Making technology work harder and cheaper

However, with big boat technology comes a variety of new challenges. For vessels which aren’t used to having always-on broadband, along with the huge advantages like access to real-time market prices, weather updates, chart data and email, come some new issues.

For example, once a vessel has a PC on board which is connected to the internet it becomes vulnerable to attack and infection in the same way that a PC ashore is. And that email with a picture attached or a logo in it is fine when it is sent over a landline, but when using a satellite uplink, time, and size, is money.

Fortunately there are solutions to all of these issues which maritime satellite communications partners like H₂OSatellite have spent more than a decade developing. Solutions comprise a full suite of packages from commercial messaging, spam, virus protection and crew messaging, to hardware sales, installation and airtime.

Using an email product specifically designed and optimised for use over satellite links offers an array of advantages. A product which sends and receives email at the same time, provides automatic compression of everything being sent and restarts from the point of interruption is so efficient it can make significant cost savings over a standard email package. Anti-virus and firewalls help to make sure that not only does the PC stay safe from attack, it also prevents expensive ‘automatic updates’ being asked for without the user’s knowledge. Also the innovative H₂OPicsFix product strips out unnecessary pixels from images and photos allowing the user to save money but still send the required images.

Broadband can give vessels a real competitive advantage, but it’s vital that when smaller vessels chose a communications package they ensure that they’re not only getting big boat technology, but big boat support.