Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2017)

From humble beginnings KVH has evolved rapidly to become a central player in the maritime world’s global Big Data revo- lution. Maritime Reporter & Engineer- ing News caught up with Martin Kits van

Heyningen in Oslo for his take on KVH’s current position and future direction.

By Greg Trauthwein “We certainly didn’t envision that we would be in the high-speed satellite broadband business when we started,” is how Kits van Heyningen, Presi- dent, Chief Executive Of? cer, and Chairman of the Board, KVH, succinctly summarizes the big-

KVH @ a Glance gest difference between the company he founded

Revenue: $185M (FY ‘15) in 1982 versus the one he leads today.

Ownership: Public

In 1982, Arent, Robert and Martin Kits van

Stock: Nasdaq

Heyningen launched the world’s ? rst digital com-

Symbol KVHI pass for use in racing sailboats. The product and

Founded: 1982 the company were both dubbed Sailcomp, and as

Employees: 545 products and applications were added the compa-

FY End: December 31 ny changed the name a few years later to KVH In-

HQ Middletown, RI, dustries. Today KVH Industries is a manufacturer

Of? ces: Illinois, Belgium, Brazil, of solutions providing global high speed internet,

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: BIG DATA

Cyprus, Denmark, Hong Kong, television and voice services via satellite to mobile

Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, users at sea, on land and in the air. It is a manu-

Singapore, and the U.K.

facturer of sensors and integrated inertial systems for defense and commercial guidance and stabili- zation applications. “We still do quite a bit with sensors. The digital compass is where we started, and from there we moved to interfacing with the autopilot, the radar and eventually, antennas. That is how we got into the business of building anten- nas,” said Kits van Heyningen. “The technology today is different, but the focus on innovation (at

KVH) remains the same” “

Kits van Heyningen’s on:

Investment Philosophy “We tend to have a much longer horizon than other public compa- nies. We still try to take (measured) risks, so if that means changing the company or taking a pause in your growth strategy, we’ll do that. You need to re-invent yourself.”

Martin

Big Data in Maritime “(In every other industry) people are trying to ? gure out how to get more and more data. Over the last

Kits van Heyningen 30 years the maritime industry has been trying to ? gure out how to not transmit data from a vessel.

Even as the technology has im-

President, CEO & Chairman of the Board, KVH proved, the mindset remains: “how can we limit data.” 30 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • AUGUST 2017

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