Brief: IP in outer space

Hughes Network Systems Inc., Germantown, Md., is pushing to increase adoption of the recently ratified Internet-protocol-over-satellite standard by licensing essential intellectual property royalty-free. The standard was approved by the Telecommunications Industry Association as the ideal for delivering broadband services over satellite channels.

The standard specifies a satellite-independent service access point, which is the interface between applications and satellite functions. Any application that is compliant with SI-SAP can be quickly ported to IPoS-based systems. To date, Hughes has deployed more than 300,000 IPoS terminals.