September 3rd, 2005
Katrina rescue efforts: one giant step for satellite telephony
While much of the telecommunications focus related to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts has focused on the widespread unavailability of VoIP, landline and cell service, another type of phone service has truly shone.
That would be satellite phone service. It’s pricey, but because the transmission medium is far above the earth, that means such networks as those from service providers Globalstar and Iridium Satellite are much higher than harm’s way. Hundreds of orbiting miles, by the way.
Faulkner’s Telecom Daily reports that up to 10,000 satellite phones are being used by federal, state and local authorities in the affected areas- many mutiples greater than the few hundred or so of these devices deployed previous to the disaster.
Globalstar has donated the use of 100 phones to the States of Louisiana and Mississippi. On the right, that’s a depiction of Globalstar’s 40 Low Earth Orbit satellites, which are at heights ranging from 400 to 700 miles above the planet’s surface and all of its storms.
Note the arrow I’ve drawn into this image, showing the "footprint" of two of these birds happens to significantly overlap an area directly affected by Hurricane Katrina.
I have to think that when these pricey but indispensible tools prove their mettle, a number of these agencies will want to keep these phones. These deployments will also engender lots of "case histories" that will surely find their way into the print and online marcom literature of the companies I’ve mentioned. Look for reams of PDF "case history" files.
But not now. Not yet. There’s a job to do.
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
