Fleet Xpress

Ronald Spithout, President, Inmarsat Maritime. Image courtesy Inmarsat

The Satcom ‘Highway’ will Enable Maritime Digitalization & IoT Solutions

Global maritime communications powerhouse Inmarsat earlier this year announced a pair of new tech offerings – ORCHESTRA and ELERA – that are touted as ‘the communications network of the future.’ We caught up with Ronald Spithout, President, Inmarsat Maritime, for additional insights on how these services will power the future of maritime IoT.As digitalization and IoT continues to drive innovation across the maritime sector, satellite communication will serve as the conduit, and smaller, faster and cheaper is the mantra.

Photo courtesy Intellian

Intellian, Inmarsat Launch New FleetBroadband Terminals

Intellian received type approval from Inmarsat for its new FB250 and Fleet One L-band terminals, making it one of the first to market with user terminals for operation on Inmarsat’s catalyst L-band network, ELERA. The FB250 is a multi-functional terminal, either acting as a stand-alone primary communications terminal or combining with Intellian’s market-leading GX60NX and GX100NX to create the perfect Fleet Xpress (FX) solution. The Fleet One terminal is designed to provide an easy-to-install…

Image courtesy Inmarsat

Inmarsat Milestones: 10k Ships with Fleet Express Installed, 'Fleet Data Academy' Launched

Ship data consumption is booming, and as digitalization and data trends increasingly drive the maritime world, Inmarsat celebrated a pair of milestones, hitting the 10,000 vessel mark on Fleet Xpress installations and launching its "Fleet Data Academy."Traffic DoublesAccording to Inmarsat, the growth in Fleet Xpress now includes the world’s leading container ship and tanker owners, such as MOL, K-Line and Hapag-Lloyd, offshore support giants like Bourbon, Tidewater and Maersk Supply, as well as growing numbers of yachts, passenger ships and fishing boats.

Photographer / Source  Inmarsat

Inmarsat Enhances Superyacht Connectivity

Inmarsat has revealed plans to triple the number of satellites servicing its flagship Ka-band Global Xpress (GX) network, the high-capacity VSAT constellation behind its Fleet Xpress high-speed mobile broadband service, by 2023 to meet rapidly increasing user demand for data across the globe, including the Arctic region.Inmarsat’s GX fleet is currently composed of four satellites (GX1-4). The initial launches, the first of which is scheduled for this year, will see it augmented by three GX payloads (GX5, GX6A and GX6B) by 2021.

(Image: Cobham)

Cobham Launches New SAILOR GX Terminal

Cobham SATCOM's new SAILOR 100 GX High Power Fleet Xpress user terminal is a compact 1 meter, 3-axis stabilized Ka-band user terminal specifically designed to enable Inmarsat’s newly launched high data rate plans packaged for bandwidth-hungry segments, such as offshore support vessels (OSV), global cruise and superyachts. Delivering twice the RF power of standard GX terminals, the SAILOR 100 GX High Power dramatically improves the economics of pushing large amounts of data from ship to shore…

Beagle Star to Use Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress for Superyachts

Inmarsat has launched a new and flexible Fleet Xpress plan for superyachts to address the seasonal luxury market, and through its partner e3 Systems has signed up the first superyacht Beagle Star V, a luxury sail yacht, to the plan. The award-winning Fleet Xpress service has become the fastest growing VSAT service in the 2017 commercial shipping market. With additional flexibility being a key demand for the superyacht industry, where voice and video calls, entertainment and social media can vary widely during the season, Inmarsat has developed a new flexible plan for Fleet Xpress to specifically meet the demands of this market.

Beagle Star V (Photo: Inmarsat)

First Superyacht Signs up for Fleet Xpress Plan

Inmarsat has launched a new and flexible Fleet Xpress plan for superyachts to address the seasonal luxury market, and through its partner e3 Systems has signed up the first superyacht Beagle Star V, a luxury sail yacht, to the plan. The award-winning Fleet Xpress service has become the fastest growing VSAT service in the 2017 commercial shipping market. With additional flexibility being a key demand for the superyacht industry, where voice and video calls, entertainment and social media can vary widely during the season…

SAILOR 900 VSAT High Power System (Image: Cobham SATCOM)

Cobham Upgrades SAILOR 900 VSAT

Cobham SATCOM has developed a new version of its SAILOR 900 Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Ku-band antenna, featuring a new Block Up Converter (BUC). The antenna, designed by Cobham, makes it easier and less costly to ensure high availability of service as there is no need for additional hardware. It also delivers the potential for satcom service providers to deliver higher uplink bandwidths. The 20W BUC in the new SAILOR 900 VSAT High Power antenna ensures reliable operation in warm…

Superyacht Success for Fleet Xpress

Inmarsat has achieved the first commitment to its Fleet Xpress service by a superyacht owner just weeks after commercial launch in a deal secured through Inmarsat distributor e3 Systems. The deal represents a major achievement for the service with an existing customer, establishing a position for Fleet Xpress in the highest of high-end markets. Inmarsat-approved Fleet Xpress hardware was installed on sail yacht Juliet at the beginning of May, bringing new era Fleet Xpress connectivity on board the Ron Holland-designed, 44m ketch built by Royal Huisman Shipyard in The Netherlands.

Photo: Cobham SATCOM

SAILOR VSAT Antenna Systems Unveiled

Press release - The team at Cobham SATCOM is unveiling a new generation of 60cm Ka-band VSAT antenna systems at Monaco Yacht Show this week. The new SAILOR 60 GX and SAILOR 600 VSAT Ka are based on a lightweight, high performance Ka-band VSAT platform designed for Inmarsat Global Xpress and Telenor THOR 7 High Throughput Satellites (HTS) services. Sharing the same design and lightweight carbon fiber composites/aluminum construction, the SAILOR 60 GX and SAILOR 600 VSAT Ka weigh 37kg.