NEW DELHI: GlobeCast, the broadcasting and IP services arm of France Telecom
has set up its office in India and will offer services targeted at the corporate
segment. The thrust of the services will be at increasing access speed although
the form of services may be packaged differently.
While initially the services will be restricted to caching services, later
the company will move into providing Internet services on a VSAT-based closed
user group environment. With its satellite footprints covering the Indian
subcontinent, GlobeCast’s Europe Star satellite is in a position to provide
direct satellite access from Europe.
Says GlobeCast Asia CEO Doug Triblehorn, "Initially, we shall offer
customized caching services to corporates and thematic caching services to ISPs
and corporates. Later, we plan to offer hi-speed access to corporates through
dedicated networks."
Caching services will be essentially predictive in nature and will be
particularly beneficial to companies that need to track competitors’ Web sites
or access news feeds on a dynamic basis. Thematic caching will help ISPs and
corporates to utilize bandwidth more efficiently and significantly increase
access speeds. Based on the customer’s thematic preference, specific sites
will be cached at the central servers in London and then pushed to the local
servers at the client’s end.
The company is already in talks with various ISPs and corporates for its
services. Convinced about the huge opportunity in the Indian market, GlobeCast
has recently set up its liaison office in the country and appointed a country
manger as well as a marketing and technical team for support services. "The
major USP of our business will be to listen to our customers and offer more and
more customized solutions," he said.
With the recent announcement of the DTH guidelines, the company is also
upbeat about its prospects in providing integrated services to DTH service
providers. It plans to provide end-to-end solutions to broadcasters right from
enabling alliances with foreign broadcasters to providing transponder space on
its satellite.
Its foray into DTH is expected to complement its ISP initiative when
customers with dish antennas as small as 80 cm will be able to receive both the
Internet and broadcast channels on the same platform through a set-top box.