INMARSAT Plc expects mobile satellite communications services to be modular as it began a conference for developers in London, United Kingdom, on Monday.
In an interview, Inmarsat Market Development and Development Engineering Director Stefano Poli told the BusinessMirror they expect developers to build further on these core modules that eventually would be launched into the market.
“Today we live in a world where its absolutely standard for a totally customized solution, which is made 90 percent by standard building blocks and companies are sort of sorting themselves out into enablers and customizers,” Poli said.
Hardware enablers have been developing core models, especially as Internet of Things (IoT) devices progress, according to Poli.
We have GX [Global Express, compact Ka-Band satellite terminals for high-speed broadband connectivity] and the Bgan [Broadband Global Area Network] and GSPS [Global Satellite Phone Service] core modules, Poli said. The latter, he added, “is going to be a module the size of a credit card.”
According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Ka band is part of the K band of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum. “Within K-band, spacecraft may operate communications, radio science, or radar equipment at Ka-band around 20 gigahertz (GHz) to 30 GHz.” The Ka band allows higher bandwidth communication in satellite communications.
And they are going to be ready by June, according to Poli.
And then you have the core models for Instant Messaging (IM) at the Inmarsat Developers Conference (IDP), which will use the technology of a global 2-way short message service for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.
The IM model, according to Poli, enables companies to track and monitor their fixed or mobile assets, giving them increased visibility of business operations, enhanced efficiency, and greater safety and security for their assets, cargo and drivers – while lowering operational costs. Poli said the the messenging service at the IDP would be commercially-ready by the first half of this year.
“So people are going to be able to put together these core modules into their solutions” after the IDP.
Poli agrees Inmarsat is offering modules so developers can work on new products and services just like working on plastic Lego bricks.
“That is exactly the analysis – the Lego. These are the lego bots, just build what you want.”
According to Poli, the IDP would allow developers “to really enjoy and create bots,” a software application that runs automated tasks, called scripts, over the Internet.
“We are applying one-stop shop basics. We are providing these hardware building blocks engines that, outside, allow developers to create solutions.”
According to Poli, developers or other developers will be able to find application program interfaces (APIs), “which will allow them to get into our network.”
“And this opens the doors of our networks to a wide range of people that we were not interfacing with.”