October 25, 2004 Paris -- GlobeCast, a satellite services provider and subsidiary of France Telecom, extended its global fiber network to Japan as a result of a deal struck with Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI. Japanese and international broadcasters can now backhaul their ad-hoc or permanent video feeds to Japan, or distribute them from Tokyo to the rest of the world, via GlobeCast's global fiber network.
The Tokyo point-of-presence (PoP) is linked via a fully redundant fiber-optic link from Tokyo directly to GlobeCast's Los Angeles teleport, the West Coast access to GlobeCast's global fiber network. In addition to Tokyo and Los Angeles, GlobeCast's fiber network includes nine other PoPs: New York, Washington, DC, Miami, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Singapore, and Sydney. The interconnection between the PoPs and GlobeCast's 15 teleports and technical operations centers allows the operator to offer customers hybrid satellite/fiber solutions for video and multimedia transmission requirements
The new circuit can move video between Tokyo and the rest of the world using dedicated 8- and 18-Mbit/sec routes. Higher bandwidth circuits can also be provided.
KDDI supplies GlobeCast with the Tokyo PoP, the Tokyo-Los Angeles link, as well as connectivity with all Japanese broadcasters and international bureaus installed in Tokyo.
Other Globecast services offered with this new link include 24/7 booking and monitoring, video standards conversion, and HDTV transmissions.