 grohgregDunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY
2 edits | reply to digiblur
Re: [general] WildBlue closing down 3 markets! said by digiblur: Where's the map of WB1? Here ya go. The issue by the way, is almost certainly under-provisioned gateways; SMTS blades, servers, backbone, et cetera. In this case; at Duluth.
But it's not the first - and it won't be the last. It wasn't much more than six months into service via Anik-F2 that they began to suspend sales due to equipment shortages. Wildblue is not actually breaking new ground here. This sort of expansion practice has been common for years. That is
1. get some customers
2. earn some money
3. buy some more equipment
4. repeat steps 1>2>3
Wildblue management is apparently just not as adept yet at smoothing the transition from 2 to 3. I'm guessing it's because their gateway provisioning model is mirror-imaged. That's good if they have some kind of failed gateway restoration plan. But I'd be surprised if they're that far-sighted yet. I'd personally have used population density statistics to determine equipment deployment among gateways. Such an architecture is more demanding from an emergency restoral perspective, but makes for a more efficient use of daily operational assets on the ground.
//greg//
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| Rest assured, HughesNet management is chomping at the bit to get Spaceway III operational. The wheels are already turning to put an advertising program together to try to deal WB a solid blow early in 2008.......will it be successful?.....there is a lot of money at stake...
WB has put on as many customers as HughesNet over the last year or so.......and done so with little or no advertising.
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 hdmanFlt RiderPremium
join:2003-11-25
Appleton, WI
 ·exede by ViaSat
| Randy, you and I know that this is truly not a "beam" issue as many would portray it to be, but rather a gateway/noc issue. I would hope that WB is smart enough to see the writing on the wall with Hughes gearing up, to QUICKLY get more capacity at the gateway that is affected.
Have you heard ANY rumors about how long these beam will stay down?
HDMan |
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| said by hdman:Randy, you and I know that this is truly not a "beam" issue as many would portray it to be, but rather a gateway/noc issue. I would hope that WB is smart enough to see the writing on the wall with Hughes gearing up, to QUICKLY get more capacity at the gateway that is affected. Have you heard ANY rumors about how long these beam will stay down? HDMan Let us take a look at this from a different angle. Malone is gearing up for an IPO. WildBlue is becoming solvent enough to make this a reality. While they can and probably will address the gateway issues as they arise, they are not going to lay out a dollar more than they have to on infrastructure.
Duluth will get it's hardware. They market it serves will be closed at least 2-3 months while it is dealt with.
Sadly, the hardware at all the gateways is facing the same issue at some point. They can only slap "quick-fix" bandaids on them for so much longer before they have to deal with it. |
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said by hdman:I would hope that WB is smart enough to see the writing on the wall with Hughes gearing up, to QUICKLY get more capacity at the gateway that is affected. Even if capacity can be added, this equipment is "hand-made," one at a time...meaning you wait in line to get it made....and it ain't cheap...it could be several million...all depending upon what they have installed. |
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2 edits | reply to hdman
said by hdman:Randy, you and I know that this is truly not a "beam" issue as many would portray it to be, but rather a gateway/noc issue....Have you heard ANY rumors about how long these beam will stay down?HDMan I was really surprised they ran into capacity problems this quick, to be honest. I've not heard anything about how long they will be down other than the groans from those who thought the bent pipe approach would work out better than it has.
The BIG problem with bent pipe, as I see it, is that it requires a ton of guesswork during the satellite build-out......trying to determine where demand will be when launched and then 2-5-10 years down the road. The beams are fixed for the life of the bird, so you have only one chance to "get it right."
The competition, Spaceway by HughesNet, has steerable beams that can "chase" the market by simply re-aiming the beam when the market or demand calls for it.
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hdmanFlt RiderPremium
join:2003-11-25
Appleton, WI Reviews:
·exede by ViaSat
| Thanks Randy. One would have to think, though, that if they are shutting off access to beams this early in the game, the investors will be screaming to add more ground capacity ASAP in order to sell more systems. Well, I guess if I was an investor, thats what I'd be yelling for.
I'm sure somebody's azz is in a sling over the situation on the ground anyway. I guess I should simply be happy that I have no issues and the service rocks for me, but then again, I also want them to remain viable so that I can keep my service until AT&T or Charter get their shidt together and bring me something better......
Thanks again Randy. I do like your viewpoint mainly because it is certainly not biased. As I have said before, YOU DA MAN!!! Thanks.
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grohgregDunno. Ask The Chief
join:2001-07-05
Dawson Springs, KY
4 edits | reply to randyvsatus
said by randyvsatus:The BIG problem with bent pipe, as I see it, is that it requires a ton of guesswork during the satellite build-out......trying to determine where demand will be when launched and then 2-5-10 years down the road. The beams are fixed for the life of the bird, so you have only one chance to "get it right." The competition, Spaceway by HughesNet, has steerable beams that can "chase" the market by simply re-aiming the beam when the market or demand calls for it. You're right about the build-out. From the view of this arm chair quarterback, they should have used a population density model to configure the gateways individually. Looks to me like they've cloned the gateways; some of which subsequently have equipment sitting idle, others in or nearing saturation.
But bent pipe architecture and steerable beams are completely unrelated. Bent pipe simply describes a path where there are no onboard beam switching options. Spaceway III has both. Relative to my prediction in another thread, business/enterprise will be prioritized for switched beam service. Consumer grade will go to the back of the bus; bent pipe to the NOC, then onward to via Internet.
The antenna arrays that provide beam coverage for both Anik-F2 and Wildblue 1 are comprised of individually steerable horns. Some antennas are steered mechanically, some weighted electronically. But they have to be steerable. Consider if something requires one of them (most any satellite for that matter) to be moved to another orbital longitude. The antenna orientation has to be steered back to replicate the original beam coverage. They can also be reconfigured in place. If Wildblue wants a beam reconfigured or redirected, they just pick up the phone and call Loral or TeleSat (who will call Boeing). But the Anik and WB1 spot beams are not switchable. It's the "not switchable" part that makes them bent pipe.
//greg//
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