High Availability Solutions

Traditionally satellite communications played an important role in remote connectivity. In the world of today there is a growing need to have back-up solutions for either terrestrial infrastructure or Vsat links to fulfill tough SLA requirements such as providing 99.99% availability.

Cellular networks often don’t provide the coverage they claim, or the connectivity is spotty and unreliable. Vsat connections are always sensitive for rain fade, heavy winds or seismological movements in the ground. Galaxy 1 offers a range of solutions to fill in the gaps of connectivity as described above. Inmarsat’s Global Bgan service plays a vital role in all Galaxy 1’s solution to achieve that 99.99% availability goal. As Bgan is not sensitive of any form of (extreme) weather conditions, has 25 degree pointing tolerance and very low power consumption, it is an ideal service to bridge the gap. 

Out of Bound Management Solutions

What to do if over-the-air access is required to a failing Vsat connection?

In order to determine the cause of a failing Vsat site, Bgan can be used to remotely initiate an IP data session into the router of the Vsat site. Via a telnet session (or something similar) quick diagnostics can be done. Within 30 seconds a Bgan can be remote activated via a specific set of commands (recommended application: Remote-IP). In other words, this solution offers the NOC of a Vsat operator an alternative method of access, before sending a technician to a remote site.

Fail-over Solutions

What to do if IP communication devices fail or do not have IP connectivity?

In order to fulfill the ‘high availability’ requirement of an organization, a single IP communication device is in some cases not sufficient enough. Galaxy 1 developed the G1 Intelligent Gateway to provide an automatic failover solution that also considers the cost of airtime. This G1 Intelligent Gateway connects both a Bgan terminal and an IP communication device (e.g. a cellular modem, a DSL connection or a Vsat link). The IP communication device is considered the ‘prime’ connection, the Bgan terminal usually acts as the ‘secondary’ connection. With Inmarsat’s 99.99% availability rate and global coverage, the ultimate failover solution can be offered. The Bgan terminal is configured in a way that it is always stays online. The gateway constantly pings both connections. If the primary connection fails, the G1 Intelligent Gateway switches the RTU automatically to the Bgan connection. The G1 Intelligent Gateway continues to ping the prime connection until that comes back online again; then the G1 Intelligent Gateway switches the RTU back to the prime connection.