After unveiling SD Xperience at last year’s NBAA show, Satcom Direct has been busy adding new features to the package of services, which includes SD Pro and SD Scheduler software and the company’s cabin networking hardware. The newest extension of SD Xperience is the Postflight module, which is part of SD Pro and captures accurate flight times and cycles and synchronizes them with scheduling and other software.
“This is about synchronizing data,” said Chris Moore, Satcom Direct president for business aviation. “We can accurately report the [information] from the aircraft, then transport it via our open-architecture connectivity into our software and within the data infrastructure we’ve built for aviation. This gives operators assurance that they have accurate times and cycles.”
Postflight can share data via application programming interfaces with other companies’ software such as Rolls-Royce for engine monitoring, Camp Systems for maintenance tracking, and others such as ForeFlight, Colt/World Fuel, Flightdocs, Aircraft Performance Group, and Universal Weather and Aviation. “This is a more integrated solution for our customers,” he said. “The aircraft is completely harmonized and synchronized into flight operations and support [organizations].”
Postflight is available to Satcom Direct customers, and there is no need to install new hardware, provided the aircraft’s flight deck has access to the onboard Wi-Fi network housed in the Satcom Direct Router. “The crew can manage the asset more appropriately for scheduling and maintenance,” Moore said. “It is no longer paper-based. Everything is going to digitized data around the aircraft.”
Satcom Direct is demonstrating Postflight as well as airborne connectivity services at its NBAA-BACE booth (C10217) and also in its GIV at the NBAA static display at Henderson Airport.
Service Provider Roots
From its start as a satellite network services provider in 1997, Satcom Direct has grown into a provider of a variety of telecommunications services, from cybersecurity protection to operations software and even becoming a large datacenter services provider for companies not associated with the aviation industry.
At SD’s headquarters campus in Melbourne, Florida, customers can see the physical manifestation of the company’s growth. What used to be a small office building in appropriately-named Satellite Beach, Florida, is now a much larger facility on Satcom Lane in Melbourne, supplemented by a hangar and office building at Melbourne Airport. SD also has facilities elsewhere in the U.S. and nine other countries. The Melbourne campus also houses Satcom Direct’s 25,000-sq-ft data center.
While there are many ways for customers to interact with Satcom Direct, most familiar to business jet operators is the company’s role as a satellite communications (satcom) service provider. While, for example, most cellphone network companies also act as their own service providers, they also work with independent companies that don’t own a cellular network but create a package of services to sell to mobile phone users. Satcom Direct is a service provider for a variety of satcom networks such as those operated by Inmarsat, Iridium, Viasat, and Intelsat as well as SmartSky’s air-to-ground network.
Satcom Direct doesn’t currently manufacture the onboard satcom hardware installed in the aircraft, although it does manufacture the SD Router to provide the local area or Wi-Fi network inside the aircraft.
At its hangar at Melbourne Airport, Satcom Direct welcomes customers to bring their aircraft to help set up and optimize their satcom systems. The hangar can fit up to a G650-size airplane, and customers can run their satcom and learn all the ins and outs of operating it. More importantly, Satcom Direct experts help pilots, flight attendants, and technicians and sometimes even the aircraft’s owners or company executives learn the system and also how to maintain secure communications.
Some users new to satcom might assume that they can simply fire up virtual private network (VPN) software to tunnel securely into their corporate network, but that isn’t always the case with satcom. Josh Wheeler, senior director of entry into service and client services, explained that latency effects make using a VPN difficult while airborne. Satellites that provide Ka- and Ku-band service, such as Inmarsat’s and Viasat’s networks, are positioned in geostationary orbits roughly 22,000 miles above sea level. Radio signals travel at the speed of light, and there is a slight delay of about a quarter second between the aircraft and the satellite—latency—and this can cause hiccups with VPN software.
Satcom Direct provides cybersecurity services, including threat monitoring, to help customers manage airborne communications safely, and can eliminate the need for a VPN. In cases where a VPN is mandatory, Satcom Direct can help it run as smoothly as possible.
Training Opportunities
For those who want to learn much more detail about cybersecurity and running their airborne connected assets, Satcom Direct offers aeroIT, aeroCNCT, and CyberSafe training. The aeroIT class takes five days and is designed to provide certification for “the configuration and troubleshooting of networks and satcom systems onboard an aircraft.” The aeroCNCT class involves two days of training plus testing and is oriented towards flight department members “to gain device knowledge and troubleshoot basic in-flight connectivity issues.” For cybersecurity training, Satcom Direct offers the CyberSafe course, which is two to three hours long and can be done online or in-person. This course helps educate operators about cyber-risks and how to minimize them and protect their organization’s IT assets. The aeroIT and aeroCNCT classes are available at Satcom Direct in Melbourne and at its other offices around the world or FlightSafety learning centers in Savannah, Georgia, and Dallas.
The training itself is agnostic as to the kind of airborne connectivity system that is installed or the aircraft type, according to Wheeler. “When people come to our classes, we see a lot of light bulbs turn on.”
Training is all under the umbrella of Satcom Direct’s new learning management system (LMS). “We’ve had a huge increase in demand on training and education,” said Moore. “We want to have educated customers, and we’ve invested in that. And that business is going from strength to strength.” The LMS also makes it easier to update course content faster, to match the pace of development of the products.
