Cisco Systems has been known for years as a networking giant and industry leader when it comes to outfitting small and large-scale businesses with networking systems designed to expand communications and sales. But Cisco is also thinking on a much bigger scale. It recently sent the first router into space and would love “to put a router on every communications satellite” according a Cisco press release.
Cisco’s space-bound router successfully completed initial in-orbit tests this month after being launched Nov. 23 aboard the Intelsat 14 communications satellite now 22,300 miles above the Earth. The launch is only one in a series that make up Cisco’s initiative called ‘Internet Routing in Space (IRIS)’ which will hopefully extend the same IP technology we’ve come accustomed to knowing through the world wide web much further beyond the planet. Cisco’s ultimate goal is to route data, voice, and video traffic between existing satellites in a way that’s more efficient and cost-effective by using a sinle IP network. Cisco believes that it will be far superior to the fragmented networks we have now.
It’s one small step for Cisco, but one giant step for technology.