SELEX Communications, a Wired Ocean reseller, has reported the successful installation of the maritime broadband solution aboard three Scottish trawlers.
With Wired Ocean onboard, the vessels will benefit from faster data speeds and considerably lower satellite airtime costs, which provides the ability to use more megabytes per month. This is achieved with low capital expenditure and straightforward installation and operation.
The installation of Wired Ocean aboard the steel hulled Solstice II, Minerva and Golden Splendour, which range between 19m and 24m, was for separate customers, with each vessel an individual project. All three trawlers will benefit from the reduced satellite airtime costs for shore-to-ship data, as demonstrated by another SELEX installed Wired Ocean vessel, Atlantic Challenge. For six months following the installation of the Wired Ocean S-Box in July 2008, the reported per MB costs were approximately 15% of the costs prior to the installation and the vessel is now able to use internet within the same budget, whilst supporting seven times more internet and email use.
Wired Ocean is a marine broadband system designed to deliver shore-to-ship data via a vessel's satellite TV antenna. This dramatically reduces incoming data costs making Wired Ocean ideal for crew and operational applications such as internet browsing, downloading email with attachments, obtaining electronic manuals and weather and navigation data for bridge and critical systems.
The Wired Ocean 'S-Box' connects the ship's computers or network to the Wired Ocean service and seamlessly initiates, manages and terminates all connections. A second communications system, such as GPRS, Fleet or FleetBroadband is used for the ship-to-shore data, which is managed by the S-Box, making for a seamless broadband experience. To manage communications settings the S-Box is accessed via a web style interface from any connected computer.
