Loral Skynet today announced Tuesday that SkyReach, the company's Internet Protocol (IP) enabled service that provides two-way broadband services for secure private networks or high-speed Internet access, is now commercially available throughout the Americas.
"With SkyReach, enterprises and specialty service providers that need to reach multiple locations, whether in well-served or remote areas, will benefit from the reach and service quality of Skynet's IP-based network over satellite," said Terry Hart, president, Loral Skynet.
"In addition to general communication service providers, Skynet is working with enterprises in the healthcare, petroleum, and finance industries to provide two-way high-speed services among these industries' multiple, geographically dispersed sites."
Skynet has begun providing its SkyReach IP-enabled services to Florida-based Vox2Healthcare which will see up to 1000 sites enabled SkyReach's IP-based network technology. In addition, fhe Federal services agency Government Service Integrator has developed a SkyReach network that utilizes innovative unicast and multicast features over the Internet, enabling a clear communications channel between military bases in North America.
Using very small aperture terminals (VSATs), SkyReach allows organizations to create an instant infrastructure for a network that can connect offices within a city or around the globe.
SkyReach supports C-, Ku- and Ka-band frequencies, offers better throughput and efficiency than current VSAT networks (2 Mbps forward link; 512 Kbps return) and allows end-users to select from a choice of on-site equipment to meet their specific networking needs, such as satellite interactive terminals supporting different data rates and networking features.
SkyReach Release 1.0 offers services that complement existing frame relay and multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) networks and enables efficient network management. SkyReach is optimized to provide a common platform on which to converge data, voice and video requirements onto a single secure IP network.
SkyReach Release 2.0, scheduled to be introduced later this year, will add improved routing features for attached local area networks, higher data rates, and enhanced quality of service management features.
SkyReach, which operates over the IA-7 (formerly Telstar 7) satellite in North America and Telstar 12 in Latin America, is scheduled to roll out in Europe and Asia later in 2004.
