Satellite Business Systems
Encyclopedia
Satellite Business Systems, abbreviated as SBS, was a company founded by IBM
, Aetna
, Comsat
(and later wholly purchased by IBM and then subsequently sold to MCI
), that provided private professional satellite communications through its SBS fleet of FSS
geosynchronous satellite
s, and was the first company to do so.
SBS was founded on December 15, 1975 by the aforementioned companies with the goal of providing a digital satellite communications network for business and other professional clients.
created a subsidiary company named MCI Satellite, Inc. The idea was that satellites could provide 'long distance' service from anywhere to anywhere without having to build thousands of miles of terrestrial network facilities. In early 1971, MCI and Lockheed
Missiles and Space Company created a joint venture named MCI Lockheed Satellite Corp. which was the first company to request FCC authorization as a Specialized Common Carrier using satellite based communications. A year later, MCI and Lockheed sought an additional source of funding and Comsat Corp. entered the venture which was renamed CML Satellite Corp. In need of cash, MCI sold its share of the venture to IBM Corporation in 1974 (Lockheed also subsequently sold its share to IBM). IBM and Comsat brought in Aetna Insurance Company as a third partner and renamed the company Satellite Business Systems (SBS).
s at each of its major sites. This strategy limited SBS' addressable market to corporations with enough concentrated voice and data traffic to justify the installation of multiple earth stations. Earth stations were generally not shared by SBS customers.
Although the SBS technology provided switched digital, leased digital, switched analog, and leased analog connections between a customer's earth stations, most customers used it mainly for intra-corporate voice calls. Data communications protocol
s of the period were not efficient over satellite links.
One SBS customer, ISACOMM
, extended the business model to smaller corporate customers and provided offnet connectivity as well.
The high initial costs of deploying earth stations, along with the rapid success and expansion of terrestrial competitors like MCI and Sprint
, prevented SBS from attaining its commercial targets. Excess transponder
s on SBS satellites were leased to other companies, and SBS adopted some of ISACOMM's marketing tactics and even pursued the consumer long-distance market on a limited basis.
, meaning that smaller, less expensive dishes and equipment could be used to receive and transmit to the satellites, making SBS' satellite system attractive for business customers. This was opposed to then-current satellites using the C band
of RF spectrum, requiring a larger (and more costly) dish 8 feet (and up) in size. However, Ku signals suffered more from rain fade
.
The SBS earth station was designed by IBM. It consisted of a highly modified IBM 8100
and a TDMA
modem
. All earth stations were managed from the SBS central network operations facility located in McLean, VA, which was also the headquarters location for the corporation.
The first use of the NASA Shuttle for commercial purposes was the deployment of the SBS 3 satellite in November, 1982 from STS-5
. SBS engineers designed the cradle that sat in the cargo bay of the shuttle and spun up to 50 RPM, then ejected the spinning satellite with the use of explosive bolts.
All the above satellites were built by Hughes
using the HS-376 platform of satellite, with the exception of SBS 6, which used the HS-393 platform.
SBS 1-6 have since reached the end of their useful life and are no longer in service (having been placed in graveyard orbit
s), SBS 6 was the last SBS satellite in operation at 74 degrees west longitude
, it was de-commissioned in July 2007 and replaced by Intelsat Galaxy 17.
In 1987, SBS' fleet was sold off. SBS 1 and 2 were sold to Comsat, SBS 3 remained with MCI, and SBS 4 was sold to IBM's Satellite Transponder Leasing Corporation (STLC) together with the SBS 5 and 6 satellites, which were then still on the ground.
In April 1990, Hughes Communications Inc (HCI), a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft (who built the satellites) bought STLC from IBM. Sometime later (possibly around 1992) SBS 3 was sold to Comsat.
(Comsat was later bought by Lockheed Martin
.)
Due to the divestiture of its fleet (to MCI & HCI, and ironically to Comsat and IBM as well, the former founders of SBS), SBS no longer exists as an entity, with the last satellite left of its fleet, SBS 6, being de-commissioned in July 2007 and last being owned by Intelsat
.
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Aetna
Aetna
Aetna, Inc. is an American health insurance company, providing a range of traditional and consumer directed health care insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care, and disability plans, and medical management...
, Comsat
COMSAT
The Communications Satellite Corporation is a global telecommunications company, based in the USA, and with branches in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and several other countries in the Americas. It is present also in Turkey...
(and later wholly purchased by IBM and then subsequently sold to MCI
MCI Inc.
MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia...
), that provided private professional satellite communications through its SBS fleet of FSS
Fixed Service Satellite
Fixed Service Satellite , is the official classification for geostationary communications satellites used for broadcast feeds for television stations and radio stations and broadcast networks, as well as for telephony, telecommunications and data communications.FSS satellites have also been used...
geosynchronous satellite
Geosynchronous satellite
A geosynchronous Satellite is a satellite whose orbit on the Earth repeats regularly over points on the Earth over time. If such a satellite's orbit lies over the equator, the orbit is circular and its angular velocity is the same as the earth's, then it is called a geostationary satellite...
s, and was the first company to do so.
SBS was founded on December 15, 1975 by the aforementioned companies with the goal of providing a digital satellite communications network for business and other professional clients.
History
In late 1970, MCI CommunicationsMCI Communications
MCI Communications Corp. was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and ushered in the competitive long-distance telephone industry. It was headquartered in Washington,...
created a subsidiary company named MCI Satellite, Inc. The idea was that satellites could provide 'long distance' service from anywhere to anywhere without having to build thousands of miles of terrestrial network facilities. In early 1971, MCI and Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
Missiles and Space Company created a joint venture named MCI Lockheed Satellite Corp. which was the first company to request FCC authorization as a Specialized Common Carrier using satellite based communications. A year later, MCI and Lockheed sought an additional source of funding and Comsat Corp. entered the venture which was renamed CML Satellite Corp. In need of cash, MCI sold its share of the venture to IBM Corporation in 1974 (Lockheed also subsequently sold its share to IBM). IBM and Comsat brought in Aetna Insurance Company as a third partner and renamed the company Satellite Business Systems (SBS).
