The service is being deployed in co-operation with the AirPutih Foundation. A key role of AirPutih is to provide emergency telecommunication facilities and a media/Internet centre for news updates from the area.
The telecommunication facilities allow data exchange over a wide area and access to such information as homeless statistics and identification of serviceable roads, information critical to relief workers on the ground.
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The media/Internet centre is located in the city of Calang, Aceh Jaya at the district head office and is managed in co-operation with the conservation organisation 'Fauna and Flora International'. It is equipped with five laptops and is open to local people as well as NGO's. |
Pacific Skies is a combined effort from the Netherlands based company New Skies and Newtec from Belgium who is providing the network and satellite capacity. The hub provides 2-way broadband IP access with a downlink channel transferring data at a rate of 2Mbps in the forward link at 512 kbps in the return channel. This provides end users with fast reliable email, Internet and Instant Messaging services. It is based on the open-standard DVB-RCS technology being encouraged by the SatLabs Group (see external links).
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On how the service got started, David Burr, Director of Internet Product Development New Skies, explained, "By late 2004, we had just completed successful commissioning of the Pacific Skies hub in Hong Kong. Two of our ISP's, Jogja Medianet and Indointernet approached us to do something in Indonesia in response to the terrible tsunami there." |
"Jogja Medianet and Indointernet set up three sites in Banda Aceh city, Calang city and at Gunung Sitoli on Nias Island (image above-left). Each site is connected to more than a hundred nodes. It's difficult to assess exactly how many people are using it but our traffic graphs show that the service is running at close to 100% of the 2048/512 kbps capacity at each site. "
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Satellite broadband saving lives |
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"Those difficulties were resolved by the wireless Internet capability and were a vital part of our efforts. The secure network connection helps expedite the transfer of patients and medical information and became our primary means of communication. The service saved lives in Nias."
AirPutih Foundation
AirPutih supports the activities of over 30 organisations, including the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Flora & Fauna International, Jesuit Refugee Services, as well as Lembaga Adat Panglima Laot a locally based aid organisation.
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Additionally, AirPutih serves various local government agencies coordinating relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation operations at Aceh and Nias as well as education institutions such as Syah Kuala University and the Indonesia State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN). |
Response from users has been extremely positive. Mr M. Salahuddien, Vice Chairman of the AirPutih Foundation explains, "There is a clear need for this service and continuation of it is crucial. All communication and coordination activities depend on the Internet connectivity provided by us. The service is very important to support any relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation operation in the area. This is a great and honourable project. We are thankful for your support and hope we can continue this arrangement."
New Skies and Newtec have presented the results of the ESA Telecom supported project Pacific Skies: Broadband for Asia at the recent SatLabs DVB-RCS symposium (see external links) held at ESA/ESTEC Noordwijk the Netherlands on 8 to 9 September 2005. To read more about Pacific Skies just click under related links at the top-right of this page.Images courtesy of Aceh Media Centre.
USS Mercy image courtesy US Navy.
