by Greg Berlocher<\/p>\n
An overflow crowd of executives eager to hear good news listened intently as Maury Mechanick, counsel at White & Case, moderated a panel reviewing the hottest markets for satellite products and services. Mechanick likened the pursuit of a particular market by a business to betting on a particular horse in a race. \u201cIf you place a bet, you want to make sure you win,\u201d he said. With the stage set, the panel discussed the enterprise video, mobility, broadband and emerging markets.<\/p>\n
\n Video continues its pervasive march from our daily lives into the business world. All of the panelists gave anecdotal evidence of the shift towards video and the relative importance it will play in the satellite market. Sampath Ramaswami, senior director at Hughes, said training has shifted from an instructor-led paradigm to more YouTube-like, video-on-demand for enterprise training applications. He also noted that more customers are requesting upstream video applications (remote location back to headquarters) such as surveillance, where in the past video exclusively was a downstream application (headquarters to remote locations).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n Greg Pelton, general manager of the Cisco IRIS program, highlighted video\u2019s growing importance in enterprise networks and the effect it will have on carriers. \u201cAlmost any business meeting you attend these days has a video component,\u201d Pelton said. \u201cThe use of collaborative systems is growing quickly. The use of video basically changes how you interact with others in any organization. Video is unpredictable which make architecting a network challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Brett Belinsky, strategy director at Arqiva, said the evolution of video applications, noting that video networks used to have their own equipment and never were thought of as being part of the network. \u201cThat has all changed now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n The panel agreed that customers are demanding mobility solutions regardless of their locations. \u201cEnd users now have an expectation to be able to move from place to place and have access to their ERP applications, regardless of their locations,\u201d Pelton said.<\/p>\n
\n David Myers, executive vice president and general manager at CapRock Government Solutions, which provides mobility solutions to the energy, military and maritime markets, echoed the ever-growing demand for higher bandwidth mobility solutions, pointing out that many clients outgrow the limited bandwidth provided by MSS solutions. \u201cOur clients have requested an upgrade path that provides a sustained data rate and an economical cost per bit transmitted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n Crew morale and retention are important challenges in the maritime market, and Belinsky pointed out that digital rights management issues will become an increasingly important aspect of maritime mobility solutions. Belinsky noted that in-flight entertainment is another growing aspect within the greater discussion on mobility and predicted that fewer media rich applications, such as featured movies, will be downloaded by the airlines to airplanes. Instead, in-flight Internet access will lead to the decline of in-flight movies.<\/p>\n
\n Koby Zontag, director of sales at RRsat, agreed with the importance of mobility applications, pointing out that the company had recently invested in a new Inmarsat terminal. \u201cEventually, service providers will need to provide broadband mobility applications to serve this market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n Broadband continues to be the 800-pound gorilla and its importance was emphasized by all of the panelists. Serge Van Herck, CEO of Newtec, noted that SES has rolled out 60,000-plus broadband terminals in Europe and the Middle East. Van Herck noted that there are three keys to success in this market: cost of the VSAT terminal, ease of installation and having access to important markets. \u201cTerminal costs have dropped into the $400 range,\u201d Van Herck said, \u201cbut we may be able to deliver a terminal breaking the $100 threshold in the next six to10 years. Once the cost of hardware and quality installations are taken care of, you need to ensure you have access to your intended markets. You must pick partners with string relationships with the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Ramaswami pointed to the 500,000 subscribers of Hughes\u2019 broadband services, noting that new service plans up to 5 megabits per second will be available in the future.<\/p>\n
\n Pelton summed up the broadband market nicely, comparing high speed broadband to utility services we take for granted, such as water and electric services. \u201cBroadband is hard to live without. As broadband has been accepted, consumers are now expecting triple- or quad-play (TV, Internet, telephone, and cellular) services in a single bundle from the broadband provider,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n Emerging markets have always been a good fit for the satellite industry and that trend continues, although a new list of countries were discussed as being the hottest potential markets. The panel utilized the acronym CIVETS to describe Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa, all of which show the potential for increased consumption of satellite products and services. \u201cYou want to fish were the fish are,\u201d said Belinsky. \u201cThese markets appear to hold much promise.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Zontag noted that Africa as a whole has been recognized for its potential but it has lagged. \u201cSouth Africa is moving forward and is helping pull the rest of the continent with it.\u201d He saw a large increase in the demand for services by both Vietnam and Turkey, noting the Turkish transportation system is well-developed and a prime candidate for mobility solutions.<\/p>\n
\n Van Herck rated the potential for each of the CIVETS countries, using both market penetration of broadband and the number of people without broadband services. Of the group, Van Herck rated Columbia last on the list because the penetration rate for broadband stands at 45 percent, with only 23 million people left unserved. South Africa has only 9 percent market penetration, but only 45 million left unserved.<\/p>\n
\n While 26 percent of the population of Turkey has access to broadband, there are still 50 million unserved. Egypt, Vietnam and Indonesian top the list, respectively, with potential subscribers ranging from 66 million to 210 million unserved customers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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