Inmarsat has announced that, as of 1 January 2012, its Stratos Global
and Ship Equip companies will cease to operate under their own brands
and will now trade under the Inmarsat name.
This move will also mean that sales and marketing for these businesses,
and the group as a whole, will now be aligned into four new business
units, one of which will be Inmarsat Maritime.
Inmarsat Maritime and the other three units, Inmarsat Government US,
Inmarsat Government Global and Inmarsat Enterprise, will join a
Commercial and Sales Support division to form Inmarsat Solutions, which
will become the sales, marketing and delivery arm of the Inmarsat group.
Inmarsat Solutions will be headed by current Stratos CEO Jim Parm as
president. Frank Coles, previously CEO of Globe Wireless before joining
Inmarsat’s Global Xpress team earlier this year, will act as the new
president of Inmarsat Maritime.
This restructuring move, particularly the decision to bring Stratos
‘in-house’, has raised questions as to whether this is an attempt by
Inmarsat to move towards a fully direct sales channel, rather than the
indirect sales via channel partners that currently makes up the majority
of its MSS business.
However, the company has stated in its communications to these partners
that it expects to continue using the indirect channel, and that its
strategy is to have a predominantly indirect business, operating via
independent channel partners.
In other news, Inmarsat has also announced that Intellian Technologies
has been chosen as the latest manufacturer for marine stabilised
antennas for its forthcoming Global Xpress (GX) service.
Intellian will design and manufacture a 60cm Ka-band GX antenna and a 1m
Ku-band antenna that can be converted to Global Xpress when the service
starts in 2013.
Both antennas will incorporate the GX core module currently under development by iDirect.
"Intellian has built a strong position in maritime satcoms hardware, and
has invested heavily in their R&D, engineering and global
distribution," said Frank Coles, newly appointed president of Inmarsat
Maritime.
"Their commitment to produce both a Ka-band GX antenna and a Ku-to-GX
antenna supports our vision of providing a pathway today to the higher
performance of Global Xpress in the near future."
Theo digitalship