Page 25: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2014)

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Ami Daniel (pictured) and Matan Peled co-founded Windward in 2010, and Daniel is the CEO. Windward Ltd. is self-dubbed as the world leader in satellite-based maritime analytics. Daniel and Peled were naval offi cers in the same unit of the Israeli Navy, and as Daniel explains it; “this adventure felt like a natural extension of our love of all things maritime.” He said Peled “is somewhat of a captain at heart, both in his personal life and in Windward. He has an unmatched capability for solid, analytic business reasoning, and when he takes something head on – you simply know it will be absolute, no short- cuts, carefully done to the tiniest details.” “The last several years mark the entrance of the maritime domain into the information age, as ever-growing amounts of data are becom- ing commercially available. While just a few years ago maritime data was mostly database driven, the introduction of satellite AIS changed the game, and it is now possible for the fi rst time ever to know the actual whereabouts of vessels. This shift in the market is at the heart of the Windward solution – if previously “best practices” included rely- ing on static databases to monitor vessels, we introduced innovative dynamic tools to analyze ship movements in real time and across the globe, with the ability to identify unexpected (some might say suspi- cious) behavior on a micro level.

Our technology is often able to change the workfl ow process, bring- ing new angles to the game that are simply unobtainable without using big data analytics. This is both a huge opportunity and a challenge.” oceans and its inhabitants is in its infancy. While getting it right is always a solid business mantra, timing it right is, too. With that, Daniel and his team see a world of opportunity ahead. The mari- time market is one of the few ‘analog’ markets left out there, and we believe this is the right time to see how state of the art technology can support more effi cient maritime operations,” Daniel sum- marized.

Hack Attack

While hacking of all computer systems is a con- tinual problem, the issue of hacking AIS – which has been widely discussed in recent months – is not seen as a problem for Windward Ltd. “While hacking someone’s AIS may seem like to a big problem, the real issue starts when a vessel tries to deliberately change its own transmissions – thus assuming a new or stolen identity. More often than not, such false identities are used to try and conceal illegal activities,” said Daniel.

To that end, MarInt was designed to double and triple check every part of the data set before digesting it into the system. “As we monitor the oceans for some time now, we have built a pro- prietary analyzed database on all vessels, learning their identities and routine behaviors. MarInt can then analyze and alert on vessels that are suspected of identity theft or tampering with their transmis- sions,” Daniel said.

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The Founders “While just a few years ago maritime data was mostly database driven, the introduction of satellite AIS changed the game, and it is now possible for the fi rst time ever to know the actual where- abouts of vessels.”

MR #2 (18-25).indd 25 2/3/2014 1:33:23 PM