Summer 2013

©OffComm News ~ Summer 2013 www.OffCommNews.com

Summer 2013

For buyers and suppliers of telecommunications

destined for remote & harsh environments

Where Telecoms & Energy Connect

From 900Mb to 11.7Mb Reducing VoIP & video call

data consumption

Ring Ring Kerrrching! Remote Insight Report Crew Calling Cards, Market Value, Comms Options, Payment Possibilities

The Managing Data Consumption Issue

Data is headed your way, what’s your strategy?

Crew Connectivity Census The current state of crew connectivity and what they are willing to pay to stay in touch

We asked... Is connectivity becoming a human right, need or expectation? Find out what surprised us about the responses in this issue’s Special Insight Report!

Developing Crew Internet Access Implementing internet cafés

Get the Lowdown

» Who got BUSTED for stealing? » Revealed: The biggest data eater » Global ambition concerns » Easy live video chat onboard » New jackups on order » The state of the HTS subscriber market » PLUS The Quarterly, News, Features & much more inside!

©OffComm News ~ Summer 2013 www.OffCommNews.com 2


The State of the HTS Subscriber Market Despite some excessive industry expectations at times, the

satellite broadband access market is beginning to see the

payoff of moving to the next generation of very high

capacity High Throughput Satellites.

Page 7

Welcome

I’ve found myself delving into several archives

lately. For a birthday gift, someone had tracked

down a 1974 issue of an admired comic

character which really brightened up my day.

Around the same time, my father

produced an August 1957 copy of

Concrete magazine during a parental

visit. I was proud to see an invention

by his great self on the front cover.

Inside we discovered a news item

which, coincidentally, is about an oil

rig platform where relatives are

currently working and also recently

featured in OCN.

It’s wonderful to see value being

revitalised many years after the

or ig ina l publ ica t ion ’s debut ,

especially as the digital age has

shortened most of our attention

spans (mine included).

So, if you haven’t already arranged a free or paid

subscription of OffComm News then make this the day to

do it. Should you prefer getting your industry fix on the

move, you can now get this magazine on your iDevice

from our friends over at PressDisplay ~ or browse our

archives online. Who knows what you might find...

Have a great summer!

Georgina Elrington

[email protected]

Summer 2013

Your resource for telecoms destined for remote and harsh environments In Print. Online. Offshore.

Special Offer for New Subscribers Get the entire back collection of our Special Insight features for

FREE* when you subscribe to the print version of OffComm

News. *Report Value: £295. See page 16 for details.

Inside this Issue

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Managing Crew Data Consumption with

Unrestricted Plans Helping owners manage crew internet access is a key aspect

of consumption control.

Page 6

Special Insight Report Prepaid crew calling is a multi million dollar market. But what

are the options and how can you control data consumption?

Find out what’s out there to enable crews with comms,

protect your network and fund connectivity in this special

feature. Page 17

Crew Connectivity Census Explore current crew communication requirements, access

levels and how much they’re willing to pay for connectivity.

Page 10

@OffCommNews

Next edition

Autumn 2013

Out in July

Get OffComm News on your device TODAY from www.pressdisplay.com

The Quarterly on pages 4 & 5

Front cover reproduced here with the kind

permission of James Luckley, editor at

Concrete magazine.

Developing Crew Internet Access Onboard

The new generation of seafarers is born with a mobile in

hand, says Adonis Violaris, managing director Telaccount

Overseas Ltd.

Page 24

Is Global Wholesale Ambition Over the Top? The opportunities and challenges facing content providers,

telcos and internet network operators as they seek to

manage the future of online content delivery.

Page 9

mailto:[email protected]


The Quarterly OffComm News Round Up

News in brief

RigNet Inc. a provider of

managed remote communications

solutions to the oil and gas

industry, has appointed Morten

Hagland Hansen to Vice

President, Business Services; Boyd

Skelton to Director of Products &

Solutions; and James R. "Jim"

Crenshaw to the position of vice

president and general manager

for the Western Hemisphere.

MTN Satellite Communications

announced that the World

Teleport Association has

appointed Richard Hadsall to its

board. Hadsall founded MTN

more than 30 years ago and

today serves as the chief

technology officer for MTN

Government Services.

Marathon Oil Corporation’s

current manager of mid-

continent production and

operations, Michael J. Stover, has

been appointed to the newly

established position of vice

president, Operations Services.

Norstra Energy Inc. has appointed

Mr. Glen Landry as CEO and

President of the company.

Redline Communications Group

Inc. has made several changes in

its personnel and expands

operations in the Middle East.

Rob Williams has been promoted

to president of MEA. He will

continue to serve as Redline’s

Chief Operating Officer based in

Oman. Carl McKinnon joins

Redline as vice president of

worldwide sales. MacKinnon was

previously global sales director

for communications at GE Digital

Energy. Bojan Subasic has been

promoted to vice president of

development and production; and

Rick Cuthill has taken on the role

of general manager of Redline’s

new business unit, Redline

Military Technologies.

SkyEdge II-c Platform for Ka & Ku Band Internet

SkyEdge II-c for both consumer and

enterprise applications includes fast web

browsing, video streaming, IPTV, VoIP and

other bandwidth-intensive services. With

Do It Yourself VSAT installation, the

platform features customisation, free time

zones (allowing plan hour exclusion), top-

up options with automatic redirection to

walled gardens, machine to machine and

secure GUI interface to

define SLAs (MIR/CIR),

monitor VSAT status

and a customisable use

based billing system.

www.gilat.com

Internet ~ Café Style

In the spring of 2013 Bernhard Schulte Ship

Management (BSM) will finish rolling out onboard

crew internet cafes across its fleet of vessels. This will

provide all onboard personnel with the same

standard, quality and speed of voice and data

connectivity that they would expect ashore.

BSM has agreed a 6Gb shared corporate allowance

package with Inmarsat to provide the bandwidth to

run the internet service. This is another indication of

the progression of the maritime satellite

communications market, with faster bandwidth and

cheaper data gradually beginning to bring IT at sea

in line with seafarer’s expectations. See page 23 for

more on this story.

