CASE STUDY #1: TSIS's Durability and Business Continuity Solution The Situation: The Discovery Expedition of Lewis and Clark is the official re-enactment organization of the 2003-2006 Lewis and Clark Bicentennial commemoration. The Discovery Expedition will retrace the entire waterway portion of the original 1803-1806 expedition east of the Rockies. The reenactment continues across the Rockies and down the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia Rivers to the Pacific Ocean. The handcrafted exact replicas of the 1803 Corps of Discovery's keelboat and pirogues play an integral role in the national Lewis and Clark bicentennial commemoration and the Discovery Expedition's reenactments. The Discovery Expedition's Education Initiative, in cooperation with the National Park Service and Apple Learning Interchange, has developed an interactive Web site for students, teachers, and others. The Discovery Expedition's goal is to link the trail to America's students. More information can be found at www.lewisandclark.net. Linking the Discovery Expedition to schools and PBS stations across the county would not be possible without their Transportable Satellite Internet System (TSIS). The TSIS allows for two-way, real-time video conferencing and provides emergency power and telephony. Durability: Since July of 2003, the Discovery Expedition has deployed their Transportable Satellite Internet System (TSIS) at more than 100 sites and has been on the air everyday---without failure.  The TSIS has operated successfully in 40 mph winds, storms and below freezing temperatures. The TSIS follows the re-enactors off road and into remote areas where there is no communication infrastructure.   Business Continuity: In April of 2004, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was doing a presentation with video conferencing an audience of 250 school administrators and students in large auditorium.  Due to inadequate Internet connectivity inside the auditorium, Lewis and Clark ran their Ethernet cable inside. 15 minutes before the presentation was to start, lightning knocked out all power. Lewis and Clark used their TSIS unit to supply emergency power, lighting and phone service to the event and the videoconference went on as planned. The TSIS saved the day!!   CASE STUDY #2 : Wireless Deployment Provides Easy, Secure and Reliable “Hot Spots”   The Situation: Providing “hot spots” when and where they’re needed can be a challenge when field of view, building materials, foliage----even large numbers of people----can affect Wi- Fi system performance.  Transportable Internet create customized “hot spots” in both remote and metropolitan areas. The special antennas multiple cells create narrow, formed beams to greatly extend the range and reduce interference; the high gain antenna and Wi-Fi switching deliver reliability over a 2.5 mile range outdoors at a fraction of the cost of multiple access points.  Phased array antennas have been flexibly deployed to meet the needs of almost any environment. Here are some examples: Example I:  At the height of the summer tourist season, a popular seaside community’s modest population swells by 300%. Visitors flock to the area to enjoy a wide variety of seaside activities as well as enjoy the historic sites and museums. Demand for broadband on- demand services goes up, too. After establishing a suitable panel location with clear line of sight, just one outdoor Wi-Fi switch provided complete WiFi coverage over a 10 square mile area. Residents and visitors could access the Internet, make purchases on-line, send and receive-mail, etc.----all with just a single piece of hardware. Example II:  A west coast metropolitan area annually hosts a large sporting event, which draws more than 25,000 participants and 140,000 spectators into multiple venues including a large riverfront park. The 40-block area is also filled with tents, stages and food vendors. Getting real-time scores and reports plus communicating general information in an urban area can be a tremendous challenge. Last year, 5 phased array antennas were installed throughout the downtown area including one on a large skywalk. Due to the temporary nature of the sporting event, antennas were stabilized and anchored with concrete weights. The phased array antennas mobility, speed and ease of deployment were the keys to a successful mobile Wi-Fi solution. Example III: A scenic town in the Rocky Mountains is a popular tourist destination and with the increase in visitors can come an increase in crime. Using phased array antennas, the local police department was able to more efficiently process reports from their cruisers and have significantly more time to be on the streets. Officers’ community presence was doubled from 40% of their time to 80%. The higher visibility of police officers resulted in reduced crime rates and helped maintain the community’s reputation as a desirable vacation destination.   The Results:   Buinesses and individuals benefit from cost-effective, reliable and flexible Wi-Fi connectivity. This switching is the new architecture for wireless local area networks that makes Wi-Fi networks suitable for businesses anywhere. CASE STUDY #3: Remote Areas Access The Situation: A school district in a remote area of northern Wisconsin wanted to increase participation in environmental, chemistry and earth science field studies. Students in K-8 and secondary classes have been aiding Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources by designing and implementing experiments/observations of local wolf populations, fish, mining and other geologic studies. Due to transportation and other issues, the instructors cannot take more than 7 students with them at any given time although many more students would like to participate. The school district wanted to take advantage of the wide variety of field studies and build students’ interest in science through increased participation. The school district also wanted to share its projects with other school districts---especially in those also in remote areas through video-conferencing and virtual tours. The school district is also located in an under-served area for Internet connectivity and cell phone availability and realized the need for a reliable communications solution in its business continuity plan. Phase I:  The Transportable Satellite Internet System (TSIS) provides an integrated rugged, dependable and mobile communications solution for two-way, real-time video conferencing plus telephone and wired/wireless computer connectivity. The TSIS can be set-up anywhere in just 20 minutes with a connectivity range of up to 5 miles. Once in use, the TSIS runs on its own power for 72 hours without additional fuel and has battery back-up power. Anyone who is computer literate can learn to deploy the TSIS and the simplicity of set-up allows teachers to focus on their students plus have access to power and communications in an emergency. The TSIS was the ideal solution for both educational and business continuity purposes. Phase