Dive Brief:
- Amazon Web Services is partnering with Iridium Communications, a satellite communications company, to make a satellite cloud-based solution for global internet connectivity, according to a company announcement. The network would be the first of its kind.
- The companies plan to launch the network, called Iridium CloudConnect, in 2019. The partnership will extend AWS's reach of services to more than 80% of the world without cellular coverage on Iridium's network of 66 "crosslinked" satellites, according to the announcement.
- AWS IoT is set to aid companies with their integration on Iridium's satellite reach paired with AWS. As a result, the pressure to increase engineering efforts is alleviated.
Dive Insight:
Amazon is already the leading cloud provider on Earth, so space is its final frontier.
Securing data is more important than ever because it is collected in record numbers every day. To ensure collected data and personally identifiable information is protected, organizations are willing to go to great lengths, or distances, to protect it.
Moving data and connectivity to space is an old concept for the tech industry. In 2016, a California startup was working on the launch of SpaceBelt to put physical satellite-based data centers in space and to orbit around the world. The startup was looking to sell storage capacity on the satellites to cloud providers.
In February, tech took another jab at space with Falcon Heavy. Elon Musk's "midnight-cherry Tesla Roadster" was successfully launched into space, catalyzing big data in space.
Expanding internet reach in space will impact how big data is handled and will contribute to higher bandwidths of data. Space is increasingly considered an alternative and realistic candidate for tech.
