COMSYS VSAT2009 Conference

Tuesday 14th September 2010

Pre-Conference Workshops

Wednesday 15th September 2010

Day One : TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS

Opening Remarks from the Chairman

Jeremy Rose, Senior Consultant, COMSYS, UK

Worse Things Happen at Sea
Simon Bull, Senior Consultant, COMSYS, UK
If you thought you had it bad, spare a thought for the ship owner. Despite the downturn, the maritime VSAT market has continued to grow, penetrate new sub-segments and innovate with applications and technology. This is VSAT at its best and there are lessons to be learnt from businesses in the niche - for the whole industry.

Keynote: Specialising in the Common Need
Paul Gaske, EVP and General Manager, North American Division, Hughes, USA
Hughes now derives almost three quarters of its revenues from services and manages locations in multiple regions with thousands of customers. These cover many different connection acronyms from ADSL through EVDO to VSAT. The management capability came with the company's VSAT heritage which, even now, forms the core of an increasingly hybrid networking challenge to provide a single sourced, fully managed solution.

Morning Tea & Coffee

Creative Networking
David Bettinger, CTO, iDirect, USA
With DVB-S2 now embedded in the market and no obvious new transmission technologies on the horizon, platform vendors are turning their attention towards features and capabilities that will allow an operator to both optimise their systems and create new opportunities of value. As always, iDirect has some imaginative ideas for what the future might hold.

What consumes the consumer?
Serge van Herck, CEO, Newtec, Belgium
Newtec's Sat3Play platform is now in use by more than 60,000 consumers in Europe, but serving this market is an ever changing challenge. New applications and demands must be balanced against system costs, so what are the compromises and what does the industry need to do to be successful in the European market?

Will the Spots Become a Rash?
Mark Dankberg, CEO, ViaSat, USA
Now that high throughput spot-beam satellites are proven in North America and on the verge of being launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will worldwide coverage soon be a reality? With projects mooted for almost all regions of the world, this could be the case and ViaSat is working hard to both enable and participate in this trend.

Lunch sponsored by ViaSat

A Moving Obligation
Daniel Enns, Senior VP, Strategic Marketing & Business Development, Comtech, USA
Several forward-thinking governments have begun to transfer the responsibility of the universal service obligation from the fixed to the mobile operators. Whilst this brings real benefits to the cellular industry's expansion to the "next billion" and the prospect of mobile connectivity to many more rural users, it also creates challenges for the VSAT industry. The scale of the potential market and how this need can be served are the focal points of this presentation.

Is there enough fibre in your diet?
Simon Gatty-Saunt, VP Sales, Europe & CIS, SES WORLD SKIES, Netherlands
Fibre is arriving faster and in locations no one would have predicted a few years ago but it still remains a hard threat to quantify. SES WORLD SKIES has been monitoring the effect on VSAT services as it penetrates what has previously been exclusively satellite territory and has some interesting observations.

Afternoon Tea

A Rainbow of Opportunity
Amiram Levinberg, CEO, Gilat, Israel
Responsibility for end-to-end network management has always been a distinguishing factor for a VSAT operator versus those that focus on terrestrial connectivity. As terrestrial connectivity becomes more pervasive, the opportunity arises for specialist providers to integrate value added services in a managed hybrid solution using open, intelligent platforms. Once again, the US has led the way, but prospects in developing markets are also beginning to emerge.

The Importance of Having the Right Connections
Brian Holz, EVP and CTO, O3b Networks, Jersey
With SES now backing the project, O3b has credibility as well as a vision. Will the promise of bandwidth and low latency finally bring fibre to the sky and what will it mean to you?

Easing the Capacity Shortages
Andrew Wallace, Chief Commercial Officer, Eutelsat, France
As any VSAT operator will be first to highlight, it is not just the cost of space segment that is a major concern but also its availability and quality. With the launch of W3B with its mission over sub-Saharan Africa and KA-SAT’s game changing potential over Europe, how will Eutelsat be in a position to change this?

Questions & Closing Remarks
Close of Day One

Cocktail Reception sponsored by Eutelsat

Thursday 16th September 2010

Day Two : REGIONAL ENTERPRISE

Opening Remarks from the Chairman

Arunas Slekys, VP Corporate Marketing and GM Russia/CIS Business, Hughes, USA

Going Global
Peter Shaper, CEO, CapRock, USA
As the major oil & gas fields have matured, so exploration has moved into the wilder parts of the world and the major operators in the segment have followed. With some of the leading O&G service companies now looking towards a global solution with consistent SLAs and application support, the complexity of service delivery has risen exponentially and only a few can rise to the challenge.

They don't make diamonds the size of bricks
Mike Bristol, Senior VP & General Manager, TeleCommunication Systems, USA
The US Military loves satcoms, but soldiers hate weight and need reliability. Integrating complex components into lightweight, easy to deploy systems is part of the equation, but so is consistent and dependable service - especially for some of the most specialist and demanding elements of the military.

Morning Tea & Coffee

Not Omnipotent, but VSAT has Telepresence and Ubiquity
Abel Avellan, CEO, EMC, Germany
With its ubiquity and uniformity, VSAT service can not only provide virtual cloud networking supporting the latest telepresence applications, it can compete head-to-head on price and win on features. It's time to let IT managers and CTOs know where the technology excels in enterprise connectivity solutions in advanced as well as under-served infrastructures.

Blowing away the competition
Iñigo García del Cerro Prieto, CEO, Ufinet, Spain
Alternative energy generation is often located in wild and remote locations and this is where Ufinet's long established expertise in remote monitoring and control - SCADA applications - brings it an advantage. The company has built an enviable reputation in the wind-farm and SCADA markets and will relate its experience in serving this demanding application.

