Advanced Television

Castor Networks launches IP trunking services to Middle East and Central Asia powered by Newtec

February 7, 2011

Castor Networks, a provider of teleport, VSAT and broadcasting services, has launched trunking services to the Middle East and Central Asia from its base in The Netherlands, using Newtec’s award-winning FlexACM(R) technology. FlexACM guarantees the highest level of availability and maximum end-to-end efficiency to the satellite link. Castor’s Internet trunking services operate on Express AM-1 Wide Europe Beam at 40 degrees East to provide carrier-class IP trunking to ISPs across the region. The performance and market-leading functions of Newtec’s EL860 were a deciding factor in Castor’s choice of Newtec as supplier of the technology for the new service. The EL860 Shaper and Encapsulator combines a number of advanced multilevel IP traffic policing and real-time shaping functionalities with the industry-leading DVB-S2 IP encapsulator and DVB-S2 modulation parameter controller.

Castor Networks can now easily deliver IP connectivity of at least 140 Mbps on a single transponder. Newtec’s FlexACM guarantees the highest level of link availability even during bad weather conditions, making it ideal to use on Ku-band links. Castor deploys the combination with a fully owned 9m earth station at its teleport facilities in Burum, Netherlands. Castor operates a 10 GBPS IP Transit outbreak on the Amsterdam Internet Exchange, the second largest Internet exchange point in the world.

Next to the EL860 ACM Shaper and Encapsulator, Castor’s Newtec-powered hub in Burum contains a wide range of Elevation modulators and demodulators. Through the hub Castor brings one-way and two-way services to customers.

“Castor Networks is now able to deliver Internet trunking services at very high availability and optimal cost,” says Edwin Cras, Managing Director, Castor Networks. “We were looking for technology delivering the most reliable solution with highest throughput. With this state-of-the-art Newtec FlexACM technology with included satellite bandwidth management, we are able to differentiate the used modulation and coding for each remote site depending on the reception capability of the station, in order to avoid a design that is dictated by the weakest station. FlexACM also allows us to deliver a network that is resilient to the effects of severe weather that affects parts of the region we are serving.”

FlexACM is the industry benchmark end-to-end solution, combining a range of cutting-edge technologies for implementing efficient trunking and backbone IP satellite links. By combining technologies such as DVB-S2 ACM, cross-layer-optimization and NoDE (Noise and Distortion Estimator), FlexACM achieves maximum end-to-end efficiency for satellite links.

The implementation of FlexACM can result in a doubling of the data throughput in a given satellite segment while also guaranteeing 100-percent link availability and reducing OPEX by up to 50 percent. With FlexACM, it is also possible to benefit from the advantage of ACM without the inconvenience of varying throughputs. FlexACM is available as part of Newtec’s Elevation product family, which consists of DVB-S2 IP satellite modulators, demodulators, modems and satellite IP appliances.

“Castor’s very successful launch of these new services illustrates how a highly robust network can be created by using the exceptional performance of FlexACM to implement cost-effective high-quality services in demanding conditions,” says Serge Van Herck, CEO of Newtec.

Categories: Broadband, DTH/Satellite, Press Releases