[SatNews] This individual's journey around the world to bring attention to MND is receiving this Company's communications support...

Vizada is supporting Australian Maurice Contessi, skipper of the Cole 43 yacht Full Circle, in his Solo Non Stop Circumnavigation voyage. Maurice hopes the journey, known as the One Full Circle Campaign, will help raise awareness in the fight against Motor Neurone Disease (MND), a progressive neurological disease affecting thousands of people each year.

Maurice successfully set sail on October 15th from Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne for what he hopes to be a record-setting trip around the world. The attempt is being conducted under the auspices of the World Speed Sailing Records Council (WSSRC), making Maurice one of only a few Australians to complete the journey under the official guidelines, as well as becoming the oldest Australian to complete the voyage, at age 54.

Vizada is pleased to be a major journey partner for this incredible 21,600 nautical mile voyage. The extreme nature of this challenge makes a reliable communications system on board and seamless data connectivity essential. “Comms is everything for me!,” said Maurice, “not only do I rely on the broadband connection for keeping abreast of weather patterns and navigational information, but I also use the internet to update the blog (www.onefullcircle.com) and to reassure calls with friends and family. If need be, I can use the system to alert authorities in case of emergency. I’m all by myself on board, so I need to be able to fully depend on my communications connection.”

For this incredible trip, Australian maritime equipment company, Electrotech, supplied and installed an Inmarsat FleetBroadband 250 terminal. Vizada will provide the voice and data communications, along with a range of proprietary and unique solutions to optimize internet and email usage. “The equipment and solutions are absolutely fantastic. It’s amazing to see how maritime satellite communications technology has grown in leaps and bound over the past years! I can now use my full range of equipment - three different PCs, charting programs, navigational software - and have access to real-time information updates that will make my journey easier and safer.”

Maurice intends to logon at least daily, depending on weather conditions and navigational demands, in order to update his blog which is followed by many key sponsors and partners. Vizada Solutions such as web compression tools can help reduce up to 80 percent data traffic for web-browsing and http-based applications to reduce costs and improve efficiency of communication “I hope to use this quest to create awareness around MND and raise funds for the associations. Thanks to Vizada, I can communicate securely and reliably which keeps people involved in my experience.”

“It’s really exciting to be involved of this journey,” states Eric Jan Bakker, Vice President Sales, for Vizada’s Asia-Pacific region. “As part of our strengthened focus in the Asia-Pacific region, it’s great to support maritime projects like this that bring Vizada’s services together to help a good cause.”