Working ambitiously together on projects for the past four years to develop the GX program made the obvious next step come to pass. Inmarsat and VT iDirect will now partner to delve further into research and development of next generation satellite communications (SATCOM) technologies dubbing their R&D team i2.
Homebase will be in London, Inmarsat's headquarters, where the i2 team will focus on the proof-of-concept and prototype phases for new SATCOM technologies. Here, as the potential for each new technology becomes a reality, it will then be determined if the new technology is viable for commercial use. Certainly partners and end-users will benefit from the newly created items.
Right at the top of the 'To Do' list will be the creation of:
- new solutions to support the growing integration of satcom and terrestrial networks
- the requirement for smaller, more powerful satcom terminals
- the boosting of waveform performance.
Comments from executives from both companies are as follows:
“This is a highly practical relationship with the objective to deliver a continual flow of market-leading new technologies,” said Michele Franci, Inmarsat’s Chief Technology Officer. “Inmarsat and VT iDirect have been close partners for many years. We share a common vision of the future development of satellite communications—particularly its growing integration with terrestrial networks. It makes complete sense to combine our resources and capabilities in this way.
“This new R&D partnership with VT iDirect helps further to underpin Inmarsat’s long-term technological leadership. It is fully aligned with our broader building block development strategy, which includes the Inmarsat Communications Evolution (ICE) initiative, a Public Private Partnership between Inmarsat and European Space Agency (ESA).”
“The i2 initiative is a natural extension of VT iDirect’s existing partnership with Inmarsat to broaden our R&D focus and accelerate new technologies to market,” said Mary Cotton, VT iDirect’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re bringing together the skills and resources to optimize the satellite and ground infrastructure assets to innovate on broader industry level and develop advances in satellite economics and performance, while transforming the user experience.”