Entice New Staff & Retain Existing Personnel

Salary sacrifice scheme provider, Techbenefits, makes it easy for

employees to get the latest computer equipment. Delivered and

managed online, the scheme represents the cutting edge of

employee benefits, enabling business to attract and retain staff through relevant and up-

to-the-minute incentives. Employees, meanwhile, have the opportunity to get state-of-the

-art computer equipment on terms unavailable through any other channel. For

participating employers, Techbenefits creates a branded online store offering a wide and

constantly updated range of computer equipment. Available brands include: Apple,

Toshiba, HP, Microsoft, BOSE and Samsung. Employees in the scheme can choose items

from the store and spread the cost over a two or three year period through monthly

deductions from their salary.

www.techbenefits.co.uk

Is connectivity becoming a human

right, need or expectation?

YES 85% No 15%

Guideline poll results from industry insiders. See

Special Insight Report for more details on page 17

Beyond Cellular Coverage with iPhone Satellite Adaptor

T h u r a y a T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s

Company has unveiled the Thuraya

SatSleeve to bring satellite connectivity to

the Apple® iPhone®. SatSleeve provides

users with a versatile and affordable

means of conducting phone calls and

sending SMS via satellite from the world’s

most remote locations. Only slightly larger

than the iPhone itself, the compact

adaptor turns user devices into a satellite

phone, enabling them with connectivity

beyond the coverage of traditional

terrestrial networks. www.thuraya.com


News in brief

According to NSR’s “Energy Markets

via Satellite, 3rd Edition report,”

energy markets are in the midst of a

bandwidth revolution that will

positively affect satellite companies

over the next decade. More

applications at more remote

locations continue to drive demand

for satellite services; and oil & gas,

and utility end users will demand

over 25 Gbps of satellite capacity by

2022.

Prosafe has been awarded a

contract from Talisman Sinopec

Energy UK Limited for the provision

of the Regalia accommodation

vessel at the Montrose Platform in

the UK Continental Shelf in the

North Sea.

Bryant Mook has been appointed

president and chief operating officer

of Brenham Oil & Gas Corp., a

subsidiary of American International

Industries, Inc.

Keppel FELS will build four jackup

rigs worth US$820 million for

Mexican drilling company, Grupo R.

The rigs are scheduled for delivery

progressively from 2Q 2015 to 4Q

2015. PEMEX*, the Mexican national

oil company has also announced

investment plans of US$25.3 billion

for 2013, of which US$20 billion will

be targeted at upstream activities.

On a visit to Keppel FELS on 30

January 2013, Mr Emilio Lozoya

Austin, CEO of PEMEX, said that the

company is embarking on its most

ambitious drilling program in

decades and plans to add between

eight and 12 offshore platforms to

its fleet. *GRUPO R is a

conglomerate of companies

servicing the energy and industrial

sectors in Mexico, working for

Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) as well

as for different private companies.

The Quarterly OffComm News Round Up

Controlling Costs for Live

Video Chat Onboard

Globecomm Maritime has rolled out chat and video

conferencing systems designed for maritime satellite

communications. Access Chat provides instant

messaging and voice calling while Access Chat Plus

has the addition of video conferencing. For both

corporate and crew, users of the technology will be

able to make video calls and chat live over satellite

using a fraction of the data and at a fraction of the

cost of shore side applications. Trevor Whitworth,

senior vice president sales & marketing at

Globecomm Maritime said: “Voice and video

conferencing applications use a great deal of

bandwidth and that makes it very expensive for

seafarers. We identified the need for a tool that

gives ships the same functionality but keeps cost

under control.” See page 25 for more on this story.

www.globecommsystems.com/maritime/

Seadrill Orders

Two Jackups

Seadrill has exercised fixed

pr ice options for the

construction of two high

specification jackup drilling

rigs at Dalian Shipbuilding

Industry Offshore Co., Ltd. in

China. The rigs are scheduled

for delivery during the third

and fourth quarter of 2015.

The company now has six

jackups under construction at

DSIC Offshore of which two

are scheduled for delivery in

2013 and four in 2015. www.seadrill.com

ITC Global

to Acquire

NewSat

ITC Global, Inc., a provider of

satellite communication services

to the mining, energy and

maritime sectors, has entered

into an agreement to acquire

NewSat Communications SA, a

privately held Swiss based

p r o v i d e r o f s a t e l l i t e

communications to the EMEA

e n e r g y ma r k e t s . B o t h

companies provide satellite

communications to blue chip

g loba l c us tomer s . The

agreement follows ITC Global’s

recent completion of its

acquis it ion of Spidersat

Communications Limited.

www.itcglobal.net

Wider Reach for M2M

Globalstar Inc., a provider of mobile satellite voice

and data services has signed a three year

manufacturing, airtime and distribution agreement

with Nupoint Systems to expand the M2M (machine

to machine) data service offerings beyond the reach

of terrestrial, cellular communication. Companies

that utilise remote locations, such as: oil and gas

wells, mining sites and remote security are set to

benefit, according to a press release from the

company.

Wayne Carlson, President and chief executive officer

of Nupoint Systems said: "Companies can't always

choose the location of their assets, but they can

choose a reliable and cost effective satellite

communications solution to connect to those assets.

With Globalstar's recently launched satellites having

a design life of 15 years, Nupoint is able to provide

reliable two-way connectivity with our customer's

data equipment, even in the most remote locations

for years to come." www.globalstar.com

150 People Headed to New Jackups

Commissioned by Mexico’s Integradora de Servicios

Petroleros Oro Negro, S.A.P.I. de C.V, two new rigs

will be equipped with accommodation for 150

people in one and two man cabins. Delivery is

expected for Q4 2014 and Q1 2015, according to a

statement from Sembcorp Marine.

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Over the last five years

mobile data use has

increased 18-fold. And,

according to Brent Bruun,

executive vice president of

KVH’s Mobile Broadband

Group, more than half of all

internet traffic is now video.

In the midst of what seems

to be booming demand for

maritime connectivity, KVH

has introduced a service to

prov ide un res t r i c ted ,

prioritised, multimegabit

service with unrestricted

access to all internet

applications and protocols,

including streaming media

formats, popular Voice over

IP services like Skype, as

well as media rich websites.

Previously such data was

only available with very

expensive dedicated satellite

capacity.

On many vessels equipped

with a maritime VSAT

service, crew use accounts

for 85-90 percent of the

total bandwidth consumed.

Helping vessel owners to

manage crew internet

access is a key aspect of

maintaining the onboard

network.

