Page 126 - SAMENA Trends - July-August 2022

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

O3b mPOWER’s real superpower is its initial constellation of 11 satellites in the unprecedented levels of automation,
software that is spanning the satellites, medium-earth orbit (MEO), that will cover revolutionary for the industry.
ground stations, modems, antennas and 96 percent of the population and areas You’ve already announced a number of
even through to the cloud. Our vision for the where connectivity is needed most. It will O3b mPOWER customers – what are
future of satellite-based connectivity is that have significantly more capacity than the some of the early applications the market
customers are able to simply order what previous generation of MEO. expects to see?
they need depending on locations, capacity As more new customers turn towards
and other service parameters – and the What about the ground segment? satellite connectivity, the overall market
software-driven orchestration implements This is another fundamental part of trend is that they are also looking for
the service automatically in real-time. the equation, and specifically the new resiliency and ability to benefit from the
There are many different elements coming ground stations we are building, modem multi-orbit technology. Today, we are the
together in the O3b mPOWER ecosystem. technologies, new edge compute only provider of multi-orbit solutions, and
capabilities and the ability to land traffic our customers value the performance of
As more new customers at a managed or private gateway or even MEO, including its ideal balance between

turn towards satellite directly into Azure or another cloud data reach as well as low latency and high
connectivity, the overall center. throughput.
market trend is that For ground, the key area of focus has been In terms of uses, we see a lot of interest
they are also looking for on working on next-gen customer terminals from government customers, including
those looking to set up sovereign networks,
and antennas – from flat panels to multi-
resiliency and ability to beam antennas – to suit a wide range of or use it to bolster ISR capabilities,
benefit from the multi- market segments and customer business bringing them to a new level. For fixed data
customers, there is strong demand for
requirements. We’ve been actively testing
orbit technology. Today, antennas for the various segments from using it for cellular backhaul – like Orange
we are the only provider multiple providers, such as Isotropic plans to – as well as expanding cloud
of multi-orbit solutions, Systems, Intellian, Comtech, Gilat, ST domains to new locations. And, of course,
Engineering iDirect, Orbit, among others.
maritime where our cruise clients like
and our customers value Carnival will use added capacity to create
the performance of MEO, You mentioned that software is the real new customer experiences on ships, bring
better connectivity on more routes. We’re
superpower of O3b mPOWER, what does it
including its ideal balance mean in practice? also seeing connectivity increasingly added
between reach as well Software is implemented across all the key to different classes of maritime vessels.
as low latency and high elements of O3b mPOWER. In fact, we are What can we expect next in the O3b
holistically integrating a range of cutting-
throughput. edge software that forms a system – to give mPOWER journey?
us the flexible, real-time control, supporting It’s an exciting time for us as our satellites
To start with space, what can you tell us our fully automated vision. We worked are undergoing a series of testing, just
about the satellites? with partners like Microsoft for instance, months away from launch time. From
The ecosystem vision was the driving force but also with many others, leaders in their an ecosystem perspective, we continue
behind the design of O3b mPOWER, and we specific domain. expanding our partnerships around
knew from day one that it was something new antennas and adding more ground
that would require the collaboration, A great example of this is the Adaptive stations, these developments create an
engineering expertise and insights of a Resource Control (ARC) that we are impressive momentum. Most importantly,
wide range of partners to make it a reality. developing with Kythera Space Solutions. we’ll continue to invest and collaborate on
So, space is indeed one of the fundamental ARC enables control and optimisation of new software capabilities as O3b mPOWER
parts of this ecosystem. To build the power, throughput, beams and frequency is the first system that will not have static
satellites, we worked closely with Boeing allocation across O3b mPOWER’s space features locked in at launch - but systems
to create the first fully digitised and and ground assets – as well as our next- that can evolve, adapt and change through
beam-forming aircraft, including an generation GEO satellites. This allows software to address new customer needs.

126 JULY-AUGUST 2022