KVH, Jeppesen Offer IP-MobileCast Content Delivery Service
KVH Industries, Inc., announced at the international maritime Nor-Shipping show in Oslo, Norway that it plans to launch a new IP-MobileCast content delivery service that will deliver Jeppesen's entire ENC and Professional+ chart databases to mini-VSAT Broadband customers.
Based on ongoing cooperative efforts between KVH and Jeppesen, it is anticipated that this new service will enable automatic delivery of electronic charts over a very reliable satellite delivery service, eliminating the time-consuming, manual process of physically shipping DVDs containing chart updates to customers' ships.
"The launch of KVH's new IP-MobileCast service is expected to offer tremendous value in delivering large files such as chart databases to vessels, because of its anticipated ability to multicast the data to all customers in the satellite coverage area with a single satellite transmission of the file, rather than sending the same file individually to each vessel," explains Brent Bruun, Executive Vice President of KVH's Mobile Broadband Group. "One-to-one transmission of entire chart databases, which can be as large as three gigabytes, would be prohibitively expensive. We're hoping to change the economics by applying a new, more efficient approach to delivering content to ships."
The new IP-MobileCast service is expected to be a complete, end-to-end solution for content delivery. Source data will be encoded to be multicast using proprietary software that is expected to provide advanced error correction, file compression and data validation that together ensure a high level of reliability in file delivery. Data will be delivered, decoded and validated using KVH's onboard CommBox Ship/Shore Network Manager, which is built into the new unified Integrated CommBox Modem (ICM) belowdecks unit standard in all of KVH's new TracPhone V-IP series products. The IP-MobileCast service is being designed to not impact the normal service speeds or airtime plans of mini-VSAT Broadband subscribers, since it will be sent "over-the-top" of service allocated for one-to-one services.
Alex Zakroff, Jeppesen's Vice President/General Manager, Marine, said, "As the IMO's ECDIS mandate phases in, many of our Professional+ customers will be required to migrate to our ENC product. Since KVH plans to multicast both chart sets to its customers, the updating process is expected to be stable and uninterrupted before and after the transition."
The new IP-MobileCast service is expected to be available to support all of Jeppesen's flexible chart licensing programs, including traditional direct licensing, cost-effective dynamic licensing, and OpenENC Pay-As-You-Sail (PAYS) service by the end of 2013, subject to ongoing cooperation and final agreement between the parties. KVH and Jeppesen are already developing new ways to deliver navigation content to vessels, and will continue to work together to offer innovative new services that will help vessel owners meet the regulatory and economic challenges of the 21st century.
www.jeppesen.com
www.minivsat.com/vip
