The Telecom Applications Workshop 2004 was a great success, with over one hundred people attending on each of the two days and many more following it at various remote sites throughout Europe.
Most notably in Greece where over forty persons attended on each of the two days. Mr Liapis, Greek Minister for Transport and Communication opened by stating: "Our first priority is to place Space Applications at the service of the citizen". The HellasSAT satellite made this link possible, connecting ESRIN to the Greek Ministerial Amphitheatre in Athens.
Held on 10 and 11 November 2004, the purpose of the workshop was twofold.
Firstly to share the 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 opened with a Plenary session, covering aspects of ESA Telecom's Applications Initiative, a Multimedia Market Study, the UK's Perspective on Satellite Multimedia Applications and the Venture Academy, for which a questionnaire was handed out to probe interest in this potential USO initiative. |
What followed fell along six areas of ESA Telecom's Applications: Telemedicine and Medical Education, Location Based Services, Broadband Access and Services, B2B & B2C, Disaster Relief, Emergency and Security, and finally Distance Learning.
The second day Plenary included a presentation by Robert Viola of AgCom on "The Role of Satellite in Promoting Advanced Telecommunication Networks and Services: a Policy Perspective".
The workshop ended with an informative briefing from Andrea Cotellessa, of the USO, on Market Development and Technical Assets for Projects. News from the SatLabs Group, presented by Chairman Xavier Lobao. Francesco Feliciani, Head of Applications and organiser of the workshop, concluded the event by discussing New Opportunities.
Additionally, throughout the two-day event, four projects provided demonstrations. These included the NESA ambulance with satellite connection, the TeLeCare project for home health care via satellite, the recently completed OTV Channel as well as EDIBS from F5 which had just been honoured by an award from the Austrian Ministry of Commerce.
Participants had much to say about the workshop.
Tony Bowden of MarketStream Ltd from the United Kingdom thought: "The workshop offers the opportunity to strengthen further partnerships, even if they're not in the same market. It is especially exciting to see that certain products have been commercialised from one year to the next year."
Kells' Fabrizio Aversa from Italy said: "I have attended 5 previous TAW workshops and I can confirm that the quality is as high as usual. Not only from a technical point of view, but also among the audience. All in all it is a very good place to exchange ideas."
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Harald Hackenburg from the Austrian company F5 echoed this sentiment by saying: "The workshop is an excellent opportunity to build up interdisciplinary contacts and other possible synergies." |
Newcomer Christos Papachristos from HellasSAT of Greece, stated: "I am participating in the workshop for the first time and I greatly appreciate the wide range of topics. I was particularly impressed by the demonstrations."
To view all of the presentations click on the link on the right of this page.