Marketing
The original concept was for a large corporation to install SBS earth stationEarth station
A ground station, earth station, or earth terminal is a terrestrial terminal station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft, and/or reception of radio waves from an astronomical radio source. Ground stations are located either on the surface of the Earth, or within Earth's...
s at each of its major sites. This strategy limited SBS' addressable market to corporations with enough concentrated voice and data traffic to justify the installation of multiple earth stations. Earth stations were generally not shared by SBS customers.
Although the SBS technology provided switched digital, leased digital, switched analog, and leased analog connections between a customer's earth stations, most customers used it mainly for intra-corporate voice calls. Data communications protocol
Communications protocol
A communications protocol is a system of digital message formats and rules for exchanging those messages in or between computing systems and in telecommunications...
s of the period were not efficient over satellite links.
One SBS customer, ISACOMM
ISACOMM
ISA Communications Services, Inc. was a long-distance telephone company headquartered in Atlanta. It was the first telephone company to offer a virtual network service to corporations and the first to offer codec-based videoconferencing services...
, extended the business model to smaller corporate customers and provided offnet connectivity as well.
The high initial costs of deploying earth stations, along with the rapid success and expansion of terrestrial competitors like MCI and Sprint
Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
, prevented SBS from attaining its commercial targets. Excess transponder
Transponder
In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
s on SBS satellites were leased to other companies, and SBS adopted some of ISACOMM's marketing tactics and even pursued the consumer long-distance market on a limited basis.
Technology
SBS' fleet of satellites were the first in orbit to offer transponders in the Ku bandKu band
The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...
, meaning that smaller, less expensive dishes and equipment could be used to receive and transmit to the satellites, making SBS' satellite system attractive for business customers. This was opposed to then-current satellites using the C band
C band
The C band is a name given to certain portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including wavelengths of microwaves that are used for long-distance radio telecommunications. The IEEE C-band - and its slight variations - contains frequency ranges that are used for many satellite communications...
of RF spectrum, requiring a larger (and more costly) dish 8 feet (and up) in size. However, Ku signals suffered more from rain fade
Rain fade
Rain fade refers primarily to the absorption of a microwave radio frequency signal by atmospheric rain, snow or ice, and losses are especially prevalent at frequencies above 11 GHz. It also refers to the degradation of a signal caused by the electromagnetic interference of the leading edge of a...
.
The SBS earth station was designed by IBM. It consisted of a highly modified IBM 8100
IBM 8100
See also: IBM 8000 series, canceled in 1961The IBM 8100 was at one time IBM’s principal distributed processing engine, providing local processing capability under two incompatible operating systems and was follow-on to IBM 3790....
and a TDMA
Time division multiple access
Time division multiple access is a channel access method for shared medium networks. It allows several users to share the same frequency channel by dividing the signal into different time slots. The users transmit in rapid succession, one after the other, each using its own time slot. This...
modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
. All earth stations were managed from the SBS central network operations facility located in McLean, VA, which was also the headquarters location for the corporation.
Historical Note
STS-5
STS-5 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, the fifth shuttle mission overall and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was the first shuttle mission to deploy communications satellites into orbit...
. SBS engineers designed the cradle that sat in the cargo bay of the shuttle and spun up to 50 RPM, then ejected the spinning satellite with the use of explosive bolts.
SBS satellites in orbit
Through its existence as a company, SBS had six satellites in orbit:- SBS 1, launched November 15, 1980
- SBS 2, launched September 24, 1981
- SBS 3, launched November 11, 1982
- SBS 4, launched August 31, 1984
- SBS 5, launched September 8, 1988
- SBS 6, launched October 12, 1990
All the above satellites were built by Hughes
Hughes Aircraft
Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
using the HS-376 platform of satellite, with the exception of SBS 6, which used the HS-393 platform.
SBS 1-6 have since reached the end of their useful life and are no longer in service (having been placed in graveyard orbit
Graveyard orbit
A graveyard orbit, also called a supersynchronous orbit, junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an orbit significantly above synchronous orbit, where spacecraft are intentionally placed at the end of their operational life...
s), SBS 6 was the last SBS satellite in operation at 74 degrees west longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
, it was de-commissioned in July 2007 and replaced by Intelsat Galaxy 17.
The end of SBS
In July 1984, Comsat left SBS, and exactly a year later, Satellite Business Systems was sold to MCI. MCI migrated the voice and data traffic of most SBS customers to its terrestrial network. During the sale of SBS to MCI, four satellites (SBS 1-4) were then in orbit.In 1987, SBS' fleet was sold off. SBS 1 and 2 were sold to Comsat, SBS 3 remained with MCI, and SBS 4 was sold to IBM's Satellite Transponder Leasing Corporation (STLC) together with the SBS 5 and 6 satellites, which were then still on the ground.
In April 1990, Hughes Communications Inc (HCI), a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft (who built the satellites) bought STLC from IBM. Sometime later (possibly around 1992) SBS 3 was sold to Comsat.
(Comsat was later bought by Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
.)
Due to the divestiture of its fleet (to MCI & HCI, and ironically to Comsat and IBM as well, the former founders of SBS), SBS no longer exists as an entity, with the last satellite left of its fleet, SBS 6, being de-commissioned in July 2007 and last being owned by Intelsat
Intelsat
Intelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...
.