Connectivity for Banking Industries

In the Philippines, Internet connectivity is a very long-standing problem in every business industry. One of the sectors that is so affected by the problem is the banking industry.

It's so frustrating seeing ATM machines off-line not only in the big business establishments, but even at the airport. It's the very reason why central bank in the Philippines was giving it's directive to this business sector to provide secondary link on its existing connectivity to avoid or minimize this kind of problem - offline due to connectivity issue on its ATM machines.

Now, there's a solution which was proven effective not only in the Philippines, but also to other countries where IPSTAR has a coverage.

In the Philippines, it's used by UnionBank, and this client is very happy for it immediately resume it's service after a typhoon hit Bicol region and devastated the telecommunications infrastructures there.

It's the same technology used by the same bank when typhoon Haiyan (a.k.a. typhoon Yolanda) devastated Tacloban.

The secondary link that banking industries needs to provide should be via satellite, like Thaicom-4, a.k.a., IPSTAR. It has a built-in security features (IPSEC) that will address security issues banking industries are concerned about.

POC for Internet Connectivity at HITACHI CABLE - Lima, Batangas, Philippines

It's a Poof-of-Concept (POC) at Hitachi Cable - Lima Batangas, Philippines. Of the three bidders, two of IPSTAR service provider partners had joined the bidding, but only one of them (EDGECOMM, INC.) had used VSAT; the other two, used IP radio for Internet connectivity for the client.

Each company was then required to demonstrate their individual Internet service to be offered.

Due the the new policy at the PEZA in Lima Batangas where the company is located, the third bidder took so much time to demonstrate their service for it took them so much time to produce the required documents.

However, it's about three months now, HITACHI hadn't sent us yet any notice of what had happened, or who won the bidding.

EDGECOMM, INC. is still hoping to win the bidding. It's CEO said that VSAT is the best solution to client's requirement because it could be deployed quickly and it would take only about two hours to complete the installation, and the Internet connection would then be ready immediately.

IPSTAR POC at BOLINAO PANGASINAN - 2014

Bolinao is one of the locations in Pangasinan we did our POC for DepEd connectivity projects for government schools - Elementary and High Schools.

Our great effort to restore the name of IPSTAR had encountered lots of resistance from those schools who had not had a good experience from one of our service provider partners who provided them bad service.

Knowing that IPSTAR technology is one of the best broadband technologies in the world, we have to prove to them, that it's not the technology that cause them the problem, but it's how the service was provided.

Fortunately, after the demo, the ruined IPSTAR name was restored. Thanks to Gilat SkyEdge II-IP modem, it helped a lot in our explanations. Thanks to our team and EDGECOMM, INC.'s team for the great job done.

CUTTING-EDGE BROADBAND SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY

IPSTAR and EDGECOMM, INC., one of its service provider partners in the Philippines is providing a cutting-edge broadband satellite technology for

anytime and anywhere connectivity. It could be fixed in a certain location for its communications need. Mobile units are also available for a certain specific requirement.

It's good for any remote locations which are not served or underserved by any of the major telcos. It's the medium of communication which central bank is referring to for it's policy for banking industries to have a secondary link. Primary link could be from any of the major telcos' fiber line link and secondary link should be via satellite.

It make sense, for during typhoon Haiyan (a.k.a. typhoon Yolanda), all the telcos infrastructures in the most badly affected areas in Tacloban were all totally devastated. So, even a month after the disaster, people were still lining up in just one ATM in a certain bank to withdraw their money in Boracay area which was also lightly affected by the same typhoon Yolanda.

THAICOM INNOVATION DAY 6-7, JULY 2016

There lots of interesting innovative ideas shown during the Thaicom Innovation Day (6-7, July 2016) last year.

Some of them are already in existence, but some modifications had been made to fit the needs and some are really new. And one of my favorite is the Place and Play Broadband Anywhere as you can see in the picture below. It's a hybrid of the two known technologies: 3G Internet for the uplink or upload part and satellite (IPSTAR) for downlink or download. One important and interesting feature of this innovation is, it will use a light weight of whole component of the equipment and fully portable which is capable of receiving information at the speed of 45Mbps. With just one push of the button, it will automatically acquire Thaicom 4 satellite (a.k.a. IPSTAR).

It's an excellent product for rapid deployment. It's ready for service in just one and a half minutes (90 seconds). It's very useful for communication in emergency response after a calamity or a disaster.

For TV streaming using Android and iOS, it the has the following capability:

- Download via satellite with speed of up to 45Mbps
- Live
- Time shift (Max 2 hours backward replay of live program

So far, there's no information yet of how much it would cost to produce or to acquire a unit of this technology.

In my opinion, it would be much better if the 3G component would be out of the picture to make sure that even during or immediately after a natural disaster, like the case of typhoon Haiayan (a.k.a. Typhoon Yolanda) which badly devastated Tacloban and for about a month, there's no telecommunication infrastructure had left standing. Thus, for about a month or more, no 3G service in the affected areas in Tacloban.

Proof-of-Concept (POC) at UP Diliman and UP Manila

This was the day when EDGECOMM INC. team and WIT team were doing the POC and product & service demonstrations for their connectivity solution offered to UP Diliman and UP Manila team and some delegates from the USA who were collaborating for the project related to TeleHealth Center Services to be extended to the people living in the remote areas in the Philippines.

According to plan, and God willing, the project implementation will be in November, 2017. In the meantime, the UP team is still waiting for the results of the survey they're conducting to determine which of the UP campuses are in need of a connectivity via satellite using the latest and most advanced VSAT technology of THAICOM/IPSTAR and GILAT SkyEdge II-IP.

IPSTAR CCTV SOLUTION FOR FLOOD LEVEL MONITORING

Here comes again the rainy and typhoon seasons in the Philippines. Publications from concern Philippine government agency which can be found from: this link seems to say that certain agencies are already prepared for the coming calamities.

Hoping that for a flood related issues, the Philippine government will consider the technology used in Thailand which was used in that country when it was on a similar situation.
Good luck everyone!