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80Maritime Reporter & Engineering News Market watchers likely have noted an increased ?competitive spirit? among providers of ship-to-shore communica- tion services. Drivers are multiple and diverse, and include: increased use of shore-to-ship monitoring and control; piracy mitigation and emergency response; the trend toward data versus voice; the need to keep crew content with Email, Internet & entertainment. A corporate driver for change has been Iridium, the McLean, VA-based satellite communications company with a renewed swagger and a plan to make serious market share inroads in the mar- itime sector. By the company?s reckon- ing, Iridium?s strength lies in its core philosophy, which is an open architec- ture approach, relying on the strengthand diversity of more than 300 global partners in the creation and delivery of product and service.?We have deliberately decided not to be too greedy about technology or mar- ket control,? said Iridium CEO Matt Desch in an interview with MRearlierthis year. ?We have opened up our core technical interfaces, chipsets, and tech- nology to external partners so they can trust that our network is the one they want to innovate around.? According to Herman Pon, Vice Pres- ident, Technology, the network of Irid- ium partners is a key advantage. ?(Through, and with, our partners) weactually talk to real, potential cus-tomers, and take their input in technical design.? Pon is responsible for all product de-velopment of end-user devices, from handsets to modules, from start to fin- ish; and is also responsible for Iridium?s end-to-end service design. Proof thatthe partner network concept is working for Iridium is the development and de- livery of its new service, Global Data Broadcast: an idea that was brough to Iridium by one of its partners. This serv- ice ? scheduled to debut at year?s end ? is a new messaging system that will allow vessel owners of all sizes to si- multaneously communicate to its fleetglobally, in a standard format. ?With Global Data Broadcast we?ll have the ability to offer a broadcast service that, while it won?t have quite the bandwith of an XM, we can broadcast text and in- formation to certain devices,? said Pon. ?The modules we would use for Global Data Broadcast are what we call ourShort Message Modules, somethingsmall enough to be put inside a hand-held unit, or embedded in the shipsomewhere with an antenna.? What?s NEXT? Cornerstone to Iridium?s future is the status and health of its most preciousasset, the satellite network that provides its service. While Iridium?s current satellite system is aging, according tothe company?s recently released 2Q 2012 report, net income increased 51%year-over-year, benefitting from a $6.6m reduction in depreciation ex- pense due to an extension of the esti- mated useful life of the company's current satellite constellation.?We have a new constellation going up ? Iridium NEXT set to deploy be- tween 2015 and 2017 ? that will bebackward compatible to systems like the Pilot that we are deploying today,? said Pon. ?So no one will be strandedwhere they would have to switch to a different frequency band, or buy new units.? Iridium NEXT is a fully funded, approximately $3 billion plan, retainingthe LEO architecture with 66 new oper- ational satellites, as well as six ?in-orbit?and nine ?ground? spares. ?The new constellation will have the ability to offer higher bandwidth speeds,? said Pon. ?Currently we?re thinking terms of getting up togreater than 400 kb per second, ver- sus 134 today, so it?s a 2.5 to 3 times increase in speed.? The new constellation also gives Irid- ium the flexibity to further enhance what he considers a key company strength: specifically ?how to best ex- ploit what is unique about Iridium,which is our global coverage. From a device point of view, we?re always fo- cused on how do we make it smaller, how do we make it cheaper. That?s an advantage we have because of our over- all architecture ? we can get deployed on a ship at a much lower first cost basis,? said Pon. The price point advan- tage directly leads to what Pon consid-ers to be another strategic advantage: the ability to carry Iridium Pilot, for ex- ample, in tandem with VSAT, as a sec- ondary service back-up or for use whena ship exits VSAT coverage. ?Take the example of the Iridium Pilot,? said Pon. ?The deployment costs of that is going to be much lower than a comparable device, so we are more cost effective for smaller ships, but even in larger ships. They may put out product and service on their ships as a comple-ment to VSAT, so when they move out of VSAT coverage, they can switch to Iridium.? Conservative Nature No More? While the maritime industry is oftenlabeled conservative, Pon said that mar- itime is much more amenable to changethan say, the aviation sector, where product approval hoops and product specification are much more rigorous. ?We are seeing a lot of sophistication in the maritime sector. They?re looking to do things like ?cash content,? where they may offer services to people inside the ship, for example, so the crew itself are potential customers for whoever put our system on the ship,? said Pon. In explaining Iridium?s relationship to the end user, Pon explained succinctly: ?We are more like a wholesaler, we are Direct TV. When you actually want to buy Direct TV, there is a local installa- tion company that comes in and sets everything up in your house,? said Pon. ?But we have a very strong set of part- ners that help to ease the transition, be-cause they supply the people to do on-ship installation, and then essentiallyyou have a mini-computer network in- side the ship once you install the Pilot,so someone has to configure firewalls, routers on the ship, and to setup laptops.? With its new constellation coming on- line, a legion of allies in its partner net- work, and a ?David vs. Goliath? chipset on its shoulder, Iridium appears well armed for the battle for market share ahead. Who will emerge the winner? Shipowner?s votes count, and only time will tellMARKETMARITIME COMMUNICATIONS Iridium is Flying High AgainThe fight in the maritime satcom sector is somewhat analogous to the one fought by Apple and Microsoft in the early ?80s: two tech companies, polar-opposite philosophies and a raging battle for market share. By Greg Trauthwein, Editor Iridium Pilot Iridium Pilot is small and durable,with enhanced capabilities to opti-mize telecommunications acrossfleets. It is designed to provide full global voice and broadband data connectivity at an affordable cost. It?s also fully compatible with VSAT technologies to even further increase the broadband tool?s value. For Iridium, it is a complement to its commitment to the broadbandmarket, complementing handheld service.Iridium Pilot is the third of many products the company plans to ?power by? the Iridium OpenPort Service, a strategy that is designed to provide a growth path for Iridium to expand into new markets. Signifi- cantly, Iridium Pilot is designed to be compatible with Iridium NEXT, the company?s next-generation satel- lite constellation.Recently German shipping com-pany Reederei Werner Bockstiegel selected Iridium Pilot to upgrade itsshipping fleet with broadband com-munications. Globecomm Maritime,a long-standing Iridium partner, is offering Iridium Pilot as part of an upgraded ?Telaurus se@COMM? communications package, and willmanage the installation fleet-wide.Iridium Pilot willbe compatiblewith IridiumNEXT. Matt Desch,CEO, IridiumMR#8 (74-81):MR Template 8/14/2012 9:19 AM Page 80