Vizada is planning two significant enhancements to its current Inmarsat BGAN, Swift Broadband and Fleet Broadband service platforms that will enhance sevices for land, maritime and aeronautical customers. For commercial service, Vizada plans to integrate the Expand WAN Optimization and Acceleration Technology for its current Inmarsat offerings. In addition, Vizada is deploying a new PoP in Paumalu, HI, to benefit all Inmarsat I4 services for land, maritime and aeronautical customers. The announcement coincides with the Inmarsat Aeronautical Conference in Munich, Germany, where Vizada will be previewing these new technologies. The new Expand and PoP capabilities will be available to customers in Q3 of 2011.
Vizada and global satellite-based mobility services and hardware manufacturer Thrane & Thrane have signed a partnership agreement to launch a new broadband offer to the maritime market. Via their shared distribution channels, the partnership will offer shipping companies a unique maritime mobile broadband package that combines the strengths of Thrane & Thrane hardware with Vizada VSAT and MSS services and solutions. The maritime mobile broadband package includes Thrane & Thrane’s SAILOR 900 VSAT and SAILOR FleetBroadband terminals combined with Vizada’s Pharostar VSAT and FleetBroadband service and the recently launched Vizada XChange, a unified platform that provides a secure and controlled communications environment for voice and broadband data. Vizada complements the package with Vizada Solutions for messaging, prepaid communications and traffic control. Vizada and Thrane & Thrane will also co-operate and combine their efforts towards their shared distribution channels to increase the effectiveness of marketing, distribution, delivery and support for the new package.
And speaking of Vizada XChange, this new platform provides a secure and controlled communications environment that integrates voice and broadband data for ship operations and crew. Vizada will present and demonstrate this newest addition to their maritime portfolio at the Nor-Shipping tradeshow in Oslo, Norway. Vizada XChange is Vizada’s innovative way of managing communications that is designed to simplify the complex IT environments onboard while providing flexibility to ship operations and crew. This innovative all-in-one platform supports data, voice, VoIP and local networks. Ships can become virtual mobile offices complete with local area networks and their own dynamic intranets for administration and crew. Ship administrators can keep an eye on communication costs by setting access authorizations for phones and internet connections, and by determining their re-billing options. The new Vizada XChange platform consists of a box component and a user-friendly web portal. The Vizada XChange Box is an easily installed compact wall or rack mounted unit onboard the vessel, which reliably interconnects onboard IT with the corporate network. The platform incorporates voice, VoIP and broadband data while remaining fully compatible with any maritime communications connectivity service (including Inmarsat FleetBroadband, PharostarTM VSAT, etc.). The onboard and onshore web portals developed by Vizada make it easy to customize settings according to the shipping company’s needs and to manage all user accounts online. Ship administrators can use the Vizada XChange portals to conveniently choose their connectivity, configure access for crew and captains, re-bill and split costs. It can provide crew with dedicated content, such as an onboard intranet or access to social networks as well as keep-in-touch apps.