Held on 3 and 4 November 2005, the workshop had two main goals. Firstly, to share knowledge and experience in satcom applications that has been built up over recent years within the ESA Telecom programmes. Secondly, to help individuals and companies involved in ESA's Telecom Applications Projects get acquainted with each other and encourage building relationships among participants.
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This year's workshop saw Project Teams from Europe and Canada meet and present their projects and give opinions on a wide array of topics. It was opened by ESA Telecom's new Head of Department Ms Magali Vaissiere (image right) in which she outlined ESA's long-term plan for 2006 to 2010. |
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Ms Vaissiere explained that: "Applications will remain a major component of the long-term plan and be either exploratory or User Group oriented. Future applications should become the learning case for a synergetic cooperation between ESA and the EC in the telecom field."
Presentations followed on ESA Telecom's Start-Up Projects Initiative, the Current status of Terminal Development, the latest news from the SatLabs Group on 'DVB-RCS Interoperability Certification' as well as 'Issues and Recommendations surrounding Intellectual Property Rights'.
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Mr Fermin Alvarez Lopez (image left) of ESA Telecom presented the newest ESA Initiative for Broadband on Trains. In his words a 'hot item', this initiative has already seen successes most notably with a broadband via satellite link already in use on the Thalys train running from Paris to Brussels and Amsterdam. |
The first day continued with presentations from ESA Telecom supported applications projects in the areas of B2B & B2C as well as Disaster Relief and Emergency Management.
Among the presenters was Mr Seamus O'Leary from the Irish company InHouse Technologies. He presented their project 'The Lift Channel'. "I've been coming to the Telecom Applications Workshops for several years, he said, "It's great opportunity to stay in touch with others in the satcom field, there are quite a few familiar faces and the more often you come back the more you get back!"
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Near the end of the first day, InHouse demonstrated (image right) the multi-casting abilities of 'The Lift Channel', which can deliver to users corporate information, advertising and entertainment. 'The Lift Channel' was used to make remote particpation of the workshop possible. |
 The Lift Channel demonstration |
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The second day contained presentations from ESA Telecom supported projects in the areas of Telemedicine and Location Based Satcom Services. Mr Sergio Barbieri (image right) presented 'From the Field to the Ward: the Digital Ambulance of NESA' a project with Kell of Italy as Prime Contractor. |
 Mr Michael Andrews of the Telemedicine project: REACH |
A first timer to the Workshop, Mr Michael Andrews (image left) from the Canadian company Peel Corporation and Project Member for REACH which is piloting the use of satellite to treat severely mentally ill patients at home was generally enthusiastic about working with ESA. "The milestone system is great, it allows industry to put more attention on accomplishing projects." |
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Francesco Feliciani (image right) Head of Applications for ESA Telecom closed the workshop. In his presentation 'The Way Forward' he requested feedback from TAW 2005 participants on whether the Applications Programme can be improved to better help projects to achieve their commercial objectives in the post-contract phase. |
He furthermore raised the question of whether a proactive promotion by ESA of inter-communication between projects is considered by projects as an opportunity or rather as an additional burden.
All participants were warmly encouraged to send their ideas and suggestions to the ESA Telecom User Support Office: user.telecom@esa.int . This is the opportunity for future Applications projects to influence what will influence their business.
To view all presentations click under related links at the top-right of this page.
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