Internet café and VoIP

calling card services help

the crew self manage their

data. Usage is monitored

and further capacity can be

added as required. Rather

than block popular high

bandwidth services, or limit

access through deliberately

reduced speeds, usage

based rate plans provide a

defined amount of data in a

monthly package. Should

the package threshold be

exceeded the customer has

the opportunity to buy

more. Bundles from 5Gb to

40Gb are available from

$200 ($0.20 per Mb) with

speeds of up to 4Mbps.

Managing Crew Data Consumption with Unrestricted Plans

Crew use accounts for 85 to 90 percent of total bandwidth consumption

A new generation of high throughput satellites is presenting more opportunities to maritime, energy and offshore users. Could such satellites finally usher in the era of the always on, connected ship? See page 22

Image credit: ©Alphaspirit | Dreamstime.com


Feature

High Throughput Satellite Subscriber Market Update Despite some excessive industry expectations at times, the satellite broadband access market is beginning to see the payoff of moving to the next generation of very high capacity HTS.

NSR* expects that 2013 will be a productive year

as the main players turn their focus from planning

for the future to the real task of grinding out new

subscribers and operating in the highly

competitive broadband market.

At the end of 2012, all three of the best known HTS-

powered broadband access services, Tooway, Exede and

HughesNet, saw sustained subscriber growth. EchoStar

Corporation reported that the subscriber base for its

Hughes Communications subsidiary reached 659,000 as

of 31 December 2012, which is up from 626,000 from a

year earlier.

More importantly, the HughesNet subscriber base had

shrunk down to 616,000 through to 30 September 2012

as Hughes was waiting for the launch of its HughesNet

Gen4 service based on the new EchoStar-XVII (Jupiter)

satellite. This implies a real net subscriber gain of about

43,000 in the last quarter of 2012 and likely a gross

subscriber growth rate of several times this number.

Turning to ViaSat, the company announced some 77,500

installations accounting for 62,000 gross subscriber

additions in its fiscal year 2013 third quarter (30

December 2012) reporting period. Total Exede

subscribers, including heritage subscribers to the former

WildBlue service, reached 467,000 with just under half of

these carried on the ViaSat-1 satellite. By NSR’s estimate,

this represents a net gain of over 80,000 subscribers

since ViaSat-1 went operational in January 2012.

ViaSat also got a dose of welcome news in February

2013 when the FCC announced that the Exede product

was the first satellite broadband access service to be

included in its annual benchmarking study of broadband

speeds. Even better, Exede claimed the top spot of all

broadband services assessed (including terrestrial

services) for exceeding advertised speeds.

Finally, Eutelsat’s first half 2012-2013 report stated that

its Tooway consumer broadband services on Ka-sat

reached 72,000 active subscribers as of 31 December

2012, up from 52,450 on 30 June 2012.

After a slow start following the formal launch of Tooway

services on Ka-SAT in May 2011, Eutelsat’s efforts to

rework the management team behind the Tooway

product appears to have begun to pay off. This was

illustrated by the new service plans announced in January

2013 reaching download speeds of 20 Mbps and 6 Mbps

for upload. Only a few years ago, many satellite

broadband services were still being measured in Kbps of

speed, and this represents a remarkable increase in

performance. Eutelsat is also signing significant deals

with some of its strongest distributors, such as the

February 2013 partnership with skyDSL Global GmbH

who agreed to a five-year multiple spotbeam capacity

contract on Ka-SAT.

Bottom Line

In the lead up to the launch of satellites like ViaSat-1,

EchoStar-XVII and even Ka-SAT, there is no mistaking the

fact that the industry set very high expectations about

the importance that this new class would mean for the

future of satellite broadband access services. The clear

understanding was that without these satellites, there

would be no future for satellite broadband access market

of any significant size.

While not yet out of the woods ~ and there are still real

challenges to be faced from the dominant terrestrial

services in the global broadband market ~ the first signs

are beginning to show that this new class of satellite

broadband services is making its mark.

Providers like Hughes, ViaSat, Eutelsat and others still

have a lot of work to do to chip away at the old

impressions of poor satellite broadband service quality

and replace them with the new. This will take some time

and effort, but the latest subscriber growth numbers as

well as independent assessment, like that from the FCC,

are highly encouraging for the industry.

*Northern Sky Research



The internet content delivery market

will undergo huge changes over the

next decade as major telcos and

internet giants, including Google,

Amazon, Netflix and Microsoft,

wrangle over the continuing over-the-

top (OTT) Internet traffic content

boom, according to a new Informa

Telecoms & Media report, “Internet

Innovation”. It details how the internet

giants are trying to fulfil their

ambitions of becoming globally

dominant digital content providers by

bu i ld ing the i r own in te rne t

infrastructure that will provide them

with low cost, high quality, digital

content distribution.

Apparently, the big four are working

towards delivering digital content in

premium condition to customers using

techniques such as edge caching on

operator networks and using Internet

Exchange Points. By building out their

own extensive internet distribution

networks, they hope to alleviate telco

pains over traffic volumes ~ and push

aside the growing calls from some

operators for OTT players to pay

volume-based wholesale charges for

the traffic they send to local-access

networks.

Major European operators, including

Orange, Vodafone and Telefonica,

have been particularly vocal in calling

for the introduction of wholesale

charges based on the volume of data

traffic passing through their networks.

However, the report concludes that

there are several reasons why calls for

a more formal model for charging

large content providers will be

unsuccessful, including a lack of

universal support and the growing

deployment of new technologies for

OTT-traffic management.

The next decade is set to bring multiple arrangements for

managing relations between telcos and content providers,

including bandwidth management strategies, content caching

and delivery technologies.

Is Global Wholesale Ambition Over the Top?

Image credit: ©Kirsty Pargeter | Dreamstime.com

Opportunities and

challenges face content

providers, telcos & internet

network operators as they

seek to manage the future

of online content delivery.

“Despite the occasional headline grabbing calls for an ‘internet tax’ to govern relations between ISPs and content providers, such initiatives are unlikely to be successful. Instead, the future of the internet will be characterised by a multiplicity of commercial and technological arrangements for managing the crucial content delivery chain,” said Chris Drake, Senior Analyst, Informa.

www.informatandm.com/

internetinnovation


$33,300,000 2% or 18,500 seafarers are currently

without access to any form of crew

communications

If each unconnected person paid

$150 per month for a data quota ~

a notion that seems acceptable for

most ~ there’s an opportunistic

market value of $33.3m

» » »


Top Line Findings

Many seafarers are prepared to

pay for connectivity.

