Ericsson and Inmarsat have signed an agreement to drive industry standards for the maritime industry.
The strategic agreement will see the partners jointly developing services, solutions and applications for satellite connectivity and application integration in the industry. They will facilitate sharing of cargo, logistics and vessel operational data to streamline the maritime supply chain.
Ericsson will now offer XpressLink, Inmarsat’s connected L-band and Ku-band VSAT network for the maritime market, which offers an easy upgrade path to the Fleet Xpress service. This will be powered by the Global Xpress constellation.
The agreement will also allow for integration between global connectivity through Inmarsat’s satellite network and Ericsson’s Maritime ICT Cloud. This managed cloud solution connects vessels at sea to shore-based operations such as maintenance service providers, customer support centres and port operation and authorities.
Ronald Spithout, President Inmarsat Maritime, said: "Everyone is talking about ‘big data’, but eventually it is the deployment of applications onboard and the end-to-end management of integrated intelligence, that will ultimately change the way the maritime industry operates; making it more efficient, greener and unlocking greater value."
