Page 32: of Marine News Magazine (November 2019)

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WORKBOAT COMMUNICATIONS costs and keep a vessel or ? eet in touch without a hitch. over from satellite back to cellular.”

Agile Marine touts a system that facilitates built-in Initially, Agile identi? ed the yacht space ? rst as a natural

GPS and seamless “smart routing” between cellular and progression of its military grade package scaled for com- satellite that can save up to 50% on satellite costs. That mercial use. “When we upgraded to the latest hardware means marine customers don’t have to rely solely on satel- technology in the beginning of 2019, we designed it to be lite coverage, while enjoying seamless communications at natively applicable to marine applications, as well as the half the cost. other solutions that we provide,” said Wahid, continuing,

The intelligent hardware, named Agile 4Marine, is “For this reason, we decided that it was the right time to constantly checking all the different possible methods of enter the marine market and we look to satisfy both the communication that are available and will also select the blue water and brown/inland waterway customer.” most cost ef? cient one that provides a stable connection.

Agile’s routing engine checks for the existence of a con- NUTS AND BOLTS nection, latency, the bandwidth of connectivity and ref- At its heart, Agile’s technology package and hardware is erences the lowest cost routing table, selecting the most agnostic in that it can work with any cellular provider and/ economical and ef? cient connection type. Wahid adds, or SATCOM delivery system. Hence, existing satellite or “If the Agile 4Marine does not ? nd any other connection cellular contracts probably won’t be impacted by imple- than satellite, only then will it select satellite. But, if a cel- menting the Agile system. lular connection is found, it will re-evaluate and switch Here’s how it works: Agile’s marine line of military grade, ruggedized, long-range, multi-SIM card, smart routing communications technologies make maintaining cellular and internet connections seamless. The company estimates it can save on satellite costs as much as 50%. Agile Ma- rine products boast the ability to conveniently and auto- matically switch from LTE to satellite and back. It covers a range of up to 25 miles offshore before automatic “smart routing” to satellite.” For the coastwise, Jones Act trades, that adds up to real savings. For inland operators not ac- customed to having 24/7/365 seamless comms, the world just got a little smaller.

Agile’s state-of-the-art solutions load myriad local SIMs on a monthly regional plan. Using local carriers provides a stronger connection, more bandwidth and more capabili- ties beyond the traditional method of routing and satellite allowing operators to not only separate business from crew recreational use, but also resolve issues related to congested marine WiFi, spotty cellular connections or no connec- tions whatsoever when offshore.

In a nutshell, Agile Marine’s ? agship product is an LTE communications solution for ships that reduces satel- lite costs and provides a more robust internet connection when near shore. Agile Marine products feature sophisti- cated software onboard to manage cell tower ‘hand offs’ when appropriate, maximizing signal strength while at the same time automatically searching for the best throughput connection available. The bonded LTE aggregates cellular connections to maintain session persistence even if one or more connection drops as the vessel moves through the

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