ESACOM - THE ESA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

The goal of the ESA Informatics Department with respect to communicati ons is to provide the Agency with efficient and reliable networking se rvices to meet the users' evolving requirements at the best market con ditions. It fulfils its mandate by offering a baseline for networking services targeted at the whole Agency, although networking support for spacecraft operations is not part of the Department's responsibilitie s. The general-purpose network engineered and operated by the Departme nt is called ''ESACOM''. This article describes both the network and i ts basic service philosophy, as well as its potential role in a future ESA Corporate Highway.