NTT Data Middle East and Africa announced that it has launched LEO satellite-based connectivity solutions across the African continent, and has already signed on nine customers from sectors such as retail, banking, mining, and logistics.
NTT Data – a.k.a. the IT infrastructure and services company formerly known as Dimension Data until last month – is offering a vertical solution that combines an integrated geostationary and low-orbit satellite solution with established fibre and wireless networks, which it says provides enhanced performance for multiple use-cases including access to latency-sensitive applications as well as real-time services such as videoconferencing.
Greg Hatfield, VP of Infrastructure Solutions at NTT Data, acknowledged that the company is banking on the fact that satellite connectivity options have seen a surge in demand across the continent following a rash of international subsea cable breaks this year. With the satellite solutions field consequently becoming increasingly competitive, NTT Data’s strategy is to take a vertical approach and focus on deployments for key clients in selected industries.
“Our approach is to provide LEO-based connectivity solutions using industry specific full-stack architecture. This enables business transformation for our clients, as opposed to simply connecting their locations,” Hatfield said in a statement. “The enhanced attributes of LEO only reach their full potential when used in an integrated infrastructure and application ecosystem tailored to the requirements of the organisation.”
This also enables NTT Data to tailor its satellite solutions for customers, he added. “As specialist aggregators and integrators we can go all the way up their stack to integrate LEO-based connectivity solutions into any other element of their infrastructure.”