7.1 What is a teleport?

In this chapter we first describe the nature of teleports and follow this up with a brief description of some examples. The various types of teleport are defined, again with examples of specific instances. A table is provided, comparing 13 teleports most of which are subsequently described in considerable detail.

Where exclusively corporate high-speed Internet access is required, then very small aperture terminals (VSATs) adequately fit the need. There are over 386,000 VSAT sites worldwide, and the total is forecast to reach almost 800,000 by 2002.

Teleports are much more sophisticated than VSATs, being comprehensive, shared-use, and usually city-based telecommunications facilities. They are generally:

The beginning of the third millennium marked the third decade of the teleport a concept that began in the 1980s with small shared-use satellite communications hubs that were being developed by North American entrepreneurs. This essentially followed the deregulation of satellite services in North America.

Today s teleports include highly sophisticated developments, and the example of Technoport Osaka characterizes many of these. In this sophisticated facility the working-time population is reckoned to be between 80,000 and 100,000 people but for many teleports the numbers of incumbents is very much lower. The main antenna farm for Technoport is shown in Figure 7.1. Details are provided later in this chapter.

Naturally the explosive growth of the Internet has further spurred expansion in teleport activity because teleports provide good opportunities for broadband multimedia connectivity.

There are...