This BPA effectively gives the DoD a contract vehicle in which to purchase satellite communications services via the O3b MEO constellation – opening the door for the military to increasingly incorporate this advanced high-throughput satellite constellation into its larger satellite infrastructure.

Although the O3b MEO satellite constellation is relatively new to space by satellite industry standards, its use by the federal government and DoD is not. SES Space and Defense has made multiple announcements about seemingly ever-increasing use of their constellation by the DoD.

To learn more about what this new BPA means for the DoD we sat down with Mike Blefko, the Vice President of Business Development at SES Space and Defense. During our discussion, we talked about the unique capabilities that MEO satellite delivers to the military, the advantages of acquiring satellite as a managed service and how this BPA will open the door to increased connectivity at the tip of the spear.

This is what Mike had to say:

Government Satellite Report (GSR): What does this BPA enable the military to purchase? Which organizations can utilize this BPA, and what services can they purchase through it?

Mike Blefko: The BPA will give the entire DoD access to end-to-end O3b MEO managed services. These managed services can deliver bandwidth in three month periods and in increments of 100 Mbps to an entire beam’s worth of capacity.

Since it’s an end-to-end managed service, military users will also receive the requisite terminals, including .85m, 2.4m, 4m+ terminals. They also get access to Field Service Representative (FSR) support, installation services, leased terrestrial backhaul, training, HNA support, shipping and ODC support.

Any DoD organization can utilize this BPA. And the BPA will give them access to literally everything they need to start using our O3b MEO constellation.

GSR: What can MEO satellite constellations deliver that the WGS and other military satellite constellations can’t? Why is this important in today’s military?

Mike Blefko: MEO is a great solution for today’s military in that it provides fiber-like connectivity via satellite at a price that is 30-50 percent less than typical geosynchronous (GEO) satellite managed services.

MEO satellite connections are low latency, making the user experience more real time.  Files transfer faster, videos are transmitted in real time with no buffering, web pages load with no pixilation or buffering, and terabyte size files transfer in hours and not days.

There is a reason why 4G LTE service providers use O3b as backhaul for data AND voice networks.

GSR: SES Space and Defense has announced that this BPA covers managed services. What is a satellite managed service? How is it different from how satellite bandwidth is traditionally purchased? Why are satellite managed services attractive for the DoD today?

Mike Blefko: A managed service in its simplest terms delivers an Ethernet port at both sides of a customer link.  What occurs in between with respect to satellite bandwidth, terrestrial connectivity, antenna terminals, and field support is transparent to the user for these services.

This differs from traditional purchased products in the satellite industry. In that model, satellite communications providers and hardware providers supplied all the elements of the service individually to the government. The government customer then performed the integration.

In a managed service environment, there’s a single “managed service” contract that takes the place of a contract for throughput, a terrestrial backhaul contract, an FSR contract, and a satellite terminal contract which were all individually bid and awarded. That’s attractive to the DoD because it’s simpler and enables them to have a single Service Level Agreement (SLA) that specifies a percent availability in which to measure the performance of the service provider.

In the case of SES Space and Defense and its MEO managed service, the typical SLA we provide to our government customers is at or above 99.5 percent availability.

Ultimately, traditional acquisition models diffuse the responsibility from the ultimate goal, reliably delivering ‘1s and 0s’ end-to-end for mission critical applications.  By having a managed service provider that is responsible for the terminal, space segment, and terrestrial backhaul segment the DoD has one point of contact that handles and is responsible for everything.

GSR: The DoD is understandably risk adverse when it comes to rolling out new services and solutions. Has the DoD been testing MEO satellites for military communications prior to the release of this BPA? How have those initial MEO implementations impacted this contract?

Mike Blefko: When the lives of warfighters are on the line, it’s completely understandable why they’d be somewhat hesitant to just roll out new technologies and services without testing them extensively first. In fact, that’s exactly what they’ve done with SES Space and Defense MEO satellite services.

The DoD has been testing the company’s MEO services since 2014 – in demonstrations and with smaller contracts. SES Space and Defense has done demonstrations for virtually every branch of the military, every command and every disparate organization within the DoD over the past four years. As we’ve announced in the past, the DoD has leased MEO beams, as well.

In all of those demonstrations and in our past performance on contracts, the DoD has grown comfortable with our ability to deliver on what we promise – reliable, fiber-like connectivity from space.

For additional information on the new DoD BPA, click HERE to access the official press release from SES Space and Defense. For additional information on MEO satellite constellations and the capabilities they can deliver to government agencies, download the following resources:

• White Paper: High Throughput on the High Seas
• MEO White Paper: A New Era of Connectivity
• VIDEO – MEO Satellites: Knowing makes all the difference

The post Landmark DoD contract to make MEO satellite service available to the entire military appeared first on SES Space and Defense.

These events provide the military with the ability to conduct field experiments on new resources and technologies to assess if they could potentially improve operations for the military, disaster response, and emergency management. They also provide a cooperative learning environment where military personnel come together with other federal, state and local agencies to identify best practices and new ways in which technology improves operational efficiency, effectiveness and mission assurance.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend a JIFX event at Camp Roberts that was testing out the use of our O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite constellation for the distribution and dissemination of 4K video. The project – entitled the NPS Video Cloud System Project – was intended to test interoperable communication solutions in network-denied disaster response environments.

