Value added satcoms service

The project was originally developed in close collaboration with Hamburg-based fleet operator Peter Döhle Schiffahrts whose insight into the needs of commercial shipping and its crew were said to be critical to the solution design. A six month pilot was carried out onboard a large container vessel operating between Asia, Africa and Europe, and the service has now been scheduled for roll out to 14 more ships.

The Satlynx Maritime solution from GE-Satcom provides a platform for delivering an innovative triple-play service providing telephone, Internet access and a range of TV content including daily news, sports reports and magazine shows that can be multiplexed into any cabin, technical or recreation room. The cost effective, flat-rate service operates on the iDirect Evolution platform. Using Ku-band as the primary link, the service can automatically switch to an LBand link via Inmarsat or Iridium as a back-up solution.