IDB Aero-Nautical Acquires Ocean Satellite Television

IDB Aero-Nautical Communications, Inc.

(IDB-A), Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a supplier of maritime communication services via satellite, recently acquired Ft. Lauderdale-based Ocean Satellite Television, Inc. (OceanSat), a supplier of satellite news services to the pleasure cruise industry. Under the terms of the 100 percent buyout, OceanSat will continue to operate as a separate unit of IDB-A.

OceanSat provides over 50 cruise ships worldwide with daily condensed versions of major international newspapers, transmitted by Inmarsat satellite.

Ships which subscribe to OceanSat are provided with a workstation equipped with desktop publishing and a laser printer which is fitted to their Inmarsat terminal. They access OceanSat's menu by modem, receiving the condensed newspapers or video text nightly.

On board the ship, the workstation's publishing program automatically formats the text, then the laser printer produces camera-ready artwork.

The ship's own on-board printing shop finishes the newspaper for distribution to all registered passengers the following morning.

Jon Klein, vice president and general manager of IDB-A, explained, "OceanSat's traffic will now be routed through IDB-A's global Inmarsat coast earth station network, where their file servers will now be located and easily accessed by dialing a simple two-digit code. Also, by eliminating present landline connections, data throughput will be increased to result in lower communications cost to subscribing cruise lines." IDB Aero-Nautical Communications, Inc., based in Rockville, Md., is a joint venture between IDB Communications Group, Inc., and Teleglobe International (U.S.), Inc. of Canada.

For further details on the communications services of IDB Aero-Nautical, Circle 192 on Reader Service Card

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