Sandigan Ship Services is to deploy the Inmarsat FleetBroadband
satellite communications service across its fleet of commercial vessels,
following agreement of a deal with Stratos.
Based in The Philippines, Sandigan manages a global fleet that includes
bulk carriers and car carriers. Stratos says it has already provided
FleetBroadband on 12 Sandigan vessels, and that deployment on the
remainder of the fleet is expected to be completed by the end of this
year.
This deployment for Sandigan includes Stratos Advantage value-added
services to manage FleetBroadband performance, security and cost
control, as well as online invoicing and firewall management.
“FleetBroadband from Stratos is meeting our high expectations by
enabling us to achieve faster data transmission and better voice quality
than the systems we previously used – at a lower cost,” said Sandigan
president, Capt. Tomoyoshi Yanagita.
“The service has increased the performance of many of the IP-based
applications on which we depend. This has enabled us to improve business
management.”
“Stratos provided a comprehensive approach to this deployment. Their
Singapore support team analysed our data traffic and provided a range of
options. They patiently helped us reduce communications costs and
improve the performance of critical applications such as BASSnet, our
planned maintenance software.”
In other news, Stratos Government Services (SGSI) and Segovia, both
wholly owned subsidiaries of Inmarsat, have been awarded a new contract
by the US Navy.
The Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract by the Defense
Information Technology Contracting Organisation (DITCO) is for the US
Navy Military Sealift Command’s (MSC) Next Generation Wideband (NGW)
commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) infrastructure and
service.
MSC operates approximately 110 non-combatant civilian-crewed ships that
replenish US Navy ships, conduct specialised missions, strategically
preposition combat cargo at sea around the world, and move military
cargo and supplies used by deployed US forces and coalition partners.
The contract, with a $315 million ceiling price, replaces the MSC’s
Afloat Bandwidth Efficient Satellite Transport (BEST) COMSATCOM
infrastructure. The eight-year period of performance includes a
four-year base period plus four one-year option periods.
To meet the requirements of the MSC contract, SGSI and Segovia joined
forces to develop a solution that supports a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf
(COTS)-based NGW system.
SGSI and Segovia services create an end-to-end IP communications pathway linking globally deployed MSC ships and assets.
The pathway includes space-segment services, satellite infrastructure,
shipboard terminal hardware, supporting software, and a
terrestrial-backhaul infrastructure for redundant global connectivity.
The SGSI/Segovia solution also includes worldwide installation and sustainment services for the MSC fleet.
“This award demonstrates the ability of SGSI and Segovia to effectively
combine their considerable strengths to meet the complex communications
requirements of one of the US Government’s most important
organisations,” said SGSI president and CEO Bob Roe.
“This network will improve the capabilities of MSC to support our troops
by delivering supplies and conducting specialised missions across the
world’s oceans.”
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