Inmarsat and SRH Marine SAIT signed a contract on February 2019, that formalises arrangements for real-time Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) updating to be accomplished ‘ship-to-shore’ by using an application over FleetBroadband for the first time.
Mainly, the SRH Delta Platform, available for L-band transmission to any FleetBroadband user, will be equipped with the new Application Access Point Name (APN), developed by Inmarsat, and will include chart updates, publications and notices for seafarers as well.
As Ronald Spithout, President Inmarsat Maritime commented, the SRH platform is the first application by a third party supplier to use Inmarsat’s application APN and enables shipowners and managers to safely update ECDIS charts on demand and without interrupting their primary bandwidth service.
In addition, the APN application includes a platform for FleetBroadband to accommodate other real-time vessel management applications from additional third party suppliers, as Inmarsat plans to roll-out new applications that can work over the following months to leverage the benefits of digitalization for the L-Band user.
As Mr Spithout noted
This proves that FleetBroadband connectivity, which is available on close to 40,000 vessels, can help support shipping’s transition to digitalization for mission-critical applications such as ECDIS, and is now a unique enabling platform for applications through the new dedicated bandwidth APN.
Additionally, Inmarsat continues investing in L-band, as it invested in its I-6 satellites, the first of which is planned for launch next year, will add both L-band and Ka-band capacity to the network.
The L-band services that will be available over the I-6 satellites will boost Inmarsat’s fully IMO-approved next generation advanced global safety services and very low cost mobile services to Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Furthermore, John Laderos, Chief Executive of SRH Marine Electronics supported that the collaboration between the two companies will boost e-navigation worldwide, but it will also set new standards on maritime communications.
For SRH, the agreement addresses this critical aspect of evolving demands in the international marine technology market for high-tech navigation tools and strengthens our commitment to navigate the future.
… John Laderos reported.