21Net

A scalable and economic solution for operations management

The 21Net Broadband to Trains system can be used for dedicated railway applications such as traffic updates, last minute ticketing and real-time management of traffic disruptions. Using separate and secured wireless internet connectivity, real-time information and online payments can be sent and received by on-board staff via their Wi-Fi enabled PDA or Smartphone.

The use of a satellite link as a primary bandwidth carrier guarantees the transmission of high data rates – up to 4Mbps on the downlink and 2Mbps on the uplink. Compared to terrestrial technologies such as 3G/UMTS, the satellite based solution offers good visibility over most routes.

The deployment of the 21Net Broadband to Trains system provides an immediate availability across the whole railway network as of day one, with low investment required in trackside infrastructure - mainly for Wi-Fi connectivity in stations with the satellite link is interrupted.

Onboard trains, the Wireless Internet service provided by 21Net spans national borders, avoiding the inconvenience caused by roaming constraints.

The flexibility of dynamic bandwidth assignment techniques

21Net has mastered the use of highly efficient satellite capacity assignment techniques, providing a scalable and economic solution. The bandwidth allocated to a train’s fleet can be adapted to the level of demand – which depends on the usage level of the Wireless Internet service. Compared to other satellite-based systems, the flexibility of the 21Net Broadband to Trains solution offers the best guarantee for reasonable OPEX costs.

Terrestrial backhaul

21Net’s system is a totally modular solution to provide Wi-Fi on board trains using the available terrestrial network (GSM, Edge, UMTS, Wi-Fi, and Wimax). They system is low-cost, completely scalable and dynamically reconfigures to any train architecture.