Satcom Direct also provides AeroIT training to its entire staff, including receptionists, warehouse workers, and people in every other role. The idea is that whoever responds to a customer can help them solve their problem, providing much more consistent support, according to Moore, “from the ground up, no exceptions. Anybody joining the business, we want to invest in them. We hold ourselves to a high standard.”
It’s All About the Data
In its role of assisting in the movement of customer data from aircraft to satellites then to ground-based teleport stations and the internet and back to the aircraft, Satcom Direct must facilitate its clients’ data security.
Satcom Direct owns the dedicated data center at its Melbourne campus and backup facilities in Colorado, Virginia, and New York, as well as Comsat teleport locations in California, Connecticut, and The Netherlands (Satcom Direct bought Comsat from Airbus in 2016). Recently, Satcom Direct expanded the Melbourne data center, adding 120 more server cabinets to accommodate growing demand for its secure data services, which serve aviation and other markets. Essentially, Satcom Direct operates a private network that ensures compliance to the highest security standards required by its customers, security that is equivalent to or better than customers’ corporate protocols.
The data center is designed to Category 5 hurricane standards, but in case the worst happens, the data is always protected by the backup locations. All data is secured and protected to the highest standards, and Satcom Direct is regularly audited to ensure these standards are met. While there is not yet a formal data protection standard for aviation, said sales engineer Jeff Cranston, “We’re trying to work on a future aviation standard.” Satcom Direct also employs a full-time security and compliance officer to monitor the data security efforts.
When it comes to protecting customers’ data while they are flying around the world, the Satcom Direct “Threat Board” highlights a visual summary of malicious attacks and their sources. Satcom Direct experts can quickly determine the country of origin of, say, a denial of service attack, see the IP address of the attacker and its service provider or originating network, and more.
In the case of an attack affecting a customer, Satcom Direct can immediately disconnect that customer, not only to prevent further harm but also to avoid overwhelming the network. Usually, this is done automatically, but engineers are always ready to jump in if necessary. “Our goal is to limit the effect [of an attack],” said Cranston.
Another way Satcom Direct can help customers is when a passenger unknowingly brings malware aboard and connects to the aircraft’s network and satcom service. When Satcom Direct’s Incident Response Team (IRT) sees a malware-infected device on an aircraft, it immediately notifies the crew so they can ask the customer to switch off the device; the flight department’s corporate IT operation is also notified.
“It’s a lot more than threat monitoring,” said Robert Vega, director of product management. “It’s end-to-end encapsulation of data. We’re trying to take [the customer] beyond a secure network.” When an issue occurs, the Satcom Direct IRT resolves the issue, then gives the customer a report explaining what happened and recommendations to prevent it. “We’ve been able to detect an infected thumb drive that got onto an aircraft,” he said.
Network Operations
Another important part of the customer experience is Satcom Direct’s Network Operations Center (NOC), where customer support is housed. The NOC operates 24/7 and is responsible for new service activations, product support, and inside sales.
“Our number one goal is ‘we know before you know,’” said Gerry Connell, director of customer operations. He explained that Satcom Direct is much more than just a reseller of satcom air time. “We add a lot of value.”
This includes not only dealing with issues when an aircraft’s satcom isn’t working but taking a more proactive role by watching the entire network and the aircraft using it to get in front of issues before they cause an outage. “We can determine where a bottleneck is occurring,” he said.
A new Client Monitor tool helps the NOC monitor participating aircraft, and when critical limits are exceeded, the monitor automatically notifies the NOC to help speed resolution of the issue. Sometimes it’s just a passenger using too much data because they didn’t switch off automatic app updates on their smartphone. Or the problem could have to do with the satellite network itself. New high-speed broadband satcom networks make this easier, Connell said. “Now we have a bigger ‘pipe’ so we can see much more. A five-minute outage on a [slower] SwiftBroadband satcom is not big deal, but with [high-speed] Ka-band, it’s more apparent.”
Satcom Direct employs 50 customer support people, 24 of whom work in offices around the world. Team members speak more than a dozen languages.
Improving the Experience
Last year’s launch of SD Xperience service combined the company’s flight operations software, cabin and cockpit communications services, and aircraft connectivity hardware to make up Satcom Direct’s “ecosystem of value,” according to senior commercial director Colin Quarless.
Satcom Direct can offer service on multiple satcom networks as well as the new SmartSky air-to-ground network in the U.S. On-ground cellular connectivity is available with the SD Router.
Satcom Direct’s target customers are operators of super-midsize to heavy business jets, and it holds a 68 percent market share among airborne connectivity service providers. Customers can purchase service with by-the-hour-connectivity pricing (the new FlexExec satcom service in partnership with Intelsat) or via customizable plans with other satcom networks, including discounts for prepaying for service.
All of the developments at Satcom Direct are aimed at an open-architecture environment that, while highly secure, makes it easy for partner vendors to work with Satcom Direct and its customers.
“We look at the aircraft as a node in the network,” said Quarless. “We are well poised with all the data, and we can start applying more triangulation of data.” Ultimately this helps improve the value of the aircraft.
“When we say ‘open-architecture,’ people don’t understand,” said Moore. “Everybody is still focused on selling that next satcom terminal. But when you’re investing in a jet, you have to ask, ‘where will that technology be in five years' time?' That’s our focus. We can sell something now, but everything we do is mindful of the customer’s investment in their airframe during the next five to 10 years. We want them to exercise all of their capability and make the most out of their investment.”
