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Frequently Asked Questions
Who
is Satellite-asp.com?
Who is Skycasters?
What is DiRECWAY?
How
is Satellite-ASP/Skycasters different from other DiRECWAY services?
How fast is the DiRECWAY
service?
Is there a specific Service
Level Agreement (SLA)?
What effect does weather
have on the service?
What equipment is
needed at the customer's remote locations?
What equipment is
needed at the customer's data center or host location?
What is SuperVPN?
What is VPN?
How are hosted applications
supported?
What types of hosted
applications are supported?
What hosted applications
are not supported?
How do I use Satellite-ASP
to increase our ASP sales?
How do we get started?
How long does
installation take?
Who
is Satellite-asp.com?
Satellite-ASP is an operating unit of Skycasters LLC that is devoted exclusively
to providing service to the ASP (Application Service Provider) industry.
Satellite-ASP offers broadband satellite services custom tailored for
providing connectivity between ASP’s and their customers. Back
to top
Who is Skycasters?
Skycasters LLC is the leading facilities-based provider of satellite powered
broadband services over the Hughes Network Systems DiRECWAY satellite
platform. Skycasters is a fully-funded and profitable service provider
serving the 50 US states, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and the Caribbean.
Back
to top
What is DiRECWAY?
DiRECWAY is a product of Hughes Network Systems, one of the worlds oldest
and largest satellite services providers. DiRECWAY is a current generation,
low-cost, high-speed, 2-way (send/receive) satellite connection to the internet.
Back
to top
How is Satellite-ASP/Skycasters
different from other DiRECWAY services?
Satellite-ASP and Skycasters add
proprietary software, hardware and highly engineered solutions to the
Hughes platform. Skycasters operates it’s own private satellite network
using dedicated Hughes gateway equipment and routers in a leased secure-collocation
area located at the DiRECWAY NOC (Network Operations Center). Skycasters
is a “facilities-based value-added reseller” of the Hughes service.
Back to top
How fast is the service?
The service is available through Satellite-ASP at three different levels.
All services are provided over a shared network so, like the internet
itself, speeds vary based on network load. The entry-level and most popular
service is rated at 400 kbps and engineered so that it generally runs
faster than 400 kbps. Burst speeds of over 1 Mbps are not unusual. The
upstream service is carried over a 128 kbps channel. Upstream speeds typically
run between 30-60 kbps and have the ability to burst to higher speeds. Back
to top
Is
there a Service Level Agreement (SLA)?
The service is provided on a best-effort basis. Hughes Network Systems
makes every available effort to provide a satisfactory level of service
and uptime. Uptime is above 99.5% but is affected by weather and other
factors. As a point of reference, the service has been proven to be highly
reliable by many national organizations with the need to connect many
diverse locations. Just look for the Hughes equipment as you drive through
town, on the roofs at 7-11, ExxonMobil and other C-stores, many larger
banks, fast food restaurant chains like Wendy’s and many other national
chain and franchised businesses. Back
to top
What effect does weather have on
the service?
The service uses a .74 meter dish which is more than 2x the antenna size
of most DBS dishes. This means the service is affected by weather only
about ½ as much as other satellite services like DirecTV or DISH.
Some areas of the US are affected more by rain than other areas. You can
check with local DirecTV/DISH users to see what the effects of rain are
in your area. Outages due to rain occur about half as often and last about
half as long when using our larger .74m dish antenna. Typical performance
results on our service are 10-12 outages per year with a 4-5 minute duration
per outage. Back to top
What equipment is needed
at the customer's remote locations?
Satellite-ASP will install an outdoor dish antenna and transmitter with
all mounting hardware and cabling, the indoor send-receive satellite modems
and the SNS (Satellite Network Server). The SNS includes firewall, router,
modem software, system diagnostics, remote support and other features.
Other hardware configurations are available. Back
to top
What equipment is needed
at the customer's data center or host location?
For standard service, all that is needed is a broadband internet connection.
For the SuperVPN service, the customer will receive a Skycasters pre-configured
Cisco router or PIX hardware device. Each Cisco router or PIX can support
40-50 remote sites. Other solutions are available to support 100,300,
750 etc., up to 7,500 sites. Back to
top
Does VPN work over the standard
service?
