[SatNews] Simultaneous delivery of residential, enterprise and mobile broadband...

ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) is introducing its SurfBeam® 2 satellite networking system that enables fast and cost-effective satellite broadband services. The new system is designed to simultaneously deliver a wide range of residential, enterprise, and mobile broadband services. Customers can choose from a new family of SurfBeam 2 terminals for consumer, enterprise, on-the-move, and portable applications. The new SurfBeam 2 system builds off the previous success of SurfBeam, the first satellite networking system designed from the ground up for economical, mass market broadband networking. The SurfBeam system is the leading choice for residential broadband, with installations in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and over 800,000 units shipped.

“Skylogic has a great history of success with ViaSat and the SurfBeam system, so we have been looking forward to providing the increased performance of SurfBeam 2 networking to our customers,” said Roberto Vitalone, system architect, Eutelsat. “The system started on the first crank and is performing like a fine-tuned Ferrari to power our Tooway™ satellite broadband Internet service over KA-SAT.”

Through a design based on terrestrial networking standards, SurfBeam 2 brings economies of scale, easy customer provisioning, and mature network management options to satellite broadband providers. The system combines the terminal pricing, data speeds, network scale, and management systems needed to deliver a fast web experience that enables satellite service to compete effectively against terrestrial alternatives such as DSL. A number of new elements are included in the design:

• Higher integration of elements in the modem, RF equipment, and gateway electronics for lower costs and increased reliability
• Integrated web acceleration for improved user experience through high-speed response when browsing or uploading and downloading video, music, and photos
• More powerful network traffic processing and management
• Simplified user terminal installation and provisioning
• Complete gateway-to-customer system architecture, but a modular design to fit turn-key network installations or integration into other terrestrial or wireless networks
• Adoption of industry-standard DVB-S2 transmission

Finally, SurfBeam 2 is the first ground system to provide access to the new transformational high-capacity satellites, including KA-SAT and continuing with the scheduled launch of ViaSat-1 this summer for the WildBlue and Xplornet direct-to-home services in North America. Only a tightly integrated system can optimize the power and new bandwidth economics of this new generation of satellites, enabling a true high-speed broadband service that is competitive with terrestrial alternatives.