The Leading Maritime VSAT

Seamless Connectivity at Sea Through Partnership with Inmarsat

Marine Technologies has partnered with Inmarsat, a leader in global mobile satellite communications for over 40 years, to keep you connected on open water. With a network built for mobility, Inmarsat’s end-to-end service availability brings you:

• Seamless global coverage and in-orbit redundancy.
• L-, Ka-, Mil-Ka, S- and Ku-band capabilities.
• Highly secure networks.
• A long-term commitment to safety.

Built on the foundations of safety, Inmarsat was the first satellite operator to meet the stringent requirements of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) for global safety communications. Today, Inmarsat’s solutions are trusted by thousands of vessels in all sectors of maritime industry – offshore support vessels, commercial fishing boats, merchant marine fleets, passenger ships, and recreational yachts.

Fleet Xpress

Fleet Xpress provides unlimited high bandwidth and reliable global coverage along with a host of value-added services. Enable digitalization, protect from cyber risks, and provide a simple and easy crew internet solution with Fleet Xpress.

Combining the high data speeds of Inmarsat’s award-winning Global Xpress Ka-band network with the proven reliability of their L-band network, Fleet Xpress offers unrivaled speed, continuous connectivity, and guaranteed performance for true global mobility.

Edge Computer

The power of Fleet Edge, Inmarsat’s new shipboard “maritime-certified software device” that provides edge computing capability for network switching, “over the air” software updates, application hosting and Fleet Secure Unified Threat Management Services.

Integrated IoT

With Fleet Data as default, Inmarsat’s IoT platform allows owners and operators to collect, transfer, and analyze data from the vessel in real time without the need for multiple hardware devices.

Business Applications

Access to a myriad of applications from a whole ecosystem of application providers through Inmarsat’s unique Certified Application Provider Programme that includes many of the world’s leading OEMs, shipyards and software vendors.

A Fully Managed Service

A reliably running solution with minimal management required from customers. In case of support or service needs, Inmarsat will provide 24/7 support.

Separate Pipes for Over-the-Top Services

The revolutionary bandwidth design of Fleet Xpress enables accurate bandwidth planning, management, and support with separate pipes for “Over-the-Top” (OTT) services. On its primary data subscription, Fleet Xpress offers three separate and fully routed networks all the way from the ship to the selected home POP. The routing is done via a combination of technologies, such as three separate Synthetic Virtual Networks (SVNs) on GX and three separate Packet Data Protocol (PDP) contexts on FleetBroadband. The three separate networks are called Corporate LAN, Crew LAN, and Voice plus Management LAN. The same IP range is maintained for the vessel independent of it being on GX or FB.

• Customer bandwidth for business and crew
• Voice services is separate from customer bandwidth
• Site management and support for service assurance
• Separate bandwidth for third-party business applications
• Unlimited FleetBroadband back-up

Satellite Network Roadmap

Because Inmarsat owns and manages their satellite network, it is easy for them to add additional capacity to their network, either by launching new satellites or by buying capacity from other Ka-satellite operators. Inmarsat launched its GX5 satellite at the end of 2019, and will launch the first dual Ka/L-band I-6 satellites in 2021. Additional launches slated are the GX7, 8, and 9 in 2023, and the GX 10a and 10b designed to operate over the Arctic region in 2022.

The additional capacity will increase throughput to speeds in the range of 50 MB and above. Each of the new GX7-9 satellites will deliver approximately twice the total capacity of the entire current GX network, and they will employ dynamic beamforming to simultaneously create thousands of independent beams of different sizes, bandwidth, and power that can be reconfigured and repositioned across the globe in real time.

Existing Fleet Xpress customers are able to benefit from next-generation enhancements using current terminals, enjoying a significant boost in performance as well as futureproofing their investment. Backward compatibility will also ensure further redundancy and resilience for what is already the only fully redundant network in existence.

Unparalleled MIR Availability

Ship owners are price sensitive so the main differences in contract terms will be whether to choose a Maximum Information Rate (MIR) or to pay more for a Committed Information Rate (CIR) and the degree of backup to contract for.

Owners buying MIR plans from a VSAT provider need to understand that this means the best speed the service might achieve, not what it will reach consistently. A CIR means a guaranteed throughput, but, in either case, how the service is delivered will vary for a number of reasons.

The Fleet Xpress CIR option improves the user experience by offering a Service Level Agreement to provide an agreed level of network availability– something shipowners recognize as having a greater value in the long term.

MIR plans are a “best effort” service with availability of the service based on priority according to package used. CIR users will get priority in the beam but if an MIR vessel is one of a few in the same location, they will receive their MIR at high-throughput speeds. This does not necessarily mean sacrificing quality for cost as the FX Network has such high capacity (and this is increasing rapidly) which results in our MIR customers achieving unrivalled throughput speeds and performance.

Consistent Performance Around the Globe

As part of the Fleet Xpress retail service, all data traffic is routed to a pre-selected Home POP (point of presence) where the internet breakout is located. The POPs are in Amsterdam, Sydney, and New York. The Home POP is an option selected by the customer prior to activation to provide advanced security functionality and possibilities for office-vessel connectivity using Inmarsat’s “Business Access” service. In addition, the Home POPs also facilitate seamless routing of traffic as service switches between the primary Ka-band and secondary L-band services.