Out in the Field, Back in the Office—the Hughes 9201 Goes Where You Go
Imagine a team of geologists traveling hundreds of miles to a remote location, perhaps in Arizona or the Gobi Desert, to collect data on rock formations. After setting up camp, they open a backpack and within minutes, they are ready to begin transmitting vital information.
The need for portable communications has been rapidly expanding with today’s fast-moving world. Until now, portable satellite communications have been slow—with speeds comparable to dial-up. But all that is changing with the introduction of the Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) by Inmarsat. With one powerful mobile satellite covering Europe, Asia and Africa, and another covering the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, BGAN provides IP connectivity to more than 80 percent of the world’s population and land mass. A third satellite will soon cover the Pacific, parts of eastern Australia, and the western U.S.
Hughes, in conjunction with Inmarsat’s BGAN service, has helped pave the way for this new generation of portable communications, making our hypothetical scenario in Arizona or the Gobi Desert a reality. The Hughes 9201 Broadband Satellite IP Terminal, which recently received type approval by Inmarsat, delivers high-speed data and voice communications in a laptop-sized terminal anywhere within the BGAN satellite coverage area—even in the most remote locations.
At costs significantly lower than the previous Inmarsat RBGAN (Regional BGAN) technology, the new Hughes 9201 offers multiple advantages to field users. Not only does it support shared connectivity throughput rates of up to 492 kbps, it also is capable of up to 256 kbps rates for streaming IP video, along with ISDN capability. In addition, the Hughes 9201 can be confi gured as a Wi-Fi hot spot so that small teams can access the Internet wirelessly.
Bad weather? No problem. The rugged design of the Hughes 9201 means it can withstand extreme weather conditions for extended periods. And it can connect to customer equipment via Ethernet and USB connections, including external routers, to form a remote local area network—all in one laptop-sized package.
This exciting technology shows enormous promise for application in sectors with far-flung operations and personnel such as the media, healthcare, defense, homeland security, and emergency management. The benefits of high-speed communications with BGAN are making the jobs—and lives—of real geologists and others who work and live in remote locations easier, safer, and more productive. |