Business continuity, disaster recovery, planning, management and response is a topic with some buzz considering events from the near distant past such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina to more recent events such as the California wildfires.

While each of these events was unique in the way that they impacted the area, there was a common thread that has to be considered a lesson learned. Traditional terrestrial and wireless based communications were no longer available and this severely impacted the ability of entities from local businesses to hospitals to local state and federal government agencies to do their job.

Research funded by Congress in support of the “Back to Business Act, 2007” indicates that 43% of businesses that close following a natural disaster never reopen. An additional 29% close down permanently within 2 years.

There are those who would challenge these numbers. However, each entity that might be impacted by an event, man-made or natural, should ask the following:

·         Do I have redundant connections for my network?
·         Are they both terrestrial based?
·         Why have I put all of my eggs in one basket?

It has been repeatedly shown that one of the main consequences of many disasters is failure of the terrestrial communications infrastructure due to destruction, damage or loss of power. For example, flooding and wind damage from hurricane Katrina not only destroyed broadcast, microwave and cell towers, but also subsequent failure of the power grid silenced much of the equipment that did survive the storm.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a backup means of communication that is orbiting about 22,000 miles above the earth? After all, the Internet is agnostic. It doesn’t care if the way that you access it is via a dial up connection, cable modem, fiber link or over a space segment. The Internet will provide a way to communicate voice, data and video to the outside world. This fact can have a huge impact on the probability of not being one of the statistics sited above.

Although the performance of communication satellites could be predicted theoretically, until 1962 or 1963 there was considerable doubt concerning whether their actual performance would match the theory. Now that the performance has been proven and accepted, there is still a perception that broadband connectivity via satellite is either expensive, slow or both. Both of these perceptions are incorrect, so let’s take a look at why they exist.

One of the first messages broadcast via satellite in the 1960s was a Christmas message from President Eisenhower to the military. It lasted four minutes and used a majority of the satellite’s bandwidth and its batteries. Today, always on bandwidth with bidirectional data rates measured in the Mbps (remember, a T1 line is about 1.5 Mbps) are commonplace. Full motion video or duplex VoIP conversations are standard applications. The man on the street perception that satellites provide slow connections probably is a holdover from one of the early commercial applications of providing Internet connections to areas where DSL was not available. The satellite link provided a slow downlink (satellite to dish) and the phone lines were used for outgoing information. Data rates equivalent to a 1.44 Kbps modem or slower were common. As discussed above, today’s applications can compete on a data rate basis with any other form of terrestrial connectivity.

As for satellite connectivity being expensive, the pricing has followed the same curve as most other technologies. The early adopters pay a premium while fixed costs are recovered. A satellite launch can cost anywhere between about $50 million and up, and they have about a 10 year life expectancy today. However, as the market has grown, supply and demand  has taken over. Today, satellite connectivity can compete in price with most terrestrial connections when an accurate cost/value comparison is made.

For business continuity and disaster recovery applications, to manage costs, a “pilot light” model can be utilized. The cost of satellite connectivity is analogous to the gas usage in your home or business; the more that you use, the higher the cost. You also have to make sure that the pipe is sized properly to meet your anticipated demand.

With a pilot light model, a minimum data rate is purchased for standby and might be used only for a monthly test. However, if an event occurs that requires more bandwidth, a contracted data rate can be quickly turned up via the satellite provider’s NOC (Network Operations Center). With the increased bandwidth and proper disaster planning, essential services should be maintained.

When a disaster occurs, and it is a when, not an if, proper planning and maintaining connectivity with the outside world can make the difference between being a statistic or a survivor.

But what about the organizations that have the responsibility to respond to a disaster?

As first responders from every disaster from 9/11 to the tsunamis that ravaged the Indian Ocean recently will tell you, having a way to communicate with a central command is a very high priority. Traditional RF radios are limited in their range and the probability of being able to access a repeater or base station if the infrastructure has been impacted in any way is quite low. The Internet represents that perfect backbone for communicating voice, data and video, but how do you reach the Internet? Satellite is the obvious answer but disasters have a habit of occurring in locations that aren’t always close to a fixed satellite dish.

The answer is auto-acquire mobile satellite dishes that travel on the top of a vehicle. When the disaster area is reached, the clam shell design dishes can deploy, acquire the satellite and establish a broadband connection in a matter of minutes. From this base, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max and/or VoIP networks can be configured that allow the first responders to be highly effective in their efforts.

This brings to the table the question of how you communicate via satellite if you can’t stop the vehicle. As proven by a number of military defense contractors, COTM (or Communications on the Move) is the next frontier for satellite broadband communications. Using an array of GPS devices and inertial navigation techniques, broadband communications via satellite can be maintained in a vehicle travelling over hill and dale at speeds in excess of 50 MPH. This truly provides “Broadband without Boundaries.”