There’s been a lot of talk about telco/satcom integration, where terrestrial and satellite networks are blended to create a seamless, resilient, end-to-end network, but there have been fewer concrete examples that illustrate why that integration matters and how it might work.
Kratos and a handful of industry-leading companies from both the satellite and telecom industries took a solid step toward changing that paradigm last month, demonstrating how telco and satcom operators could create a single service that would deliver full data connectivity to emergency responders. The demo took place at the DTW Ignite event in Copenhagen, an annual global summit organized by TM Forum, a global industry organization driving digital business transformation.
A natural disaster frequently disrupts terrestrial network connectivity—sometimes for an extended period of time—and this disruption is more than an inconvenience for these communities. First responders such as emergency medical personnel, firefighters and relief agencies need access to reliable communications channels. Integrating satellite communications with the terrestrial network can provide that access, but ensuring the end-to-end connectivity needed to support lifesaving emergency services necessitates the integration of not only networks, but also back-office functions such as service assurance, SLA management and settlement.
The demonstration at the DTW event was one of the TM Forum’s Catalyst projects, which are proof-of-concept efforts that address industry challenges using TM Forum’s best practices and standards. Titled Satcom with an Edge, the project built on previous Catalyst work to demonstrate how SD-WAN can enable intelligent traffic routing across networks and orbits based on application requirements. It also showed how TM Forum Open APIs can be used across terrestrial and satcom environments to deliver an end-to-end service that is abstracted from the underlying network technology. For first responders, this means emergency response teams can connect with each other and with mission-critical cloud services to save lives and rebuild.
I believe that this project was groundbreaking in that it provides a blueprint for other use cases that depend on hybrid connectivity services, and I’m proud to say that the TM Forum judges agreed with my assessment. Satcom with an Edge won the Outstanding Catalyst title in the Tech for Good category, which recognizes the exemplary use of technology to positively impact both community welfare and organizational culture.
For more information, and to see for yourself the hard work of this team and the impressive outcomes it attained, check out the Catalyst project page here.
