclusively for Bharat Petroleum for their retail network in India,” says Chatterjee.

Today, the total VSAT market in India is worth nearly Rs 500 crore, and is expected to go up by at least three to four times in the next couple of years. At present the number of terminals is growing, but the average revenue per terminal is falling, bringing in stagnancy. What can really boost the market are applications and value-added services over satellite. “The services application market is booming and will be the biggest beneficiary of this. Thus the VSAT services market, which is not more than Rs 150-200 crore, can go up to Rs 1,000 crore in next two to three years,” says Chatterjee.

Industry support for IPoS

Texas Instruments Microsoft EMC CheckPoint Loral Skynet Nortel Networks Intel Andrew Corporation PanAmSat CNN Sun HP Net2Phone

rahul@expresscomputeronline.com