As long as the remote site is configured for a routable static IP address,
VPN connections can be established using popular IPSec VPN clients available
through Cisco, Nortel, Lucent, Checkpoint and others. VPN performance
over all platforms is substantially reduced in comparison to regular
email or web browser performance over satellite. VPN over satellite is
usually a single-user application at approximately dial-up speed, however
the use of VPN does not adversely affect other non-VPN applications. VPN
over the standard satellite service is recommended only for incidental
use. For a high-performance VPN over satellite solution, Satellite-ASP/Skycasters
offers their proprietary SuperVPN service. Back
to top
What is SuperVPN?
SuperVPN is technology that
dramatically improves the performance of VPN-over-satellite. It uses an
IPSec tunnel to connect the Skycasters private satellite network to the
customers private network (host or data center). It uses Hughes proprietary
hardware-ASIC encryption in addition to DES encryption across the satellite
link. 3DES session-key technology further increases the security. Using
SuperVPN, customers have secure VPN/Private Network connections without
the adverse effects typically associated with VPN over satellite. Back
to top
How are hosted applications supported?
The Satellite-ASP solution is perfect for distributed access to a central
data center or hosted application, and can allow secure broadband access
from any point in the USA regardless of geographic location. Designed
as a client solution, the service is not recommended for use at the host
site. Satellite-ASP can support SSL based or VPN security for the connection.
Satellite-ASP can also provide a high-performance secure browser-based
connection to any application through a Citrix-like interface optimized
for performance over satellite. The service also supports Citrix and other
similar applications. Back to
top
What types of hosted applications
are supported?
Our service will support almost any application that can be supported
over a DSL or Cable connection. This could include hosted applications
for accounting, billing, database, CRM, credit-card authorization, POS,
inventory management, etc. Satellite-ASP is willing to perform interactive
testing of your application over our service. Back
to top
What hosted applications are not
supported?
Our service does not support applications that are particularly latency-sensitive
such as interactive-gaming or VoIP. Also. because of the asymmetrical nature
of the connection, it does not support 2-way video conferencing or other
applications that require a high upstream capability from the client site.
Back to top
Who are Satellite-Asp's competitors?
Because Satellite-ASP/Skycasters is the only facilities-based VAR (Value
Added Reseller) of the Hughes DiRECWAY platform, no other DiRECWAY provider
can provide the level of advanced services that we offer. Hughes Network
Systems does not themselves provide these services. Other providers sell
box solutions using standard (often unencrypted) connectivity. These providers
are not considered to be competitors
in our market segment, which is providing secure connectivity to business-only
customers. Back to top
How do I use Satellite-ASP to
increase my ASP sales?
If your hosted application requires a persistent broadband connection, potential customers who cannot get persistent broadband connectivity
cannot subscribe to your application. Satellite-ASP is focused on assisting
the ASP industry in extending it’s reach to more customers and to
achieving a higher penetration rate within each customer. Satellite-ASP’s always-on,
installed-anywhere broadband service opens the door to expanded marketing
opportunities in order to acquire new customers. Also, within
your current customer base, there are customers who would like to add user
seats or licenses for remote offices, set up tele-worker employees, or
even provide connectivity to the CEO’s mountaintop retreat. Back
to top
How do we get started?
The first step is to contact us and let us know you are interested. We
will discuss your application, answer your questions and schedule an interactive
test. In most cases, no additional development or engineering is required.
There are 3 ways to do business with us:
1) Referral
Agent- refer your prospects
to us for all pre-sales,
sales and post-sale service
and earn a referral fee, or
2) Direct
Agent - You sign on as
an authorized agent and
complete
training, then you sign up the customer on our
customer
order form and we provide all post-sales service.
You
earn upfront and residual commissions, or
3) VAR
Partner - sign up the customer
on your contract, we
install and provide support
and you bill the customer. We
send you
a wholesale bill.
Back
to top
How
long does installation take?
Installation typically takes 10 business days from the date we receive
the completed order. Configuration of the remote site is done the
following day. If SuperVPN is ordered, it is configured the day following
the remote site configuration. Back
to top
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