Successfully Dealing with a Change of Direction
Eugenio Gamboa, Tecnologia Director, Pegaso Banda Ancha, Mexico
All operators dread the need to switch satellites, but few can imagine the challenge when such a move involves over 15,000 VSAT locations. Pegaso will share the ups and downs, tricks, trips and traps involved in such a significant operation.

Lunch sponsored by SES WORLD SKIES

Mega-Yachts, Billionaires and Zero Tolerance
Bertrand Hartman, CEO, OmniAccess, Spain
Few customers can be as demanding as those that have everything, so an operator focusing on providing service to the largest yachts in the world needs to be able to perform exceptionally and manage a ship's IT systems from the cabin to antenna to space to shore. A yacht that fails to charter due to a lack of connectivity can loose as much a day as an offline Wal-Mart super-store and success in the segment only comes with real, in-depth expertise at all levels.

An Ocean of Opportunity
Leo Mondale, Managing Director Global Xpress, Inmarsat, UK
Ka-band is already impacting traditional VSAT markets, but use in the marine segment is essentially non-existent. Now Inmarsat - a name synonymous with communications at sea - plans an ambitious global Ka satellite fleet to augment its L-band services. The combination of L-band availability and Ka-band bandwidth is a compelling one and the ripples are likely to be felt across the world.

Afternoon Tea

Learning to Share is more than a Social Skill
Nikita Demidenko, Commercial Director, Dozor Telecom, Russia
Like the only child, cellular operators are often spoilt and, as a result, many will only consider dedicated satellite backhaul links. However, shared services bring huge benefits to the GSM operator, enabling greater expansion with more cost and bandwidth efficient services. No other company has been able to sell this value proposition better than Dozor in Russia. Success requires quality, innovation (and probably vodka).

Where VSAT means business
Sean R Victor, Principal Specialist, Vodacom Business - Converged Satellite, South Africa
Vodacom is one of the largest cellular operators in Africa and so when it decides to move into corporate networking, it does so with determination. VSAT technology has taken centre stage for the company's expansion, but it is just part of a converged and integrated set of products which must seemlessly extend the company's reach. To do this takes planning at both the network and sales levels to create a value proposition that really is transparent to the customer.

Questions & Closing Remarks

Close of Day Two

Belgian Beer Reception sponsored by Newtec

Friday 17th September 2010

Day Three : CUSTOMER APPLICATIONS

Opening Remarks from the Chairman

David Hartshorn, General Secretary, Global VSAT Forum

Branching out with VSAT Services
Shamanga Ilunga, Senior Manager, Africa Communications Network Infrastructure, Standard Bank, South Africa
Standard Bank is one of the most experienced and oldest VSAT users in Africa. The bank has an extensive network in South Africa as well as a continent-wide service that interconnects its major offices across the region. Despite the challenging operational environment, the company's requirements are no less demanding than any bank in the developed world, so what does the company look for in its solutions providers?

Making Contact
David Drucker, Chairman, @Contact, USA
atContact currently specialises in the provision of broadband by satellite to rural and underserved areas, but the company also harbours grander plans. We’ve heard grand plans before but with co-founder of EchoStar Communications Corp. and founder of WildBlue Communications, David Drucker at the helm, you have to take them seriously.

Pause for Thought
Dr Leslie Klein, CEO, C-Com, Canada
What do remote tracking, power grid maintenance, GSM cellular, sales offices, libraries and media events all have in common? They, like many other applications, have a need for ad hoc connectivity beyond conventional terrestrial or even VSAT reach.

Morning Tea & Coffee

Do you speak Latin?
Yvon Ferrette, CEO, Tesacom, Argentina
Latin America is proving to be amongst the most stable of the developing regions of the world for VSAT services. With large potential markets, supportive and innovative governments and a growing pan-regional need the market is, however, constrained by a lack of bandwidth. Tesacom will bring some light to a demanding yet diverse region of opportunity.

The price of success
David Hartshorn, Secretary General, GVF, UK
With VSAT services growing robustly in terms of site count and bandwidth, satellite operators are experiencing fill rates that have never been seen before. But success also brings problems and, with so much demand, crowded satellites need an answer to increasing levels of interference which could, in the longer term, restrict expansion and limit profitability. Here we hear about the search for a solution.

Questions & Closing Remarks

GVF SESSIONS

COMPLIMENTARY INVITATION:

INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE GVF MARITIME SATCOM FORUM

COMSYS and GVF are pleased to invite industry participation in the first meeting of the Maritime Satcom Forum, an initiative that will address the growing need for satellite programmes in this increasingly important area of operations.

The meeting will be held immediately following the last conference sessions between 1pm and 3pm in the VSAT 2010 conference room.

The agenda for discussion during the meeting will include how the industry can more effectively:

Heighten awareness of satellite solutions in the maritime sector,
Strengthen advocacy efforts in the international regulatory arena,
Expand delivery of satcom training for the maritime user community,
Facilitate new maritime satcom projects, and more.

Based on plans and priorities addressed during the meeting, the GVF Maritime Satcom Forum will serve as a unified voice for engagement with the maritime sector to promote the development of satellite networks around the globe. Membership in the Forum will be open to all GVF Members; it will be guided by an advisory board with oversight from the GVF Board of Directors and GVF Secretariat. Simon Bull of COMSYS will serve as Chairman.

During the meeting, a buffet luncheon will be provided to pre-registered participants. Please confirm your participation in advance to david.hartshorn@gvf.org. GVF and COMSYS look forward to including you and your colleagues in this important industry endeavour.