World Surveillance Group Inc (fka WSGI)

[cabvineyard]

SEBASS...the article was posted before, message # 4460 on 1/30/05...wasn't able to use your link, but here is the article:

http://www.mobilepipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=59300391

February 01, 2005

Wireless Raining Down From Above

By Penny Lunt Crosman Courtesy of Network Magazine

The most enduring image of an airship is the fiery wreck of the Hindenburg. GlobeTel hopes to update that image this March by providing wireless broadband access from an unmanned airship stationed 65,000 feet over the California desert.

The 245-foot-long "stratellite" will hover over one GPS coordinate, held there by six GPS units connected to the airship's engines. It will provide IP communications over Wi-Fi and WiMAX to an area 400 miles in diameter, or roughly the size of Texas--in fact, it could make the entire state a hotzone.

Why tether cutting-edge communications services to an outdated technology that literally went up in flames? The advantage is lower cost, says Leigh Coleman, GlobeTel's president. "We can provide broadband and voice services around the world at a fraction of the cost of the current business model," he says.

Each stratellite costs $3 to $4 million to build and less to operate, whereas a satellite costs $250 to $300 million to build and another $40 million annually to operate. And whereas satellite IP communication is prone to latency, the lower-flying stratellite should be within tolerance for most applications.

In addition to serving major population centers, the airship could target underserved areas around the world, such as the Australian outback, the Philippines, Africa, and China. In Iraq, it could substitute for the dangerous work of building cell towers.

Despite these benefits, critics have raised several concerns over the undertaking. One is the potential dangers of a zeppelin the size of a city block plummeting down onto a metropolitan area. Coleman dismisses this notion, claiming that the stratellite's automatic guidance system would float the ship down if the base station lost control. The FAA is also supervising the project to ensure safety.

Reliability is another issue. Problems such as equipment failure or a stratellite being blown off course could affect service, for example. However, according to GlobeTel, the airships will be networked with overlaps in service and aren't affected by wind. An outage should last no more than three hours, the time it takes to position a replacement stratellite.

But even if the stratellites function as advertised, questions persist. "Even if they're successful in getting it to work, why do we need this?" asks Bruce Elbert, president of consulting firm Application Technology Strategy. "Any time there's U.S. demand for service, Verizon, SBC, MCI, or AT&T is going to meet it by putting up towers and running cables."

GlobeTel will need to find the right partners, such as telecommunications companies, to deliver its service. Only time will tell whether its business model will reach the heights of success, or crash and burn.