Satellite Footprints News

EMC has taken orders to supply VSAT equipment and services for seven platform supply vessels in the North Sea as part of a four-year fleet agreement with GulfMark (Norway). The scope of supply for each vessel includes a 60-inch Ku-band stabilized antenna and below-deck terminal interfaced with the ship’s network and third-party GSM voice system. EMC will also provide the satellite airtime for crew welfare and mission-critical voice and data communications. The installations will take place over the next 12 months as the vessels become available. “GulfMark’s vessels operate in an extremely demanding market segment with rigorous requirements for uptime, connectivity, bandwidth, data throughput and content,” said Gilles Gillesen, president of EMC’s commercial marine business unit.

NewCom International, a global provider of communications services via satellite, IP, and fiber, has been selected by KVH Industries to market its Mini-VSAT Broadband Service to the commercial maritime and government sectors throughout the globe, with a focus on Latin America. The Mini-VSAT Broadband Service tracks satellites and automatically shifts to different satellite footprints as necessary. The service enables vessels ranging from cargo and military ships to cruisers to access cost-efficient high-speed broadband coverage while on the move, regardless of where they are in the world. “Until this service, there was no way for vessels to access mobile telecom and Internet coverage globally and automatically unless they utilized satellite phone service…