‘Expanding Horizons for Satellite Broadband at Sea’ is the theme for one of the conference tracks to be led by GVF (Global VSAT Forum) during the Satellite 2013 show in Washington DC’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center during March 18-21, 2013. The Maritime SatCom Forum track will take place on March 18, commencing at 9am and continuing through to 5.30pm.
Featuring speakers from a range of organizations representing the maritime communications solution provider community, and the maritime industry end-user community, the track is premised on the fact that the seas are an essential resource for industry, commerce, and leisure – important for the transportation of our globalized trade goods, as a source of food and vital energy resources, and an environment for our entertainment. This increasing importance renders our ability to communicate effectively whilst on the ocean surface of paramount importance.
The conference track program will include a session: —Steering the SatComs Maritime Interface—which will focus on updating conference attendees on the current work of the Maritime SatCom Forum (MSF), one of the GVF’s working groups which has lent its name to this conference track, and which will be moderated by one of the Co-Chairmen of the MSF, Martin Jarrold, Chief of International Program Development with GVF. Mr. Jarrold works with the Chairman of the MSF, Simon Bull, Senior Consultant at with COMSYS, and has been recently joined by new Co-Chairman, Roger Adamson. Speakers in this session will include: James Cemmell, Policy Advisor, Inmarsat; Ralph Brooker, President, SatProf; and, Colin Robinson, Chairman, GVF MRA Working Group.
\Martin Jarrold commented, “Roger Adamson has previously collaborated with GVF in connection with the GVF-EMP Conference Partnership Broadband Maritime/Maritime Insights Conference Series and brings a wealth of maritime-related experience, as well as background knowledge of satellite communications in the maritime space. As well as holding the position of Chief Executive of Stark Moore Macmillan, the maritime marketing specialists, Roger is Chairman of the International Maritime Sales & Marketing Association.”
Mr. Bull will moderate another of the track’s sessions: —Segmenting Maritime Sector Communications Trends: Understanding Who Wants What, Where, and for Whom – which will examine the factors that are key to the success of the satellite industry’s offering to the maritime sector, focusing on the multi-faceted satellite value proposition, from operators and service providers, which must be carefully targeted to address a marketplace with wide-ranging requirements that vary by type of vessel, type of owner/operating company, data volume, and crew requirements.
This session will feature: B.T. Shyamakrishnan, Senior Director, Hughes Network Systems; Christian Bergan, Director of Verticals, Maritime, iDirect; James Collett, Director, Mobility Services Product Management, Intelsat; Filip Vanheer, Global Business Development Manager, Maritime Satellite Solutions, Orange Business Services; Jens Ewerling, Global VSAT Business Manager, Maritime Business Unit, Cobham Satcom Marine ; and, Rick Simonian, President, Maritime Solutions, Harris CapRock.
Mr. Jarrold further remarked that having a working group, such as the MSF, which is focused on the maritime space, is a reflection of the fact that “The technology of communications and the exchange of information it facilitates has undergone a highly-accelerated development, and with such advanced communications the maritime communications service environment has now progressed fully into the broadband age.
“Against this evolving technology and service backdrop, the MSF has built a strong relationship with shipping companies through InterManager, the international association of ship managers.”
InterManager Secretary General, Capt Kuba Szymanski, will begin the conference track with an Opening Keynote entitled At the Helm & at the Desk. The keynote will illustrate that ships’ captains in the 21st Century are simultaneously vessel commanders, and office managers running remote business premises. For captains access to mission critical satellite communications solutions, supporting complex maritime applications and business applications, is essential for a successful voyage, and for a successful enterprise. However, the question must be put, “Is the current fixed and mobile satellite environment providing all the answers?” If not, “What is missing?”
Also on the agenda of the Maritime SatCom Forum track, and at the heart of maritime communications, are the imperatives of crew and passenger safety. No maritime satcoms discussion is complete without addressing GMDSS in the Fixed & Mobile Satellite Environment – more so with the advent of maritime piracy on commercially strategic sea lanes. Peter Blackhurst, Head of Maritime Safety at Inmarsat Maritime will explore how the fixed satellite service (VSAT) environment might serve to meet GMDSS requirements, supplementing the position of the established mobile satellite service in performing this function. Peter Blackhurst, Head of Maritime Safety, Inmarsat Maritime, will speak.
To close the Maritime SatCom Forum track, GVF will look at Maritime Communications for a New Arctic Horizon. Climate Change is here, bringing forth new opportunities for the maritime sector. With the Northwest and Northeast passages open to navigation for more of every year, and commercial activity in the Arctic region increasing dramatically, new challenges for the delivery of satellite-based broadband communications solutions to the higher northern latitudes present themselves for analysis. To be moderated by Søren Einshøj, President, ShipSurf AS, the session will feature: Capt Kuba Syzmanski, Secretary General, InterManager; Marco Brancati, Connectivity BU Senior Vice President, Telespazio Networks; Lars Janols, Commercial Director, Telenor; and, Khalid Khan, Senior Technical Member, MTN.
More information on the above programs is available from www.satellite2013.com. Enquiries relating to the Maritime SatCom Forum @ Satellite 2013 should be directed to Martin Jarrold, martin.jarrold@gvf.org and Liz Grimm, liz.grimm@gvf.org at GVF.