Haiti Earthquake Emergency Satellite Internet

VNO-E : A pioneer in satellite Internet services in Honduras

Honduras is a developing country with poor terrestrial infrastructure in places outside metropolitan areas. Lack of terrestial connectivity was a significant hurdle in delivering high-speed Internet services. People were stuck with slow dial-up and unreliable DSL. Deploying fiber would cost millions of dollars and several years to complete. Satellite was the solution. But, there were no satellite ISPs in Honduras in 2003.

VNO-E was the first company in the country to get a two-way satellite Internet provider's license. Starting off as a VSAT Systems VNO, they avoided the risks, the upfront infrastructure costs, as well as the technical competencies to build satellite networks from the ground up.

Requirements and Challenges:

  • Having been in the telecommunications and ISP market, VNO-E had sufficient IP communications expertise. VNO-E knew that there is not only a market for satellite broadband Internet but also tremendous opportunities for growth.
  • Various market segments had very different needs and spending capabilities, but the common requirement was reliable high speed Internet. For example:
    • Corporations needed high speed, bandwidth intensive service at a few sites.
    • Internet Cafés required multiple terminals connected to a single satellite Internet connection.
    • Banking systems and Atms in multiple remote locations required secure, high speed, low bandwidth networks.
    • Most residential users required less bandwidth intensive access.
  • Having the required engineering knowledge and market understanding was not enough, there were two options to move forward:
    1.  Invest millions and build complete satellite networks from scratch;
    2. Consider a solution that provided the flexibility of managing  networks but not building one - the VSAT Systems VNO program. The choice was obvious.
  • Poor terrestrial connectivity and expensive call rates made VoIP through satellite a good solution for corporations and Internet Cafés. However, managing and mitigating latency effects was a primary concern.
  • VNO-E required network design flexibility, best satellite hub technology, scalability, TCP performance improvements to mitigate latency effects, and custom QoS capabilities.

Solution

  • The VSAT Systems VNO program was the ideal choice to meet the specific requirements of speed, throughput, performance and flexibility.
  • With access to dedicated line cards for their network, protocol processors and NMS servers from VSAT Systems, VNO-E had the required tools to remotely configure and manage their network.
  • By paying only for fixed capacity, VNO-E could efficiently use bandwidth to design custom plans meeting specific requirements.
  • VoIP calls sounded just like cell phones and the latency was hardly noticable. Superior network performance minimized latency under 700 ms.
  • VNO-E, through VSAT Systems, was able to tailor VPN and Super VPN solutions for gas stations, banks, corporate and governmental agencies in the region enabling secure remote access and field reporting.
  • Higher bandwidth efficiencies significantly lowered equipment and operating costs leading to increased revenues and profits.
  • VNO-E is now a premier client of VSAT Systems having access to dedicated resources from the Engineering and Tier II Tech Support team to support hundreds of customers in Honduras and other Central American locations.