According to Inmarsat
Inmarsat has announced that, as of 1 January 2012, its Stratos Global and Ship Equip companies will cease to operate under their own brands and will now trade under the Inmarsat name.
This move will also mean that sales and marketing for these businesses, and the group as a whole, will now be aligned into four new business units, one of which will be Inmarsat Maritime.
Inmarsat Maritime and the other three units, Inmarsat Government US, Inmarsat Government Global and Inmarsat Enterprise, will join a Commercial and Sales Support division to form Inmarsat Solutions, which will become the sales, marketing and delivery arm of the Inmarsat group.
Inmarsat Solutions will be headed by current Stratos CEO Jim Parm as president. Frank Coles, previously CEO of Globe Wireless before joining Inmarsat’s Global Xpress team earlier this year, will act as the new president of Inmarsat Maritime.
This restructuring move, particularly the decision to bring Stratos ‘in-house’, has raised questions as to whether this is an attempt by Inmarsat to move towards a fully direct sales channel, rather than the indirect sales via channel partners that currently makes up the majority of its MSS business.
However, the company has stated in its communications to these partners that it expects to continue using the indirect channel, and that its strategy is to have a predominantly indirect business, operating via independent channel partners.
In other news, Inmarsat has also announced that Intellian Technologies has been chosen as the latest manufacturer for marine stabilised antennas for its forthcoming Global Xpress (GX) service.
Intellian will design and manufacture a 60cm Ka-band GX antenna and a 1m Ku-band antenna that can be converted to Global Xpress when the service starts in 2013.
Both antennas will incorporate the GX core module currently under development by iDirect.
“Intellian has built a strong position in maritime satcoms hardware, and has invested heavily in their R&D, engineering and global distribution,” said Frank Coles, newly appointed president of Inmarsat Maritime.
“Their commitment to produce both a Ka-band GX antenna and a Ku-to-GX antenna supports our vision of providing a pathway today to the higher performance of Global Xpress in the near future.”
Source: DigitalShip
