Page 30: of Marine News Magazine (November 2019)

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WORKBOAT COMMUNICATIONS

ISO: Af ordable & Reliable Workboat Comms

T e commercial shipping world can benef t from greater range of communications and reduced satel- lite costs. Domestic brown water operators know all too well that’s easier said; than done. Until now.

By Joseph Keefe n the fast moving world of blue water, deep draft ship- ception, rather than the rule. And then, there’s the evolv- ping, the availability of reliable ship-to-shore commu- ing need for remote monitoring of equipment. Both re-

I nications has been a non-issue for at least two decades. quire reliable and robust bandwidth to synchronize of? ce

More than ever, they need it. These longtime users of so- and on board operational task sets.

called ship management software and now, sophisticated The standard cellular connection won’t cut it any longer. remote monitoring systems that watch over even the most At the same time, the cost of satellite connections still (argu- obscure minutia on board far ? ung 1,000 foot ocean lin- ably) remains out of reach for many operators; especially the ers, need (and get) robust and reliable communications. smaller ‘mom and pop’ ? eets. What’s a mother to do? One

On the domestic, brown water side of the equation? Not ? rm, long in the business of providing secure, reliable and so much. The unreliability and patchwork coverage of cellu- critical connections to a raft of shoreside customers – private, lar communications – both coastwise and on the inland riv- NGO and government alike – says that they have the answer. ers – has long bewitched brown water operators. To be fair, smaller workboats historically haven’t had the need for ro- MEET AGILE MARINE TECHNOLOGIES bust vessel-to-shore connection. But, that reality is changing. Agile Marine’s ruggedized, longer-range hardware and

Take the subchapter M crowd for example; with 5,000+ services keep business going and connected while reducing previously uninspected vessels now expected to stand up communications costs. Although new to the commercial safety management schemes. Long the standard out at sea, maritime space, this is also not their ? rst rodeo. in coastwise routes, these software solutions were the ex- Sheryar Wahid, Agile’s co-founder and Chief Technical

Of? cer told MarineNews in October, “We’ve had great success with an application Agile developed and real-world tested in Fort Lauderdale, a major city in Florida for a di- saster response. First responders were able to achieve secure interoperable communications with radio, cellular and Wi-

Fi. With our technology installed, their command center is able to manage the connectivity of disparate radios for communications and connectivity to LTE.”

Agile reports a wide range of users for its systems and technology. For example, Doctors Without Borders (DWB) in Africa utilizes Agile’s solution to access mul- tiple cellular gateways to receive and make phone calls anywhere in the world. DWB staff can easily and reliably connect their laptops and communicate despite the fact that these locations are remote. Since the inception of this service, Agile has upgraded and improved the system and technology from 2G to 3G, allowing better connections and higher bandwidth.

Now looking outward from their initial customer base, Ag- ile understands that when it comes to maritime operations, time is money and staying connected with Agile Marine

Technology’s new product line can avoid or reduce satellite

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