The emergence of onboard

hybrid networks with VSAT and

MSS empowers owners to

provide the levels of reliable

and cost effective connectivity

to support changing

communication usage patterns.

BYOD and social media are

driving connectivity

requirements.

Facebook highlighted as one of

the most popular web

destinations for crews.

Cont.../

Shipping companies able to

offer strong crew welfare

packages are bet ter

positioned to recruit from

the limited pool of talent

and increase staff loyalty.

The popularity of using one's own

device shows that owners investing

in vesse l -w ide broadband

connectivity and corresponding

WiFi connections ~ to provide

either free or low cost internet

access ~ will experience return in

terms of crew recruitment and

retention. This is especially

important considering that the lack

of qualified officers continues to

grow, from a deficit of 10,000 to

13,000 between 2005–2010.

Web compression and filtering

help to control communication

c o s t a n d m a k e c r e w

communicat ions a f fordable .

Moreover, the Crew PC, configured

for safe, efficient and unsupervised

private usage can serve as a

personal communications centre.

Another way of organising crew

voice and data usage is offered by

XChange, Astr ium Serv ices'

integrated solutions platform. Over

XChange crew can use their

personal laptop or tablet in the

privacy of their living quarters and

can make voice calls via their own

smartphones.

In the second quarter of 2012 Astrium Services, in association with

Stark Moore Macmillan, set out to undertake a comprehensive

survey of officer and ratings* usage and requirements for crew

communications in the commercial shipping sector.

Generously shared with the industry, the ensuing report provides a clear picture of

current crew communications requirements, the level of access to communications,

what crew paid for these services and how they paid for them.

Crew Connectivity Census

*Ratings: Offshore crew users


Increased levels of access to

communicat ions infrastructure

onboard are clearly demonstrated by

this survey, 68 percent of seafarers

can now use some form of crew

communication most or all of the

time when at sea.

Given this reported level of access we

can therefore extrapolate that

629,000 seafarers onboard 30,600

vessels are now able to access crew

communications on a regular basis.

Levels of internet provision were very

high in the offshore and cruise ~ yet

low in the bulk, general cargo and

container sectors. The car carrier

sector provided comparatively high

levels of internet access at over 60

percent which indicates higher levels

of VSAT penetration within this small

group.

Despite having access whilst at sea

46 percent of respondents were not

provided with any form of free

communications services by ship

operators. Interestingly, officers were

provided more free communications

than ratings.

The service most often provided free

of charge to seafarers was text only

emails with no attachments but this

was only available to 20 percent of

respondents. Other services were

typically available free to less than 15

percent.

The lack of free communications at

sea is further reinforced when

examining responses by sector: 66

percent of respondents from the

passenger sector were not provided

any free communications services,

despite having the highest levels of

comms equipment onboard. Crew in

many major commercial sectors also

fared badly. Only the offshore sector,

where qualified crew are in short

supply and charterer requirements

dictate high bandwidth satellite

solutions, are crew communications

widely available free of charge.

925,000 seafarers on 45,000 vessels

The estimated total market size for satellite based crew comms

Free Communications Access

Cont.../

Most noticeably it is the sector with the greatest

range of service provision that provides the least free

of charge access to crew.


Current Spend on Communications

Average spend on communications both

at sea and in port/coastal waters was

$150/month. The figures varied

significantly between officers and ratings

with officers spending more than twice

that of ratings. Highest levels of

expenditure on crew communications

were made in the passenger, tanker and

car carrier sectors.

Regarding payment methods, credit cards are still not carried by

the majority of seafarers. Expenditure whilst onboard the vessel

is collected through wage deductions, cash and crew payment

cards. Crew payment cards are predominantly used in the

passenger sector. 68 percent said that they would be prepared

to pay to access internet content, increasing to 80 percent from

the officers.

Nearly 70% said they were prepared to pay to access online content

Cont.../

When it came to accessing crew communications onboard, crew

rated issues of cost, quality, privacy and security as highly

important. Call quality was rated the most important element in

service delivery. This was followed by price, security and finally

privacy. Officers rated all service delivery elements higher than

ratings, especially when it came to security. When asked their

preferred method of access to non-voice crew communications

the clear answer was by use of a laptop with a WiFi connection.

This scored highest across all vessel types, age ranges and

seafarer ranks.

What Counts?

Many shipping companies face staff retention issues and communication services can represent an attractive incentive to crew members," says Tilmann Michalke, senior product manager for crew communications with Astrium Services.


The average figures for total monthly spend on

communications, both at sea and ashore, given by

respondents was $114.62. The figure varied depending on

vessel type sailed on, age and rank of the respondent.

When asked to identify how much they spent on

communications by service, respondents’ actual spend on

communications at sea and in port/coastal waters was

$150/month, higher than the figure that they had

estimated previously.

Officers spent, on average, twice that spent by ratings. The

youngest crew members spent the least whilst those aged

35-44 spent the most.

The majority of crew expenditure is on voice

communication both at sea and within port/coastal waters.

This seems to be higher within the older age ranges

indicating that the younger age ranges are using other

communications methods such as VoIP and social media in

place of traditional voice. After voice calling, crew spent

most on SMS and then email whilst at sea.

Breakdown

Access to communications equipment onboard shows

an improving picture with 68 percent of all respondents

stating that they had access most or all of the time

they were at sea.

30 percent said that they had access only sometimes

and just two percent indicated that they were never

provided access.

Higher levels of access are provided by sectors with

higher operational data requirements (offshore &

passenger) and where broadband satellite

communications, such as VSAT, are more prevalent.

The highest levels of access were provided to those

employed on car carriers but even here only eight

percent of respondents indicated they always had

access to communications. In those sectors where data

requirements are generally lower (bulk, general cargo &

container) and broadband satellite communications less

common, access for the crew was correspondingly less.


Diary Dates Where Technology

& Energy Connect

12 - 13 November 2013

EIC Connect Energy

Manchester Central, UK

Contact: Charmaine Atkinson

www.eic-connect.co.uk/energy/AboutTheEvent.aspx

Whilst 21 of the world’s leading power

companies and contractors from 11

countries opened up their procurement

practices and key projects to the UK

supply chain at EIC Connect Power, at

London Olympia in November 2011, the EIC will look

to maximise the interests of UK companies further

across the energy sector by including the emerging

renewables market, transmission & distribution and

decommissioning at the 2013 event, hence the name

change to EIC Connect ‘Energy’ to encompass all

aspects of the ever changing energy mix.

