ICO Global Communications (ICO) and Alcatel-Lucent will be demonstrating the world’s first fully integrated satellite-terrestrial network being used to deliver mobile video and interactive two-way communications services during the International Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. 
The network is supporting ICO’s mobile interactive media service, ICO mim, which delivers live television, interactive navigation and two-way communications to a wide variety of mobile and portable devices. The mobile demonstrations during CES will feature several vehicles in a range of configurations which showcase the ICO satellite-terrestrial network. The mobile video demonstrations include eight channels of national news, entertainment and children’s content delivered to 7 to 10 inch video screens, highlighting the advantages of mobile video delivered to larger screens with high quality picture resolution.
ICO mim is powered by the largest commercial satellite launched to date, ICO G1, which covers the entire United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. ICO G1 allows for a unique, fully interactive mobile experience, and at CES, users will witness the full range of features that can be deployed utilizing the satellite’s unique two-way capabilities.
Services from ICO G1 are supplemented by a terrestrial network that provides coverage in dense urban areas. This hybrid satellite-terrestrial network design allows for anytime, anywhere coverage, especially in areas where wireless services are unavailable. Trials for the ICO mim service are underway in Las Vegas, Nevada and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
Alcatel-Lucent supplied mobile video technology based on the worldwide DVB-SH standard (Digital Video Broadcast – Satellite services to Handhelds). Alcatel-Lucent is also ICO’s network integrator supporting the construction of terrestrial networks in both test markets and ensuring the overall network performance across the multi-vendor hybrid network.
http://www.ico.com
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
- In April 2008, ICO Global Communications successfully launched of its North American geosynchronous satellite, ICO G1, on board an Atlas V 421 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. ICO G1, which was constructed by Space Systems/Loral using the Loral 1300 platform, has a total mass of 6634kg, making it the largest satellite ever launched by an Atlas rocket, and is the largest commercial satellite ever launched. ICO is planning to offer a converged mobile media service called “mim” that addresses a wide variety of consumers’ entertainment, information, and two-way communication needs: live and stored mobile TV in vehicles, interactive navigation, and roadside assistance, all with nationwide coverage.
