Enhancements offered for new satcoms handset

Vizada says it will optimise the phone’s capabilities by adding several ‘Vizada Solutions’ software packages, including SkyFile Mail, Universal Cardand Satellite Direct. Vizada’s FleetPhone will packaged with a crew calling promotion, intended to provide cost-effective crew calling, without committing to upfront hardware investment.

Inmarsat’s new entry-level voice service is claimed to offer high quality voice calls and voicemail, with text and email messaging capabilities. A supplemental voice line enables the captain to benefit from dedicated private communications while the crew maintains separate lines for personal or professional calling. PBX integration allows for calling between the different phones located on the ship. Inmarsat is offering a choice of terminals and antennae to support the FleetPhone service.

The Vizada Solutions package included with the service has been upgraded for FleetPhone compatibility, and includes:

• Universal Card, Vizada’s crew calling card solution, which can be used jointly with the handset and the Vizada call blocker to control prepaid calling for captain and crew;
• SkyFile Mail messaging software, enabling email compression as well as anti-virus protection and spam filtering; and
• Satellite Direct, giving end users cheap rates to FleetPhone units from worldwide shore locations.

Vizada says it has received pre-orders from service providers wishing to offer the optimised FleetPhone service to maritime customers. “Our partners know they can count on Vizada to distribute first-rate products and solutions, including brand new products such as the FleetPhone,” states David Vanderbeck, FleetPhone product manager, Vizada “As experts in crew communications, we believe that our Inmarsat FleetPhone package is ideally designed for shipping companies and will make the service very attractive.”