PC World has the skinny today on plans to put an Internet router in space to speed military satellite communications.
As PC World explains, messages are now passed from one remote terminal to a satellite then back to an earth station, then back to the satellite on a different frequency, then on to its destination. That's a lot of stops. Putting a router in space will eliminate the middle man on earth, thereby increasing satellite capacity and reducing transmission times, which is always handy in a tactical environment.
Lloyd Wood, space initiatives manager in the Global Defense, Space & Security division of Cisco told the magazine the program -- dubbed Internet Routing in Space, or IRIS -- has some nifty civilian applications as you might imagine. For example, IRIS could enable routing IP traffic in space the way packets are moved around on earth, reducing delays, saving capacity and increasing network flexibility.
Cisco and Intelsat General Corp. were among the companies selected by the Defense Department for the program.
--Catherine MacRae Hockmuth
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