II: Using the TSIS and Department of Natural Resources protocols, the students determine the number and location of wolf packs using the TSIS’s GPS technology to log and understand the location and travel habits of the packs. The real-time video conferencing capability of the TSIS allows many more students to participate in discussions and be involved in the data collection and analysis. The school’s advanced placement environmental students also map trout hatching and growth habits in a 300-gallon tank built by the students. Each year, the students stock the local streams with the trout they’ve raised and also report those results back to the state DNR. Using the TSIS’s portable uplink, the students involve others in analysis of stream quality through live web casts. Phase III: The school has just received funding for a charter “school-within-a-school” to serve all of the district students with elective science offerings that will generate interest in field studies, practical applications and career opportunities in science. Critical to the success of the new charter school will be disseminating the findings of current research projects through web capture and conducting outreach activities between students all over the United States and even in other parts of the world.   The Results:   The TSIS has increased the students’ learning by bringing many more students into field studies and virtual classrooms where access and participation was previously very limited. Early results show that are more motivated as lessons are immediately put into context and field applications. CASE STUDY #4: Emergency Communications during Catastrophes The Situation: A top five insurance company needed to improve efficiency during natural and man made catastrophes and more effectively allocate resources during such disasters. When a disaster struck, the company did not know how many claims representatives to dispatch into the field; uncertainty and unreliability of local communications infrastructure also caused confusion. Pre-positioning of resources was somewhat ineffective as disaster forecasts were too general. With traditional means of communication usually destroyed, time was also lost re- assigning resources. The result of the inefficient allocation of time and people slowed the determination and settlement of claims and insurance industry statistics show that the faster claims are settled, the lower the overall costs and the higher customer retention. For example, catastrophe claims representatives would drive or fly as close as possible to the disaster area, find suitable hotel accommodation and then move as near as possible into the affected areas----not knowing what they would find and with only cell phones to communicate with their headquarters and each other. Cell phones provided sporadic and unreliable service. After initial field investigations, claims representatives would attempt to download and transmit policyholder information, often having to return to their hotel for Internet connectivity—assuming that the hotel provided this service. The end results are waste of critical time, incomplete or forgotten information and slow service to their customers during a crisis situation.   Phase I:  The Transportable Satellite Internet System (TSIS) provides a rugged, dependable and mobile communications solution for both telephone and wireless computer connectivity. The TSIS’s integrated solution provides any type of wired or wireless connectivity, telephony and real-time video-conferencing that can be set-up anywhere in just 20 minutes with a connectivity range of up to 5 miles. The TSIS can be pre-positioned and then easily moved if the path of a disaster changes. Once in use, the TSIS runs on its own power for 120 hours ( 5 full days) without additional fuel and has battery back-up power. Phase II: Using the TSIS, claims representatives can efficiently download all policy holder information on their laptops, use the TSIS’s camera (or optional backpack camera) to send real-time video images back to their home offices, dialog in real time with their offices and make a permanent video record of the condition of their customers’ homes, cars and other possessions. GPS data is overlaid on the video screen for precise documentation of time, date and location. Telephony is provided via commercial quality satellite thus eliminating the problem of unreliable/or non-existing cell towers and destruction/disruption of landlines.  The TSIS also allows for remote monitoring of sites for increased security purposes. Phase III:  Securing the privacy and security of all policyholder information is critical. VPNA’s (virtual private network accelerators along with our clients own encryption boxes are now integrated with the TSIS to eliminate packet loss and still insure privacy and security of information. Reverse geo-coding is also under study for additional geographic orientation purposes.   The Results: The TSIS will allow the insurance company to greatly improve efficiencies during disaster situations and process claims at a much faster rate resulting in lower costs for the insurance company and much more responsive service to their customers. CASE STUDY #5: Satellite Technology Creates Internet Connectivity in Rural Ohio and Jobs Follow The Situation: TRANSNet and its technology emerged from joint projects between The Ohio State University and OARnet, which were designed to promote non-traditional educational services and workforce development training, such as Internet-based distance learning programs and adult education classes. Internet access to new and established small businesses in underserved rural areas was also a part of the project’s focus. One of the first applications of the emerging technology was in a small town in Ohio. The business district of the town----once the economic backbone of the 3000 person community--- now stood virtually empty, a casualty of the collapse of the coal mining industry. The Solution: Using funding from the American Distance Education Association (ADEC), a LAN antenna and satellite dish were installed on the roof of the local Masonic Lodge. This installation provided a transparent connection to the Internet via satellite; the engineers then connected the satellite system on the roof of the building to the LAN inside the building. Skill training programs were created. A medical transcription center was subsequently opened, which provided new jobs to the community The Results: The satellite Internet connectivity is providing educational services to adult learners and job training opportunities to low-income residents that improves their quality of life, increases their standard of living. Next Steps: Engineers are in the process of creating an expanded wireless community-wide area network. A major part of this expansion project is the placement of additional telecommunications equipment on the town’s 125’ water tower to expand the coverage to local police and emergency response staff. LINKS www.tachyon.net wwwlewisandclark.net