In Broadcast - February 2020 - 19

19

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 10 - Issue 2 | February 2020

ST Engineering iDirect Boosts
Speedcast Bandwidth

S

peedcast is to deploy the ST
Engineering iDirect Newtec Dialog
platform to provide worldwide satellite
broadband services for its customers.
The deployment will enable Speedcast
to respond to the exponential demand
for high-speed connectivity on board
cruise ships and may also be used for
other vertical market segments with
increasing bandwidth requirements,
such as yachting, oil and gas and the
enterprise market.
This builds upon the long-term
partnership that has been forged
between ST Engineering iDirect and
Speedcast, supporting mission-critical
communications in the world's most
remote regions.
The cruise market remains the
biggest user of maritime satellite
communications and is driving the
sector with its increasing demand for
connectivity.
"Our customers are increasingly faced
with the need to deliver a seamless,
high quality, high-speed connectivity
experience, which drives significant
growth in demand for Speedcast

services," said PJ Beylier,
CEO, Speedcast. "We were
looking for a technology
platform that could meet
our current and future
bandwidth challenges but
also that was versatile
enough to be used across
other market segments
where we were seeing
similar demands.
"The Dialog platform, with
its high throughput and
efficiency
capabilities,
Newtec Dialog
allows us to deploy high-end
satellite hubs
services and is ultimately
a natural extension of our existing ships and yachts. This network will
Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) give us a competitive advantage and
network. The partnership with ST enable us to continue to support the
Engineering iDirect will enable us to growing connectivity demands of our
deploy a unified platform for the cruise customers."
sector to drive network efficiencies "To stay ahead in this highly
and ultimately create a better competitive
and
increasingly
customer experience. This world-class digitalized market, fast and reliable
global maritime and offshore network connectivity is essential," said
will leverage the optimal satellite Thomas Van den Driessche, President
capacity over each region to deliver of the Executive Strategic Board
bandwidth to hundreds of cruise and Chief Commercial Officer, ST

InSAT

Engineering iDirect. "The
recent
integration
of
ST
Engineering
iDirect
and Newtec will ensure
that Speedcast is able to
maintain its lead in this
high-value market with a
forward-thinking, marketleading technology partner
that will remain dedicated
to protecting its investment
across its entire VSAT
network. We are proud
to support Speedcast, a
leading force in the maritime
market, with the network
capabilities that it needs to meet and
exceed its customers' requirements,
no matter how remote they are or
what their business entails."
Dialog can be used as a single
and multi-service VSAT platform
that allows operators and service
providers to build and adapt superior
infrastructure and satellite networking.
It gives operators the power to offer a
variety of mobile and fixed services on
a single platform.

Thales Alenia Space To Build Amazonas Nexus
H

ispasat has selected Thales Alenia
Space, a joint venture between
Thales and Leonardo, to construct the
Amazonas Nexus satellite.
The satellite will replace and expand
the capacities of the Amazonas 2
satellite, currently in orbit at 61° West.
The High Throughput Satellite (HTS)
will enable Hispasat to access new
customers and markets, by delivering
high capacity mobility services to the
air and maritime transport sectors,
among others.
In addition, it will continue the
provision of services to the current
Hispasat customers that use the
capacities of Amazonas 2. As prime
contractor, Thales Alenia Space will
be responsible for Amazonas Nexus
satellite design, production, testing
and in-orbit acceptance tests.
Rosario Martínez, President of
Hispasat, said: "This project, which is
of great relevance to respond to the
continuous growth in the demand for
connectivity, would not have been
possible without the determined
support of Hispasat shareholders.

At the Board of Directors, we are
convinced that Amazonas Nexus will
reinforce our competitive position
within the satellite market."
Amazonas Nexus features a new
generation
Digital
Transparent
Processor (DTP), a technological
breakthrough that is essential to
increase the geographical flexibility
of the mission to respond to eventual
evolutions with respect to the initially
envisaged commercial scenario.
Due to this element, the satellite
payload will be digitally processed,
allowing to assign in-orbit the required
capacities at any time, providing the
satellite with great resilience to the
evolution of the communications
market, both in the field of
connectivity and data and in the field
of contents transmission.
The advanced design, HTS capacity
and versatility of Amazonas Nexus will
make it the most efficient satellite in
Hispasat's fleet.
The satellite will have coverage
over the whole American continent,
the North Atlantic corridor (air and

Amazonas Nexus satellite
(Courtesy of Thales Alenia Space/Briot)

maritime traffic area) and Greenland,
and will enable the provision of
leading-edge
telecommunication
services in Ku band.
Amazonas Nexus also marks the start
of a new generation of satellites in
Hispasat's fleet with an innovative
architecture that also features
Ka-band
capacity
to
optimise
communications
between
the
gateways and the satellite, allowing
to multiply the total on-board capacity
available for commercial use, and
thus improving to a great extent the
capacity unitary cost with respect to

conventional satellites.
Based on the Spacebus NEO platform
from Thales Alenia Space, the satellite
will feature full electric propulsion,
making the satellite lighter and
contributing to lower the launch cost.
With an estimated lifetime of 15 years,
20kW satellite power and a mass of
4.5 metric tons at launch, Amazonas
Nexus will be launched mid-2022.
Amazonas Nexus is the third satellite
ordered by Hispasat to Thales Alenia
Space, after HISPASAT 1C & 1D, the
seventh satellite based on Spacebus
NEO platform.
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.newtec.eu http://www.hispasat.com
In Broadcast - February 2020

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