Satellite News

Stratos Global, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, announced it has reached a milestone of 250 million messages sent via its AmosConnect maritime satellite communications service.

The vessel transmitting the milestone message was the Crown Garnet from Wallem Shipmanagement. Wallem deploys AmosConnect on more than 100 vessels.

“Over the years, AmosConnect has proven to be an easy-to-use, robust application that has provided a solid foundation for Wallem Shipmanagement’s business and crew communication needs,” said Ian Parkes, Wallem’s Group Information Systems Manager. “As we continue the transition from telex, fax and email to IP data, GSM and VoIP, the ability to integrate these solutions within a single messaging system will be increasingly important. The facilities being introduced with AmosConnect 8 also will support further integration between vessel and shore at the application level.”

Stratos President and CEO Jim Parm said, “We reached this milestone quicker than anyone expected. This is further proof of our commitment to meet the maritime industry’s need for integrated communications services that help ensure both corporate productivity and crew satisfaction for an ever-growing global population. Today’s news also is testament to our engineers who design and deploy our AmosConnect service, as well as to our customer-service professionals who consistently ensure end-user satisfaction.”

The latest version of AmosConnect from Stratos, AmosConnect 8, was introduced last month. It enhances new broadband IP-based maritime satellite services which include FleetBroadband, Iridium OpenPort and the VSAT solutions OceanVSAT and StratosITek. Integration with these broadband services enables users to control their sessions and ensure optimal airtime use directly from AmosConnect.

The AmosConnect 8 portal brings all ship-relevant data to one central information page. Also, all service settings are remotely configurable from a central office – thus greatly reducing implementation and support time.

With AmosConnect 8, Stratos expands upon its popular application by delivering StratosNet Accelerator, extended remote configuration, cost allocation and extended message filtering – in addition to enhancing its current features of email messaging, automatic file transfer and data synchronization. These improvements help ensure streamlined operations, cost efficiency and optimization of available bandwidth.

The new AmosConnect 8 optimizes the use of satellite airtime by automatically compressing and caching all transfers. AmosConnect 8 also supports all narrowband satellite connections. Stratos’ new AmosConnect hub platform, featuring ultra-modern hardware technology, has been extensively tested and began operation last month

Stratos Global Corporation, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, will use its NAB presence to showcase economical solutions that meet the specialized requirements of smaller, regional broadcasters and network affiliates.

At its booth OE1720, Stratos will be the only Inmarsat Distribution Partner delivering live demonstrations of low-cost video codecs over Inmarsat’s BGAN service via the StratosNexus global IP network.

Stratos has finalized joint-marketing agreements with Streambox and Quicklink to enable close cooperation between these codec developers and Stratos technical-support teams.

At NAB, Stratos will demonstrate Streambox LIVE, an important new many-to-many video contribution service. Streambox LIVE delivers free encoders as part of an end-to-end video delivery service. The service works in conjunction with network-based servers to archive, route and deliver video content from any contributors to studios around the world. In the coming months, Stratos intends to integrate this solution into StratosNexus for an end-to-end broadcast and broadband video solution.

At its booth, Stratos also will demonstrate the Quicklink200 software and hardware solution which is known for its exceptional quality over lower bandwidths. This easy-to-use technology incorporates automatic bandwidth detection and adjustment to maximize the speed that is available on the network. This ensures that the highest-quality video with the lowest latency is obtained automatically. Stratos will work to support Quicklink deployments across its network in the coming months.

These codecs add forward error correction to the video stream immediately after it is downlinked from the satellite, and then transmit the video to the customer’s premise with added packet redundancy and recovery for smooth video playout with minimal latency and the highest-possible picture quality.

“Since 2005, BGAN from Stratos has been successfully deployed by broadcasters of all sizes in all global regions,” informed Stratos President and CEO Jim Parm. “These new agreements with Quicklink and Streambox are the first steps toward integrating high-performance, cost-effective codec technology into our BGAN solutions. This is an important part of our ongoing effort to help improve the productivity and reach of specialty broadcasters and affiliates.”

Through these initial joint-marketing agreements, Stratos intends to embark on a program to fully embed broadcast media solutions within The Stratos Advantage value-added platform. In the coming months, Stratos will integrate leading video-streaming solutions into StratosNexus for an end-to-end broadcast solution.

Stratos Single IP Access Service

At NAB, Stratos also will brief attendees on the advantages of its new, worldwide single IP access service called Public IP Access. For broadcasters requiring a static IP address to run their applications over BGAN, Stratos Public IP Access enables the use of a single IP address that works globally. This eliminates the need to change IP addresses when traveling from region to region, thus making it easier than ever to deploy BGAN. This new service enables Stratos to distribute traffic across its network through multiple routes, delivering a variety of redundancy options for customer communications access.

Major Broadcasters Continue Successful BGAN Deployments

The BBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera English and other major global broadcasters have continued their successful use of BGAN and BGAN X-Stream from Stratos to cover breaking news and natural disasters from remote regions. These and other broadcasters use BGAN from Stratos for live broadcast and store-and-forward video clips from remote locations, or areas where communications infrastructure has been badly damaged. BGAN from Stratos also is used in situations where a VSAT truck is not available or cannot be physically deployed.

About BGAN from Stratos

Stratos is one of the world’s largest distributors of Inmarsat’s BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) service, a mobile satellite offering that uses portable, lightweight terminals to provide video (guaranteed up to 384 kbps streaming), high-speed data (up to 492 kbps) and voice connectivity anywhere in the world. Since its introduction in late 2005, BGAN from Stratos has been widely adopted by media organizations, military agencies, first responders and professionals in many other industries worldwide. Stratos now boasts more than 12,500 BGAN activations in 185 countries.