4 June 2013

EIC Connect Oil, Gas & Power

St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort,

Abu Dhabi

Contact: Charmaine Atkinson

www.eic-connect.co.uk/OilGasPower/AboutTheEvent.aspx

EIC Connect Oil, Gas & Power will bring

together the world’s leading operators and

EPC contractors who will be outlining their

business opportunities on Middle East

energy projects from a series of theatres in

the main exhibition hall. Their sessions will be

supplemented by one-2-one meetings where delegates

will have the opportunity to put their products and

services forward to the decision makers.

27 - 30 May 2013

SatCom Africa

Contact: [email protected]

SatCom Africa provides a platform where new revenue streams can be explored, key

technologies can be evaluated, and operators & developers can gain valuable insight into

implementing successful business models. A two day agenda will provide an unrivalled learning experience, with case

studies and keynote addresses from leading operators in Africa. Content will enable decision makers to evaluate key

strategies, technologies and the costs involved. Speakers are your clients and potential clients discussing how they

plan to integrate satellite into the network.

2 - 3 July 2013

Sao Paulo, Brazil

http://latinamerica.vsatevent.com

This year, for the first time, VSAT comes

to Latin America! VSAT Latin America

2013 provides a targeted opportunity for

satellite manufacturers, launchers,

operators, hardware vendors, telecoms

operators, hub operators, resellers and end users to

come together to discuss all the important issues

surrounding VSAT in the Latin America region. Co-

located with Broadband Latin America, TV Connect

Latin America and Critical Communications Latin

America, no other event provides for the entire

ecosystem under one roof. End users can attend for

FREE!

MEDIA

PARTNER

MEDIA

PARTNER

Events for quality global networking & real live innovation

1 - 3 July 2013

Critical Communications Latin

America 2013

Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo, Brazil

http://criticalcommunications-latam.com/

Building on the success of the IIR Telecoms

series of Critical Communications events

and to answer demand from the User

community, IIR Telecoms will launch a new

event for Latin America in July 2013. The

event will evaluate all the technology options available for

mission and business critical users including: LTE, TETRA,

TETRAPOL, WIMAX and P25. The event will offer vital

learning & networking opportunities for communications

professionals from: public safety users: ambulance, fire &

rescue, police, armed forces & local authorities, event

organisers, logistics & security users, network operators,

industry users: oil & gas, mining & construction, transport

users: rail, metro, airports & ports/utilities, energy

distribution & generation, small enterprise users.

MEDIA

PARTNER

MEDIA

PARTNER

http://www.eic-connect.co.uk/energy/AboutTheEvent.aspx

http://latinamerica.vsatevent.com


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Remote Insight

Prepaid Crew Calling ~

A $Multimillion Market


Insight Feature

Crew Comms & Data Allocation

Helping a remote workforce stay in

touch with friends and family is a

crucial part of a ship operator’s

operational structure. It is also

becoming a general expectation of the

seafarers.

An industry poll revealed that, just five

years ago, people didn’t see the

internet as a basic requirement or even

an expectation. However, the explosion

of pocket devices with the ability to

get online anywhere anytime (access

depending) has changed all this

dramatically. Today, 85 percent said yes

it was becoming an expectation. While

it’s true that we as a species wont die

without it, many feel that connectivity

is becoming their ‘right’. And if current

figures indicate the progressive nature

of that expectation, then the weight in

the yes bank can only increase. So it’s

good to see remote operators are

talking about new ways to improve

crew communication onboard.

However, with increased access comes

the need for increased control over

data quotas for individual users.

Many in the industry believe that 2013

will see a steep rise in usage quotas in

a bid to help retain crew morale. The

International Labour Organization

Maritime Labour Convention 2006

regulations will come into force in

September 2013, making wholesale

changes to onboard crew welfare. It

inc ludes recommendat ions for

reasonable access to, ship-to-shore

telephone communications, email and

internet facilities, where available with

any charges for the use of these

services being reasonable in amount.

See page 10 to see what crews are

willing to spend on connectivity.

Traditionally crew communication used

to be only basic voice but now with

smart phones and tablets data is as

important as voice to keep the crew

happy and in touch with the rest of the

world. Increasingly companies now

include ‘internet onboard’ in their

recruitment advertising to attract the

best talent.

Cont.../

» » »

Crew Comms Options

» » »

Retaining the loyalty and

improving the morale of skilled

employees is now a high

priority for many of the world’s

shipping operators.

One out of three college

students and young

professionals see online

connectivity as a fundamental

need, according to a recent

survey by Cisco.

Over half of the participants

quoted the internet as an

“integral part of their lives”.

64 percent of respondents

would choose connectivity over

owning a car.

40 percent think having web

connectivity is more important

than dating, music or going

out with friends.

50 percent would rather lose

their wallet or purse than their

web ready smartphone.

Recent market indications reveal that there’s money to be made, crews

willing to part with cash for connectivity onboard and, as of yet, some

untapped resources. But how to claim a piece of the pie? In this Special

Insight Report we take a look at some of the options for enabling ~ and

controlling ~ crew connectivity.

Image credits: previous page ©Hypermania37 this page ©Stephen Vanhorn


FleetBroadband Multivoice

FleetBroadband Multivoice

allows up to nine simultaneous

calls to be made through a

single terminal. Vessels that

require more than one

voiceline will benefit from

FleetBroadband Multi-voice.

Implementation is flexible, for

example, the bridge can be

assigned as the primary

inbound calling unit, allowing

the remaining lines to be

accessed from the ship’s PABX

network. Crew members can

then make personal calls in

privacy, using prepaid cards,

with no disruption to bridge

operations.

ChatCards

Globe Mobile, from maritime

solutions provider Globe

Wireless, offers mariners the

convenience of using their own

GSM phones over

FleetBroadband, for standard

voice calls to and from the

vessel, SMS and roaming

onshore. Mariners insert a

prepay SIM card to send and

receive calls and texts in private.

The SIM can be recharged at

any time.

NSSL Crew Card Service

In 2009 NSSL Global, an

independent service provider

for satellite communications

solutions launched its

FleetBroadband-based Crew

Card service which offers a

24/365 exclusive tariff anywhere

in the world via Inmarsat or

NSSL Global’s own cruise

network, from dedicated

telephones.

