Intelsat at ITW: Intelsat Interference Management Initiative (I3)

Tom Johnson here, hello from ITW 2009 in Washington, D.C. The I3 team, me, Ron Busch, Patty Constantino and Jeff Kimble, took the opportunity of having customers in town for the annual ITW conference to spread the word about Intelsat’s efforts, along with others in the industry, to address RFI (radio frequency interference) issues.

Ron Busch, Intelsat’s Vice President, Network Operations, led a panel of industry experts to discuss concerted efforts to combat RFI. The panel included representatives from Intelsat’s customer base, an industry group, another satellite operator and an equipment manufacturer.

This morning, I presented a detailed account of the I3 project from an Intelsat perspective with a focus on getting the word out to customers and challenging them to help in the effort.

The idea is to generate a cooperative spirit and grow the I3 effort into an industry-wide effort. Thanks to participation from all areas within the satellite industry, that vision is becoming a reality.

I hear many ask, “So, what exactly is I3?” Well, I3 is the Intelsat Interference Management Initiative. The effort started in earnest in late 2008 as a result of customer feedback that RFI and the mitigation RFI was a top concern.

At this point, the I3 program is focused on:

• training and certification of installers and uplinkers;
• carrier-ID for ready identification of rogue signals;
• data sharing among satellite operators and customers; and
• an RFI Alert network between satellite operators.

More information and regular updates about Intelsat’s I3 initiative can be found on the company’s customer extranet, MyIntelsat, and in our customer newsletter, Intelsat INSIDER.

~Tom Johnson, Senior Manager, Customer Experience, Intelsat