Effectively, the government was looking to utilize advanced computer hardware and video codecs, in conjunction with MEO satellite services, to, “…stream live 4K video via satellite from remote locations in support of military public affairs organizations.”

Connectivity for NPS, as well as a large proportion of current military operations, occur in remote, network-denied regions. This makes streaming live video over MEO satellites for public affairs purposes, or Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) purposes, critical.

More data, more (bandwidth) challenges
The JIFX test – which proved to be extremely successful – is an indication of things to come for America’s military. Data distribution and sharing requirements are increasingly important in everything that the military does and will only grow in the future. As such, the types and sizes of files being sent are shifting rapidly.

Today’s military is looking for ways to send more data than ever before. Even with advanced codecs, compression technologies and specialized hardware, essential communication capabilities such as video teleconferencing (VTC), 4K video and real time mobile applications utilize much more bandwidth than what the military traditionally sent over its networks in the past.

The ability to transmit and receive these files efficiently and with zero packet loss is why MEO satellite constellations are such an attractive option for the military. These satellites have the same ability as GEO satellites to deliver data, voice and video into practically any geographic location – particularly to those with no or little terrestrial network infrastructure. However, in contrast to GEO satellites, MEO satellites are approximately one quarter the distance from Earth. This proximity enables the constellation to deliver higher throughput (up to 600 Mbps/600Mbps) with much lower latency (less than 200 milliseconds, end-to-end). This equates to delivery of a fiber-like connectivity from space.

The JIFX test focused on transmitting 4K video for public affairs teams, however this application is just one of many for this technology in the military. Here are a few more:

• ISR – Delivering 4K and HD video reconnaissance and intelligence to and from battlefields to improve situational awareness.
• Large file transfer – Transmitting of today’s large files (100 GB in 27 minutes) – from video to large datasets – between warfighters in the field and senior decision makers.
• Interactive, real time applications – Powering the use of mobile applications that request data in real time for full effectiveness and capability.
• 4G LTE bubbles – Using MEO satellites for mobile backhaul to power pockets of 4G connectivity and enable the use of military mobile devices and other technologies.
• Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) – Delivering internet connectivity and social media access for warfighters in the field

The successful JIFX test proved that MEO can deliver connectivity in network-denied areas.  It is clear that current and future military technologies require the bandwidth that MEO can deliver. But, can the military afford it?

Analyzing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for MEO
MEO satellite constellations are built for delivering large amounts of data with low latency.  MEO delivers that capability efficiently and cost effectively, which is essential for the military today. In fact, there are multiple concepts of operation (CONOPs) that are ideal for MEO satellite constellations, most involving the transfer of large amounts of data traffic (100 Mbps).

In these specific large data application scenarios, the military has examined the TCO of MEO – and they like what they see.

MEO constellations are built for high bandwidth applications. In contrast to GEO constellations, MEO offers a much lower cost per megabit alternative. Considering how much bandwidth could be used transmitting real time data or live streaming 4K video, the bandwidth per Mb price truly comes in to focus.

Overall, the use of MEO satellite constellations for high bandwidth implementations can save as much as 25 to 50 percent of what it would cost for the same amount of throughput on a GEO constellation. Over a very short time (less than six months), this results in significant savings for the U.S. government, making year over year operation extremely economical as compared to GEO.

That being said, MEO satellites will never replace GEO for all military implementations and uses. In many CONOPS, GEO is still the better solution.

When GEO trumps MEO
Having spent the better part of 900 words extolling the benefits of MEO satellites, it would be a disservice to my readers if I didn’t mention that MEO constellations are not the superior choice in all instances. In fact, legacy GEO satellite constellations, as well as newly emerging High Throughput Satellite (HTS) constellations, will continue to break new barriers in service.

Evident in the image below, MEO beams (450 miles diameter) cover significantly less area than GEO beams. This means that any CONOP that requires moving over large distances will obviate the need for GEO. GEO beams cover so much geography that any movement within a relatively large area will still be covered – most likely by the same GEO beam.

GEO connectivity is important to the military, since warfighters, camps, and vehicles that require connectivity do not always stay in one place. In fact, they are often mobile over a wide geographic region. In these instances, the small coverage area of a MEO satellite beam is trumped by the more ubiquitous GEO beam.

IT and data are essential for our modern military, and the bandwidth demands of the next generation solutions and IT capabilities that the military is utilizing in the field are rising. The military needs high throughput connectivity in network-denied areas. MEO is the only solution that can deliver the fiber-like connectivity the military needs, without the physical fiber – and without breaking the bank.

Additional resources:

• White Paper: O3b “Fiber Like” Satellite Communications for U.S. Government Applications
• Milsat Magazine: What Fiber in the Sky Means to the Warfighter Today
• Video: Fiber in the Sky

The post The cost efficiency of MEO for today’s high throughput and low latency demands appeared first on SES Space and Defense.