VoIP may appear like an attractive proposition to the maritime industry but once the true cost and quality

of the service is compared, with the quality and cost of a PSTN service, the value of switching to VoIP is

not as it first appears. Satellite operators continue to reduce the price of their voice pricing and the quality

of calls delivered is improving, making it a more viable proposition to the market.

The current crew calling options

allow ship owners to segregate the

business operational voice calls from

those of a personal nature. This

reduces the time spent accounting

and calculating the costs of crew

voice usage.

However, a barrier to ship owners

providing crew calling onboard is

that some operations can’t afford it,

unless they have options like chat

cards where they can charge back to

the crew. Prepaid calling cards may

be the best choice if a company

wants its crew service to be isolated

from the business and, is only

prepared to offer its crew prepaid

voice access. If a company is looking

at a long term crew communication

option for voice and data access or,

is looking to consolidate its business

and crew prepaid calling usage, an

option with a smart onboard box

could provide the best way forward.

Voice over IP (VoIP) has been

gaining popularity in the maritime

industry by providing crew with

cheap access to voice calling. While

VoIP can be viewed as a cheap

alternative to PSTN, it is always

advisable to compare the voice

quality delivered by this service and

the true cost of VoIP.

Applications, such as Skype, use very

high bandwidth as it was designed

to work in a terrestrial environment.

Some in the maritime industry

consider it slow and expensive over

satcoms when compared to today’s

terrestrial standards. For example, a

one minute VoIP call would require

approximately 1Mb of data,

rendering VoIP at sea more

expensive than a traditional PSTN

voice service offered by satcoms

providers. In addition, a two to three

second delay is often experienced by

users of VoIP application over

satcoms services.

Voice

Cont.../

Insight Feature


Crew email solutions allow ship owners/managers to provide the facility for crew to stay in touch with

friends and families but control the costs. These solutions let ship owners set the rules for mail size and

attachments, control mail boxes and set quotas from the shore.

Email

CommBox Ship / Shore

Network Manager

A network management tool

for mariners, with web caching

and web image compression to

reduce bandwidth

requirements. It benefits

operations, charters and/or

crew and options for internet

café and VoIP solutions.

Compatible with maritime

communications services

including Inmarsat, mini-VSAT

Broadband, VSAT, GSM & WiFi;

the CommBox from KVH

features low cost routing,

prepaid roaming crew accounts

and data compression facilities.

Usage can be monitored in

realtime.

Amos Connect Crew

Amos Connect Crew offers

email, SMS, internet and voice.

It operates entirely separately

from business communication

but still allows the IT

department to control the

usage and define policies. Crew

can enjoy the flexibility of a

personal email box that can be

used on any vessel with Amos

Connect Crew onboard. This

product automatically

compresses emails to give

better mileage to the crew.

Marlink CrewEmail

Email and SMS software that

can be remotely accessed at

onshore internet access points,

enabes mariners to use the

same service from any location

ashore. It also allows them to

keep the same email address if

they move to a new CrewEmail

equipped vessel. File size limits

can be set using personal

filters. Usage can be controlled

by the use of prepaid cards or

a quota system. Prepaid calling

card users benefit from prepaid

messaging when used together

with SkyFile® Mail, advanced

emailing software for use with

satellite terminals.

SkyFile

SkyFile Mail from Astrium,

provides reliable and cost-

effective email, fax and SMS

messaging. It has an effective

anti-virus and anti-spam filter, is

available in nine languages

which can be used

simultaneously on different

accounts. It uses the same

software for prepaid or post-

paid communication. It is able

to compress data up to 90

percent making it very cost

effective.

Cont.../

Image credit: ©Aleksey Telnov

Insight Feature


Infinity by Navarino

Infinity allows ship owners/

managers to maximise data

allowance packages with

bandwidth management and

optimisation solutions. It also

offers ship owners the flexibility

to create virtual vouchers that

can be based on monetary

value, data/voice usage or time

based, that can be shared

between crew voice and data.

Infinity also offers a firewall,

compression, content

management as well as email

for crew and business.

Evosat (Globecom SA) MWC

Evosat introduced Morale and

Welfare Communications

(MWC) for its FleetBroadband

customers in 2010. MWC is a

convenient prepaid crew calling

offering that gives mariners

voice and internet access, with

zero risk or investment for the

bill payer. Interface users

access it via a web browser,

where crew can upload virtual

prepaid vouchers or check their

balance.

Some shipping companies deploy low cost crew internet via

virtual vouchers. By investing in high volume data packages

they are then able to offer connectivity to the crews in

various denominations (or data chunks) at a per Mb cost.

Value added features include the creation and allocation of

cost centres and a differentiation in billing between business

& personal use.

Virtual vouchers and segregation are important for crew and business networks onboard operating in isolation. The crew network activity must not pose any risk to business applications.

Internet

Astrium (Vizada) XChange

and Universal Card

Vizada XChange is a platform

that provides ship owners &

managers with connectivity to

deliver voice, data and internet

access. It offers a number of

value added services for the

crew including: onboard data

caching, free onboard news

content, media file sharing, on-

demand training material and

voice calls using own smart

phones. Universal Card enables

crew to use the internet

onboard as well as make voice

calls and send emails and text

messages via FleetBroadband.

Crew can purchase prepaid 30

or 50 minute communications

credit with a standard personal

debit or credit card.

Insight Feature


Reducing VoIP & Video Call Data Consumption Designed for mobility customers, and theoretically offering connectivity at speeds close to land based

broadband, a new generation of high throughput satellites is presenting more opportunities to maritime,

energy and offshore users. Could such satellites finally usher in the era of the always on, connected ship?

“Maritime communications have come a long way in a short space of time. In the near future we

will see them go even further at a faster pace,” says Martin Killian, VSAT product manager at Globecomm Maritime.

Demand for VoIP and video chat

onboard is growing strongly. For

instance, our ship visits often start

with the crew asking if they will be

getting video chat or instant

messaging “this time”. But even

though demand is increasing, no-

one should imagine that the

available applications are designed

for use over satellite.

It’s Globecomm’s contention that

maritime users will to some extent

continue to be subject to limits on

bandwidth compared with shore side

users. Therefore, to deliver anything

like a shore side experience, ships

will need to work smarter with their

bandwidth, using optimised

products that keep bills at

reasonable levels while providing a

better service.

