Satellite has traditionally been used in industries where assets are outside terrestrial networks, but as of late, demand for satellite among industries such as energy, finance, and maritime has been increasing. As such, Inmarsat, www.inmarsat.com, a provider of satellite communication services, is deepening its focus on M2M (machine-to-machine) communications and is present at CTIA’s MobileCON 2012 this week.

The M2M portfolio from Inmarsat includes devices and value-added services for remote monitoring and data collection. Joel Schroeder, director of Inmarsat’s M2M program, says Inmarsat is seeing an increase from industries recognizing the value and benefits of using satellite to connect remote devices.

“Whereas satellite was once an afterthought, it’s now very much part of a company’s M2M strategy—not only to close gaps in coverage, but also to increase the reliability of communications—creating a truly seamless M2M environment,” Schroeder continues. “Because Inmarsat's M2M services operate in the L-band spectrum, they are not subject to rain fade or impacted by other harsh weather conditions. The L-band also allows for a high degree of antenna pointing tolerance, simplifying installation, and adding to the reliability of unmanned terminals in an open environment.”

The company launched its flagship service, BGAN M2M, in February of this year and provides realtime IP data speeds of up to half a megabit per second. Additional solutions in the portfolio include IsatData Pro and Isat M2M for basic tracking and telemetry for fixed and mobile assets.