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High-Capacity Satellite System and ViaSat-1

High-Capacity Satellite System and ViaSat-1

“ViaSat-1 brings unprecedented bandwidth to space, at unprecedented airtime prices. It will enable ViaSat to expand on its consumer and government business segments, while also providing the opportunity to generate revenue from new applications and services, even markets that have traditionally not been the territory of satellite providers.” - Daniel Longfield, Frost & Sullivan

Applications:
Residential, enterprise, mobile, and portable broadband

Technologies:
High-capacity Ka-band satellite system, next-generation SurfBeam® 2 ground system

Transforming Satellite Broadband

The demand for broadband by satellite is indisputable, as is the worldwide growth in bandwidth demand among broadband customers. Total global bandwidth consumption is doubling every two to three years.

January 16, 2012 marked the official launch of a new era in satellite broadband IP services as ViaSat-1, the highest capacity satellite in the world, started providing commercial services over North America. The new high-capacity system is transforming the economics and quality of service that satellite broadband can provide, moving satellite into a much more competitive position in the broadband service marketplace.

ViaSat High Capacity Satellite System Can Deliver A Range of Broadband Services
In addition to the new ExedeSM by ViaSat residential service, the system is designed to significantly outperform previous satellite systems for commercial and government services. Customers are able to choose from a new family of terminals for enterprise, mobile, and portable applications.

Already on board to use ViaSat-1 capacity are Xplornet, which is scheduled for a February launch of consumer services in Canada, and JetBlue Airways, which plans to begin offering in-flight Ka-band broadband on its domestic U.S. fleet later this year.
 
Integrated Satellite and Ground System Combination
The all Ka-band system combines the ViaSat-1 satellite and SurfBeam® 2 ground infrastructure. With 140 Gbps total throughput capacity, the new satellite can serve the accelerating growth in demand for multimedia bandwidth for the next decade with these attributes: 
  • Economically deliver Internet multimedia
  • 100 times the capacity of Ku-band
  • 10 times the throughput of any other Ka-band satellite
  • In-orbit costs per Gbyte only a fraction of even the newest satellites in orbit
  • More – and cheaper – bits in space
    • KA-SAT capacity operational now at 70 Gbps
    • ViaSat-1 live on January 16, with more capacity than all current North American satellites combined

  • Enable service on par with median DSL and a better broadband choice than some terrestrial alternatives, including DSL at the edge of service areas, mobile 3G wireless for fixed home use, and many cable systems 
  • ViaSat-1 to offer 12 Mbps download service packages to approximately 1 million subscribers

ViaSat-1

Current satellite systems aren’t designed for the high bandwidth applications that people want, such as video, photo sharing, VoIP, and peer-to-peer networking. The solution is to increase the capacity and speed of the satellite. Improving satellite service is not just about faster speeds, but about increasing the bandwidth capacity available to each customer on the network to reduce network contention.

The transformational broadband services provided by ViaSat-1 will be available to 70% of the U.S. population, including the most populated areas of Alaska and Hawaii. Combined with enhanced 5 Mbps service offered in areas within the footprint of ViaSat’s other satellite assets, a new generation of high-speed satellite IP will be available across all of the United States.

 

  

Real-time video of a browsing session using the same bandwidth allocation and web acceleration 
as future WildBlue service on ViaSat-1.

Expanding Our Role as a Technology Supplier
We are expanding our role in the Ka-band satellite market, where we are already the leading technology supplier. Over the past few years we’ve assembled an exceptional group of technologies that make this innovation possible:

An Experienced Team of Broadband Innovators
The venture joins us together with strategic partners with a record of innovation and success in this market:

  • Space Systems Loral
  • Telesat Canada
  • Xplornet Communications 
  • Eutelsat (KA-SAT)
  • Skylogic
We view our next-generation Ka-band technology as the first in a series of innovations that can keep satellite broadband in an attractive position to serve the millions of homes which are difficult or expensive to reach by wireline networks. To enable ISPs and satellite service providers to expand their network reach and compete more effectively, we offer this system of low-cost, high-volume bandwidth and ground system technology.

 


©2012 ViaSat, Inc.