Two new Globecomm Maritime

products, Access Chat and Access

Chat Plus have been specifically

designed to address this need,

offering a very high quality VoIP and

video chat experience specifically

designed for shipboard use.

Access Chat provides instant

messaging and VoIP calling/

conferencing while Access Chat Plus

provides the same with the addition

of video calling/conferencing.

Both are very light products in terms

of set up and data usage ~ no more

than 1Mb in size ~ and can be

installed easily on any Windows or

Android device (an iOS version is

due later this year) or even a USB

stick.

In our tests, a two-person, voice-

only, three minute conversation over

a typical VoIP application used

4.14MB of data. Over Access Chat,

just 575KB was used. A six-minute

video and voice chat between two

people over Access Chat Plus

generated data traffic of just 2.9MB.

Over standard VoIP, the same call

would use 8.2MB.

Finally, a 30 minute video chat

session between four people, three

of them using video, one using voice

only, would run to about 900Mb

using commercially available video

conferencing products. Access Chat

reduced the data load to 11.7Mb.

Bandwidth usage over Access Chat is

configurable per user or customer

and can be adjusted on the fly. VoIP

calls can be made over data pipes as

low as 8kbps and video calls with

throughput rates as low as 40kbps.

Typically, a user will get the same

quality as a typical land-based call

but will use 10 percent of the

bandwidth.

Use of Access Chat or Chat Plus

requires a licence key and the

software is available in a range of

pricing options for corporate and

crew use, with customised pricing

available when the service is bundled

with Globecomm Maritime airtime

service contracts.

“Airtime vendors and service providers are raising expectations beyond what can be

delivered onboard ship in a cost effective and practical manner.”

Image ©agsandrew Fotolia


In my opinion... Raghuram Bala, board

member and technical

advisor at Fanggle shares

his thoughts in our regular

opinion column.

www.fanggle.com

What are the top challenges for the

telco industry in the remote sector

currently?

Many oil fields in Canada have very

poor cell coverage in my experience.

So this poses a challenge for telco

industry to build out coverage to

remote areas. Pricing plans, for

machine to machine communications,

also need to have a low enough price

point to make it attractive from

various industries to put wireless

connectivity into devices. Right now,

many vendors use wired as wireless is

cost prohibitive and signal strength is

poor in remote areas. Responsiveness

is also key, as in the ability to fix

issues when they crop up in remote

places. As is durability against severe

weather, such as the recent Hurricane

Sandy which brought down many cell

towers.

What are the three new

technologies or business models

that will dramatically change the

remote connectivity landscape in

2013 and beyond?

Low cost M2M connectivity. Also, the

dramatic lowering of SMS costs

especially in the US. According to

CNN, carrier margins on this is the

highest of all products in the universe.

And lastly a combination of wireless,

wired, satellite based communications

to reach remote areas for better

coverage. There are currently too

many gaps, making remote

communications too unreliable.

What are the key elements that

vendors should be aware of when

approaching the super remote

market?

Reliability, responsiveness, cost and

support.

Got something to say? Get it off your chest in this column.

Email [email protected]

Pick up a FREE copy of OffComm News HERE!

As a media partner we're really looking forward to

hearing from the speakers on the latest developments and

deep thinking on remote communications. Get in touch

if you'd like to arrange an appointment with one of our reporters while you're there!


Setting up a VSAT system

requires knowing and working

with a number of vendors to

make the system complete.

While previously some services

have been generally based on

usage charges (the more you

use the more you pay), VSAT

providers usually charge a flat

monthly fee for unlimited

internet access, which can range

from $2,000 to more than

$5,000 per month depending on

the speed, and may also include

the hardware.

VSAT offers a number of advantages

at a fixed monthly rate, but

unfortunately for the Ku band

antennas these only work within

limited coverage areas. Areas

including the southern Atlantic and

southern Pacific remain without Ku

coverage. So far only if you installed

a C band 2.4m antenna, like the

ones that are used on the passenger

vessels, will you be able to have an

Inmarsat like global coverage.

Ku-VSAT satellites, which until now

are most interesting to our

community, cover the most well

travelled areas of the globe, but

there are regions where the service

is unavailable. Inmarsat has better

coverage, but does not cover the

poles. Iridium Satellite, with its Pilot

provides pole to pole coverage, but

does not provide the high

bandwidth available from Ku or L

band systems.

The Iridium Pilot link provides three

separate phone lines and a data

channel configurable from 9.6 to 128

Kbps. But users are charged a per-

megabyte fee, or a monthly fee with

data limits, and the scalable internet

connection isn't as fast as VSAT or

Inmarsat. Three Ka band satellites,

using a new network, will deliver

speeds of up to 50 megabits per

second (Mbps) to our vessels.

Operations are expected to start in

2014 to support a next generation

global service, appropriately named

Global Xpress.

All You Can Eat

Very Large Allowance (VLA) or All You Can Eat (AYCE) are the immediate Inmarsat responses to the flat rates from VSAT competition. Based on our vessel’s usage, we can see that today a ship can satisfy its

operational and crew requirements within the range of 10 to 15Gbyte per month. This may include crew usage of internet browsing, VoIP, instant messaging and social networking.

The Inmarsat AYCE is a managed

service, i.e. when usage reaches the

upper limits of the plan, the

company would start reducing speed

to preserve the remainder of the

plan until month’s end. This would

allow users to continue their light

browsing, email, and messaging but

would limit streaming usage like

video and audio conferencing, Skype

and other bandwidth hogging

applications.

During our trials we tested both a

VSAT V7 from KVH and Inmarsat

VLA with FB500. We can report that

both systems have performed

satisfactorily, and both crew and

operations have benefited from this

experience. With both systems we

are able to improve enterprise

communication with the vessel

through unified communications,

streamlined vessel operations, and

offered the crew unlimited internet

access in both trials. Cont.../

The new generation of seafarers is born with a mobile in hand

By Adonis Violaris, managing director Telaccount Overseas Ltd, Bernhard

Schulte Shipmanagement. Recent technological advances have put broadband

at sea within reach of even the smallest vessels. Until some years ago, vessels

travelling more than five miles offshore had one option for internet access. But

today other companies are bringing technologies with facilities to communicate

via satellite, such as VSAT.

Opinion

Developing Crew Internet Access Onboard


Cont...

