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GE Americom Unveils Aggressive IP Services Strategy
Solutions Provide Access to the U.S. Internet Backbone Via Satellite
In response to strong customer demand and continued growth of the Internet, GE Americom is introducing Internet based services that will serve as a natural extension of the company痴 comprehensive line of broadband data solutions. The new offerings, set to reach the marketplace by June 2001, will provide provisioned infrastructure services for mediacasting and high-speed, reliable access services to the U.S. Internet backbone. Each service offers a range of value-added features for different market segments, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), Application Service Providers (ASPs) and enterprise customers. Americom formed a dedicated IP & Telecoms sales group in Q3 2000 to support the imminent rollout of these next-generation solutions, which will initially serve Latin America and the Caribbean.
"The IP segment is the fastest growing portion of our business," explains Michael Agostinelli, Vice President - Sales, IP Solutions, GE Americom. "Other traditional areas of our business are still seeing increases, but not at same rates as the IP services marketplace. Therefore, we feel the best approach is to provide an enhanced set of services beyond the space segment, while still allowing customers the ability to tailor a customized solution."
GE Americom痴 two primary IP offerings are:
These services will provide infrastructure capabilities to distribute Internet media, transfer files and webcasts, for the mediacasters, CDNs, ISPs, ASPs and enterprise customers. An Internet gateway provides IP encapsulation and encoding, and the ability to uplink services to an Americom satellite.
"The most significant benefits of our IP services plan relate to the quality of the satellites we致e chosen to deploy our services combined with the fact that we have Internet hubs located in very desirable Internet locations with redundant, high quality terrestrial interconnections between these facilities," notes Rosalie Phelan, Director of Service Marketing Management, GE Americom.
These services provide significant time and cost savings compared to existing terrestrial solutions. And since GE Americom can co-locate all customer hardware and equipment at it痴 Internet hubs, customers can cut operations expenses and focus resources on mission-critical business functions.
"We realize there is no perfect solution for the Internet, so we致e built a tailorable service platform," adds Agostinelli. "Customers have access to our engineering, terrestrial and operational departments. We池e giving customers the best value for the money by utilizing common platforms, facilities and terrestrial infrastructures across all our services. Customers can choose to either host equipment at our facility, or house the equipment at their facility and backhaul the content into our terrestrial network."
Customers will be able to take advantage of the added reach and overall benefits of the GEi international fleet, which will provide transoceanic capacity beginning in 2003. Sites around the world can be added through Americom痴 existing terrestrial infrastructure and access network, which means customers can be operating on five different satellites from the same terrestrial access point. Americom handles all the earth station investment, in addition to the management of the multiplexes and encapsulation equipment.
To find out more about Americom Internet services and broadband solutions ask about the Customer Broadband Forums scheduled throughout the year. For example, the recent forum focused on how to conduct training over a muticast network and how to connect remote locations worldwide to a corporate Intranet. The next Broadband Forum will be held in June in San Diego.
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