Wed, Feb 19, 2014
'The Outernet' Would Utilize Hundreds Of The Small Satellites For Connectivity
A business accelerator focused on independent media delivery systems is incubating its first project: Outernet, which it says is the world’s first truly global media delivery service.
The investors are the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), and the project is called the 'Outernet'. Founded by MDIF’s Director of Innovation Syed Karim, Outernet will use a network of small satellites called CubeSats to transmit selected internet data – audio, video, text and applications – to any Wi-Fi-enabled device, including mobile phones, anywhere in the world at no cost. No other information channel allows for such a wide variety of content, or broadcasts on a genuinely world-wide scale.
“We are excited to incubate such a revolutionary project,” said MDIF CEO Harlan Mandel. “Outernet will bypass censorship, ensure privacy and offer worldwide access to information to everyone, including those who today are beyond the geographic reach of the internet or can’t afford it.”
“Outernet is the modern version of shortwave radio,” said founder Mr. Karim. “It uses leading-edge technology to address a deep social problem. As the world moves towards a global knowledge-driven economy, more than 3 billion people are excluded by cost, geography or jurisdiction. Outernet will increase opportunities for everyone to access digital news and information, allowing greater access to opportunity and education than anything that currently exists.”
Outernet will also offer a humanitarian communications system, relaying public service transmissions during emergencies in places where there is no access to conventional communications networks due to natural disasters or man-made restrictions on the free-flow of information.
It embraces the burgeoning new-space startup industry, leveraging multicasting technology to take the Wi-Fi network to an extreme. Anyone with a device will be able to receive the signals, regardless of connectivity to the regular internet. Costly data plans from local telecom operators will no longer be a barrier to accessing information.
All of the components necessary for the Outernet have been validated by various governmental, university and amateur satellite projects. Outernet will bring these technologies together, provide standardization where none exists, and build a genuinely innovative global media delivery platform.
(CubeSat image provided by NASA)
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