Despite all difficulties and challenges

faced during the trials, mainly due to

the trading areas of the vessels and

the coverage area of the Ku band,

we have decided to proceed with the

6GB SCAP from Inmarsat on 80

Schulte vessels. We started with the

minimum requirement to have a

Shared Corporate Allowance Plan of

10 and successfully installed the

iCafé on six out of those ten vessels

just before Christmas.

Crew Costs

In order to keep the communication

costs of the vessel to an affordable

level, the crew are contributing to

the internet facilities provided

onboard by purchasing internet PIN

cards and we have cases on some

vessels where all crew members

purchased PIN cards. By having such

a contribution from the crew side,

the communication invoice of the

vessel stays in affordable levels and

also keeps the crew happy.

The Telaccount iCafé operates like

the internet access in many hotels.

Crews purchase data PIN cards in

order to gain access in the iCafés.

During the connection, the system

will show the remaining amount of

data available on the PIN card,

enabling people to control their

usage rate.

As of today we have 157 unique

registered crew users on 10 vessels

that have paid and used the

Telaccount iCafé. This represents a

30 percent contribution to the cost

of the iCafé communications project

onboard. With a little bit of attention

we can raise the contribution

percentage to 50 to 70 percent

before the end of the year.

Bandwidth

From store and forward email we

went to instant email and then

jumped into instant messaging. From

bridge controlled phone calls to

home, crew dived into Skype from

the privacy of their cabins. The

Master had to learn how to ping and

trace route, and a lot of times it was

not easy. We have to manage the

change, train crew, and maintain

vigilance. On one of our vessels we

logged the crew’s collective browse

usage and discovered in excess of

500 hours a month!

Today, we can identify at least two

separate networks that need to co-

exist onboard: the vessel operations

LAN and the crew LAN. Both have

totally separate applications, and

require different levels of security.

Soon, a third network will announce

its arrival onboard the fleet, the

vessel system networks where engine

monitoring and control data are

online, ECDIS, radar and GPS are

communicating. So it’s easy to see

that without prioritising we’d be

looking at traffic chaos. Traffic needs

to be controlled in order to

guarantee quality of service. One

example could be to limit the

bandwidth shares between

applications to ensure that voice will

always be available.

Set Up Costs

Cost control has a lot to do with

cost planning. It is critical to

understand the components that

contribute to the cost of adding

internet café service to the fleet.

Adding a vessel to the corporate

LAN is no different than adding a

branch office: resources have to be

allocated and managed. Ultimately,

cost of deployment is made up of

bandwidth, hardware and operations

running cost.

With current pricing structure, the

line is blurring between whether one

would select VSAT vs. Inmarsat’s

AYCE plans. When deploying internet

café onboard, the requirements and

demands from the stakeholders are

very different. Owner concerns are

influenced by enterprise policy, while

crew concerns are totally personal.

The enterprise IT department will

dictate the security policies,

procedures and priorities, while the

cost of the project is looked at in

value for dollars spent.

Crew welfare, from the enterprise

point of view, will swing with market

conditions and freight rates. On the

other hand the crew expectations are

high for services with bent up

demand. Even though it has been

only a few years that we have been

talking about crew privacy in making

phone calls at the bridge, today the

crew would prefer a faster internet

connection and access to social

media at the work place ~ than

making additional money while

deprived from friend status updates.

The good news is that usage grows

as the crews become more

acquainted with the new

environment onboard. Crews are

willing to pay a reasonable price for

internet access, and this will please

owners as it lowers the operating

cost of the new services

implemented. A number of features

are necessary to insure success, but

mainly cost management that is

done through reporting and

resource management. There is no

need to reinvent the wheel if you

pick the right technology and

support partner that puts you in

control of your fleet.

VSAT: Very Small Aperture Terminal


Busted! Gemalto and Cargo Tracck Team Up For a Sting Operation

Traditionally, satellite and radio monitoring were effective at policing

the massive Amazon rainforest. But as thieves wizened up to the

stealthy new logging strategies ~ that target small tracks of the most

prized trees ~ a new monitoring and protection strategy was required.

Case Study

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is vital to stabilising the

earth’s environment, producing oxygen, absorbing

greenhouse gases and providing natural habitat for 30

percent of the world’s plant and animal species. However,

strong global demand for rainforest wood ~ combined with

the enormous profitability of illegal logging operations ~ is

fueling decimation of this precious global resource at an

alarming rate.

IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, enlisted

the help of Cargo Tracck to develop new technology to

help locate and identify thieves so they can be brought to

justice.

Together with Gemalto, a sting operation demonstrated

how powerful Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology can

be used to catch thieves in action and stop deforestation.

Designed by Cargo Tracck, the discreet tracker solution uses

Gemalto’s tiny and powerful Cinterion® BGS2 M2M module

to enable cellular communications between trees and law

enforcement. New radiation data exchange technology

boosts the range of wireless communications extending the

reach to extremely remote areas that lack mobile network

coverage.

Smaller than a deck of cards, the tracking device is

camouflaged in a resin case made to blend in with the

trunks of trees. Ten of the devices were covertly installed in

remote active harvesting areas deep in the jungle. Night

vision cameras were also installed in nearby trees to capture

visual evidence of illegal logging activities.

The power management system of the Cinterion module

provided efficiency to allow the device to operate reliably in

the field for over a year without recharging batteries. So

when lumber gangs harvested a tagged tree, it immediately

began sending alarms to law enforcement officials.

Cargo Tracck’s geolocation

technology provided location

accuracy, delivering tracking data

and alarm notification to officials

as soon as harvested trees

passed within 20 miles of a

cellular network. This allowed

officials to remotely track trees

and intercept and arrest thieves

in the act of selling timber at

sawmills, which ultimately led to

quicker prosecution.

The device is small enough to

remain undetected in logs, rugged

enough to operate reliably in

rainforest heat and moisture, and

powerful enough to track trees

through remote and dense forests ~

even in no or low GSM coverage

areas.

To fight illicit logging trade,

and make criminals

accountable, it is vital to

catch thieves in the act.

It is difficult to track timber after it

has been smuggled out of the

country or sold and processed at

sawmills. The Cargo Tracck device

provides a cost effective solution

for real-time, remote monitoring

and it delivers new hope for

preserving one of Brazil’s most

precious resources.



Summer 2013

Documents

print version of offcomm

great summer

news item

market value

remote insight report

report value

hts subscriber market

crew internet access