Industry Interview: Globecomm
MIT 2010 Volume: 14 Issue: 5 (June)
Globecomm
Q: What types of products and services does Globecomm offer to military and other government customers?
A: Globecomm’s emphasis for the past 10 years has been on Internet Protocol over satellite. Our offerings to military and government relate to three general categories: satellite terminal hardware— everything from small microsats to autoacquiring fly-aways—vehicle-mounted systems and large full-scale earth stations. Just about everything these days is IP-centric. The commercial world caught onto that early on, and the government has certainly climbed onboard in the last several years. Globecomm’s ability to provide the infrastructure for an IP-centric network is one of our main strengths. Secondly, as a managed network services company, we’re in the business of moving bits from point A to point B, and doing that in an IP-centric fashion. Lastly, as a professional engineering services provider, we offer high-level consulting services as well as engineering services to our customers. We design, architect and implement IP-centric networks, from a transport, voice over IP and an information security perspective.
Q: What unique benefits does your company provide its customers in comparison with other companies in your field?
A: On the hardware/infrastructure/systems integration side of the business, we bring value engineering to the table in that we know how to make everything work in a customized manner. Today, with the advent of L-Band interface technologies, putting together a simple VSAT terminal, comprising an antenna, receiver, transmitter and modem, does not require much technical know-how. It is quite common for someone to be able to put together that simple type of system. However, at Globecomm, we go above and beyond in terms of engineering for greater reliability, greater availability and better logistics support, making it smaller in terms of cubic dimensions and making it lighter-weight. But with smaller packaging of electronic equipment, complications with RF interference and heat dissipation from a mechanical design perspective come into play. We have the in-depth engineering and technical bench strength to work through those issues and optimize the design.
Moreover, from the managed network services perspective, it’s all about maximizing bits per hertz. In the IP-centric world, it’s about moving the bits through the network while consuming the least amount of satellite bandwidth, because satellite bandwidth, from a month-tomonth perspective, is the primary costdriver. The more bits you can move for the fewest number of hertz provides the greatest value to the customer. In our current market, we often compete directly with satellite operators, who are in the business of selling as much bandwidth as they can because they need to fill up their fleets. We don’t have that mandate; our mission is to provide the most optimal and cost-efficient solution to the customer that will meet or exceed their requirements.
On the professional engineering services side, it’s bringing true knowledge and expertise to the table in the telecommunications and information technology space.
Q: What recommendations do you have for potential military/government customers with regard to sourcing new requirements, needs and so on?
A: Many potential customers come to the table with a very fixed set of requirements that they want you to respond to. In some cases, that’s efficient, but in others they’re almost cheating themselves by not getting outside the box a little bit and looking at the problem in a slightly different way—a way that allows us to bring some creativity and new ideas to the table. These are not necessarily higher risk items, but especially in an IP-centric network fashion, it’s all about maximizing the network. We recommend opening up the dialogue so that they can explore all facets of potential solutions given their requirements. A lot of agencies do that very well, but others tend to be a bit more rigid in their approach.
Q: What new products and services relevant to military and government customers are you hoping to bring to the market in the future?
A: On the hardware side, users are offered new frequencies in the satellite communications space. Although it’s not new, X-Band is an example, with the advent of the Wideband Global Satellite fleet that the Department of Defense is putting up. The provisioning of commercial X-Band services is an option for the military and government. Commercial X-Band providers are seeing renewed interest in the frequency, which is facilitating new equipment development. Ka-Band is another new frequency, which is capable of achieving tremendous bandwidth throughput capabilities. It requires new equipment, new designs and new test equipment.
On the managed network services side, it is all about the convergence of voice, data and video over IP. This offering has been in the making for years and finally come to fruition. For its commercial customers, Globecomm is heavily focused on content delivery, which converges voice, video and data for distance learning, corporate communications or training. In the future, we’ll look to bring new applications to the government that focus on what is being transported over the network. ♦
