HOW

The innovative two-way 'Internet via Satellite' system being used by the schools taking part in SchoolSat is supplied and serviced by Web-Sat in Dublin, a wholly Irish-owned company. It gives schools a fast connection to the Internet with up to 4Mb download to the school and 64 Kbits return.

The service is based on the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard, which is deployed Europe-wide (and is becoming accepted as a worldwide standard) for digital television. It allows the user to receive Internet services with a relatively small antenna (less than 1 metre diameter) and a PC equipped with a satellite modem anywhere within the footprint of the Eutelsat W3 satellite (used by Web-Sat). This PC can be used as a gateway to connect multiple PCs to the Internet. Schools are using the service in unicast mode.

Using satellite to support Internet access for schools has several advantages:

• provides schools with fast access to the Internet
• can be installed in any Irish school regardless of location
• can be installed relatively quickly and as and from today
• provides a secure and managed network for Irish schools
• provides stakeholders with a system capable of pushing specific sites and digital resources to the schools almost instantly
• can be integrated with other existing and compatible services where such services exist