BGAN from Stratos enables media organizations to perform at optimal levels at any remote location imaginable. Journalists can effectively use BGAN services with minimal training. Many customers deploying BGAN from Stratos also achieve guaranteed, end-to-end bandwidth for their time-critical data with a Stratos GuaranteedAccess solution custom designed by Stratos engineers. Stratos GuaranteedAccess extends guaranteed bandwidth from the BGAN terminal through to the terrestrial infrastructure to broadcast centers.
Stratos GuaranteedAccess is enabled by StratosNexus, a Stratos-managed Global Core network for traditional and IP-based services. StratosNexus is a redundant and highly resilient network, designed and optimized to carry time-sensitive satellite traffic.

About The Stratos Advantage

Companies utilizing BGAN from Stratos make full use of value-added services known as The Stratos Advantage, which enable them to monitor airtime, restrict unauthorized usage and manage costs. These value-added services, including Stratos Dashboard, provide users with cost control, firewall management, full traffic information, pre-paid facilities, high security options, easy VPN access, messaging services and full IP range.

About Quicklink

Quicklink Video Distribution Services Ltd is the leading global provider for cost-effective, high-quality broadcast solutions in the fields of news, sport, entertainment and corporate media. Quicklink, headquartered in Bristol (UK), provides the world’s top 100 broadcasters with both software and hardware IP solutions for the transmission of live and edited SD and HD video news reports. Quicklink offers the best-in-class for achieving superb video and audio quality, while customization ensures continual improvement and simplification of products in response to customer suggestions and feedback. The Quicklink200 solution comprises free encoding software and a low-cost hardware Playout Server ideal for lower bandwidths.

About Streambox

Streambox focuses on IP-based, end-to-end newsgathering and contribution services. It delivers SD and HD software and hardware for video compression, transmission, management, and playout. The Streambox LIVE service supplements the Streambox platform with free encoding software and server-based services for scalable newsgathering and contribution. Streambox solutions are based on the industry-leading ACT-L3 codec, which provides unrivaled performance, reliability, and quality over low-data-rate IP networks for fast transmission and playout of video streams in HD and SD. The Company’s platform enables broadcasters, government agencies, enterprises, and other users to enhance content ownership, simplify operations, and increase operational efficiencies.

About Stratos

Stratos is the world’s trusted leader for vital communications. Stratos offers the most powerful and extensive portfolio of remote communications solutions including mobile and fixed satellite and microwave services. More than 20,000 consumers use Stratos products and industry-leading value-added services to optimize communications performance. Stratos serves U.S. and international government, military, first responder, NGO, oil and gas, industrial, maritime, aeronautical, enterprise, and media users on seven continents and across the world’s oceans.

Stratos Global Corporation, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, today provided a worldwide single IP access service called Public IP Access, the newest component of the Stratos IP Access family of services.

For consumers requiring a static IP address to run their applications over Inmarsat mobile broadband satellite services, Public IP Access enables the use of a single IP address that works globally. This eliminates the need to change IP addresses when traveling from region to region, thus making it easier than ever to deploy Inmarsat BGAN, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband services.

With one simple click on Stratos Dashboard, customers choose one default IP address they can use anywhere in the world – without the need to enter a username and password in the terminal. No terminal intervention is required.

Stratos is the first Inmarsat Distribution Partner to offer this convenient service. Public IP Access will become commercially available next month.

“More than 3,000 of our BGAN, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband customers use multiple static IP addresses as they work around the globe. Public IP Access enables these customers to keep the same IP address wherever they travel,” stated Stratos President and CEO Jim Parm. “We have worked closely with Inmarsat to develop this new service and we have made significant investments in network optimization to enable fast, easy service implementation.”

Since the introduction of BGAN in 2005, Stratos has continually enhanced its global BGAN infrastructure to ensure its consumers receive the most productive mobile broadband experience, well into the future.

A key development to introducing Public IP Access, is Stratos’ new network Point of Presence (POP) in Hong Kong, which extends the reach of StratosNexus (Stratos’ backbone IP infrastructure). This new POP is in addition to existing Stratos POP locations in Amsterdam and New York. Stratos delivers the consumer-managed Stratos Trench firewall solution on all three POPs, a feature that is not available from Inmarsat on the Inmarsat shared infrastructure. Each Stratos POP benefits from its own regional infrastructure with local terrestrial, Internet access and region-based IP addresses.

This vast global network provides Stratos customers the flexibility to choose the most efficient traffic routing for their needs – to achieve the lowest latency and the shortest route to their headquarters.

About The Stratos Advantage

Stratos customers fully utilize The Stratos Advantage, a suite of value-added services that help elevate BGAN, FleetBroadband and SwiftBroadband from Stratos far above baseline offerings. These value-added services, including Stratos Dashboard, keep costs within budget by monitoring airtime and restricting unauthorized usage. The services provide users with cost control, instant provisioning, firewall management, full traffic information, pre-paid facilities, high security options, easy VPN access, messaging services and full IP range.

About Stratos

Stratos is the world’s trusted leader for vital communications. Stratos offers the most powerful and extensive portfolio of remote communications solutions including mobile and fixed satellite and microwave services. More than 20,000 customers use Stratos products and industry-leading value-added services to optimize communications performance. Stratos serves U.S. and international government, military, first responder, NGO, oil and gas, industrial, maritime, aeronautical, enterprise, and media users on seven continents and across the world’s oceans.