NTT is integrating SES’ satellite network capabilities into its managed enterprise edge product targeted at bringing NTT’s platform to remote enterprise locations.

The integration will embed SES’s O3b mPower medium earth orbit satellite system with NTT’s managed Private 5G and Edge Compute offerings. It’s targeted at enterprises operating in areas lacking terrestrial network coverage like mining, energy, maritime or remote manufacturing.

SES’ O3b mPower constellation currently includes a pair of Boeing-built satellites orbiting at an altitude of 8,000 kilometers. The company has plans to launch six more satellites this year and have a total of 11 satellites in the constellation.

Those satellites are capable of generating thousands of electronically-steered beams that can be adjusted to serve customers around the globe. The constellation can support network speeds in excess of 50 Mb/s and latency of around 150 milliseconds.

Shahid Ahmed, group EVP for new ventures and innovation at NTT, explained in an interview with SDxCentral that satellite integration is an essential option for many enterprises.

“It's a must have for any private network offering that anyone's providing out there today,” Ahmed said. “Mainly because many of our customers have factories, plants, sites in such remote areas that you need a backhaul strategy. That was a sort of a must have, and if your target market is manufacturing, industrials, including warehouses and mining operations and sometimes even ports, this is something we have to have as part of our offering portfolio. So it was a natural extension [and] something we have been already working with on a number of different installs and deployments, so we decided to industrialize that.”

Ahmed noted that SES’ mid-earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation hit the right mix of coverage and capabilities.

“It's sort of in the middle ground, literally, that if you go too high, the latency is compromised. If you go too low, the coverage is not there. So this offered us an ideal solution and the reach that we were looking for,” Ahmed said.

NTT is combining that connectivity with its own use-case consulting and design, application development, system integration, implementation and managed service. This will boost the reach and capabilities of its Private 5G and Edge services.

The vendor initially launched its Private 5G Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) in mid-2021, and last year scored a deal to plug the platform into VMware’s Edge Compute Stack that will allow NTT to power an edge-as-a-service product.

A recent ABI Research report predicted satellite services for the global telecommunications sector would generate $141 billion in revenues by 2030.

Analysts noted the SES integration provides NTT with a unique offering and foothold into that market.

“This partnership is key because NTT is getting a differential capability that is the seamless and ubiquitous connectivity, in any circumstance, to provide reliable access to the solutions, which makes a difference because NTT’s solutions are meant to transform processes that are business critical for enterprises,” Alejandro Cadenas, associate VP of IDC’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Telco Mobility Research, noted in an email to SDxCentral. “But this brings a building block for NTT that complements greatly and is valid in any location, which is very important for many multinational customers.”

The move also benefits SES by providing it with inroads into a large enterprise partner.

“SES is getting privileged access to vertical-specific capabilities that NTT brings to the table, and therefore SES will be part of specific solutions that are foundational for enterprises of different industries,” Cadenas noted. “In order to deploy such solutions you really need to have the capabilities that NTT has.”

Cadenas did note that the companies will need to work through initial integration on the service as well as go-to-market plans.

“In some cases it will be beneficial that NTT leads and in other it will be SES, but that is part of the usual formulation of a partnership of this kind,” Cadenas said.