The new service will enable high-performance, fibre-like connectivity to IBM Cloud’s global customers, which include governments, global telecommunications, maritime, aerospace, energy and other markets with remote or mobile end-points.
“Together with our Direct Link service providers, IBM is helping enterprises securely and reliably connect to the cloud and take advantage of high value services including AI, IoT and analytics,” said Gabe Montanti, global offering executive, IBM Cloud. “The collaboration with SES Networks can help customers connect to the cloud globally especially those in underserved regions of the world.”
By collaborating with IBM, SES is ensuring that applications and solutions can be deployed on the IBM Cloud to markets that have limited connectivity because of unreliable or non-existent terrestrial networks.
SES will leverage its O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite network to deliver better resilience and always-on managed connectivity services to IBM Cloud customers. The O3b constellation is the only non-geostationary satellite system that delivers broadband connectivity with fibre-like performance. O3b broadband solutions are the only satellite-enabled services that are MEF CE 2.0 certified.
“As cloud services become a cornerstone of the digital era, ubiquitous high-capacity, low-latency connectivity to the cloud from virtually anywhere in the world is paramount to everything from enterprise productivity and revenue growth to consumer end user satisfaction,” said John-Paul Hemingway (pictured), CEO of SES Networks. “We are excited to team with IBM Cloud to meet these growing cloud connectivity demands. With performance that rivals the terrestrial fibre connectivity, our standards-based O3b fleet is designed to make satellite a seamless ‘plug-and-play’ connectivity option for robust solutions for cloud leaders like IBM Cloud.”
In June of this year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave SES permission to expand its US O3b fleet in the MEO. In doing so SES has access to additional frequencies to use in its non-geostationary (NGSO) constellation and enables it to deploy O3b mPOWER satellites into inclined and equatorial orbits, delivering full global pole-to-pole coverage.
