Oslo, Norway and Rockville, Maryland, United States
Telenor Satellite Services, a subsidiary of Telenor of Norway (Oslo Stock Exchange: TEL and NASDAQ: TELN), announced today that it is developing a new broadband communications line of services for the maritime industry enabling seamless global roaming for data and voice communications at sea.
OceanRoam(TM) will provide vessels worldwide Internet and telephone connectivity around-the-clock using the ships' assigned IP addresses and telephone numbers regardless of location.
Telenor's OceanRoam will offer "always-on" Internet access and IP-based service at a fixed monthly price. The service will enable voice services and unlimited data transfer for ship's business and crew communications and will feature a variety of committed information rate (CIR) service levels up to 128 kbps. Additionally, OceanRoam will meet vessels' communications requirements for bandwidth intensive applications, such as video conferencing and large data transfers, by providing a series of optional bandwidth on demand information rates of up to 1024 kbps.
OceanRoam incorporates technology developed by Comtech EF Data of Tempe, Arizona, including the bandwidth and capacity management system, Vipersat Products. The solution is based on dynamically managed Single Channel Per Carrier (dSCPC) and automatic application switching technologies, which enable increased satellite resource efficiencies and significantly reduced recurring operating expenses. Bandwidth on-demand is facilitated and all aspects of the satellite network can be configured, controlled, and monitored via Comtech's products.
"OceanRoam will become a powerful 'at sea' communications business tool and is designed to promote ship operations efficiency, expand on board business application to more closely reflect the home office, and to boost crew morale by offering members an easy way to stay in touch with loved ones at home," said Tore Morten Olsen, executive vice president of Telenor Satellite Services. "The combination of 'always available' committed information rates and demand-assigned bandwidth, will give vessels the seamless, dynamic communications flexibility regardless of location."
Commercial availability is planned for the 4th quarter of 2007.
Source: Business Wire (Business Wire India)