ViaSat Military Communications and US Ignite Ensure Government-Controlled InternetSusanne Posel, Contributor In 2010, ViaSat acquired WildBlue which competedwith HugesNet to become the most powerful satellite corporation. This marked the beginning of first-generation broadband satellites which was a burgeoning business at the time. The Department of Defense (DoD) became entangled with Cisco and therefore involved in the first router sent into space for commercial use. This marked the inception of Ciscos Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) program that promised to make connectivity faster using satellites instead of routing through the ground. IRIS was a radiation-tolerant IP router which was used by the DoD in 2009 under the Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD) initiative. ViaSat launched their satellite-based Internet to incite the provocation of WiFi to corporations like JetBlue. Eutelsat has provided broadband Internet to all of Europe through the KA-SAT. This endeavor was sanctioned by the European Union to bring broadband access to all citizens in the EuroZone by 2013. Satellite broadband has becomea growing business and the answer to connectivity issues with revenues expected to reach $9 billion by 2020. ViaSat is at the forefront of this industry by remaking the general public perception of satellite being a fast resort service and offering a product that compares favorably to ADSL services in many unserved or underserved markets. In 2011, ViaSat launched a $400 million satellite called ViaSat1, which was slated to bring broadband to rural America. This launching marked a $1 billion initiative to create an orbiting satellite that would supply Internet to previously unconnected areas, which was risky at the time. ViaSat was also commissioned with providing network ground equipment such as satellite modems, data links and other services associated with the Internet. The development at ViaSats Exede broadband services , also officered through Dis Network offers better connectivity with broadband than DSL connections because of ViaSat1. This satellite works in conjunction with WildBlue satellites (also owned by ViaSat). Between the two, ViaSat provides satellite broadband for the entire continental US. ViaSat, being a US governmentcontrolled private sector corporation, is the perfect complement to US Ignite, the future of broadband internet. In June of this year, President Obama signed theexecutive orderentitled Accelerating Broadband Infrastructure Deployment which supposed to facilitate broadband deployment on Federal lands, buildings, and rights of way, federally assisted highways and tribal and individual Indian trust lands (tribal lands), and particularly in underserved communities. However, with the EO came the creation of US Ignite, which is a 6-year plan to create private-public partnerships (PPP) with the areas a national security; as defined: Focusing collaborative effort with private sector corporations and federal agencies, the goalis to link universities and a growing number of communities with networks that are 10-100 times faster than todays residential broadband Internet services. Under the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, the UNs Millennium Development Goals will be met as their universal portal will become the centralized broadband Internet provider to the world. This includes: linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 