Innovative Applications: Satellite Deployment for Emergency Backup

Presented by Mark Ayers, GCI

About GCI and Mark

GCI• Incorporated in 1979• Publically traded – NASDAQ: gnmca• Alaska’s largest communications

provider- $800M+ annual revenue- 2,000+ Alaskan employees

• Statewide provider of the following services to residential, business, education, healthcare and government customers

- Telephone- Cable- ISP & Data services- Statewide Wireless (GSM)

Mark Ayers, RF Engineering• Responsible for managing

internal and external customer requests for satellite, microwave, and other radio frequency services

• Licensed professional engineer in Alaska

• Adjunct professor of engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage

Modern Day Healthcare technology

• As technology advances, reliance on uninterrupted connectivity for communication and data exchange increases

• Rural facilities that are non-redundant are more vulnerable to service interruptions

What happens in rural communities

when primary communication

paths are severed?

Eastern Washington Fires

• In August 2015, dry conditions and lightning started a wildfire that devastated much of Eastern Washington

• The fire advanced to Lake Chelan Community Hospital damaging communications infrastructure, leaving the hospital with limited services

LCCH VSAT Deployment

• On August 15, GCI quickly mobilized a satellite-based backup solution in Seattle

• On the morning of August 16, the GCI team drove to Chelan and deployed the solution, restoring service to the hospital“Despite the outages, we were able to keep the ER open 24 hours during the fires. We were lucky that GCI was able to spring into quick action”

– Kevin Abel, CEO of LCCH

Satellite communication solutions have great value in today’s world of

continuous connectivity.

GCI’s Satellite Network

• 90 C-band stations from 3.6m to 13m in size

• 200 Ku-band stations from 1.2m to 3.6m in size

• Service delivery throughout Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico

• Coverage of Alaska, Hawaii and the continental US

Deployment and Configuration

C-band Solutions• Redundant and non-redundant

systems

• Generally high capacity solutions (up to 125 Mbps per 36 MHz transponder)

• Transparent terrestrial microwave / fiber backup designs

• Large antenna apertures (3.6m or greater)

Ku-band Solutions• Redundant teleport equipment

• Low cost, on premise VSAT deployments

• Variety of low, moderate and high capacity solutions

• Quick deploy emergency response systems

Ku-band Network Topology and ServicesiDirect remote terminals for low to moderate capacity solutions• Low cost remote terminals

• Shared bandwidth pool reduces operating costs

• Simple configuration, installation and operation

• Fully redundant, fault-resilient hub architecture

• In-house engineering design and support expertise

Single channel per carrier (SCPC) for high capacity and reliability solutions• Dedicated modems with redundancy capability

• Service committed spectrum for zero congestion operation

• Highest link performance for superior availability and survivability

Emergency Response VSAT

• Utilizes iDirect shared bandwidth pool• Fully-automated satellite backup system

requires little user interaction• Can be quickly deployed to any location with

full management and monitoring functionality• Includes: antenna, mount, ORU, satellite

modem

- Bandwidth – speeds up to 20 Mbps down (hub to remote) and 3 Mbps up (remote to hub)

- Video Conferencing – Can use SIP or H.323

- Voice – Can support the use of standard IP-based phone and messaging platforms with Quality of Service prioritization and queuing.

Reliability & Availability Considerations• Not all iDirect system designs are equal• GCI’s iDirect hub network is fully redundant, providing

highest availability and reliability performance• GCI maintains contractual agreements with its satellite

service provider(s) for satellite level restoration in the event of catastrophic failure• Customers want reliability in addition to availability • Reliability must be considered during design and

construction

Thank youQuestions?