Page 41: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2016)

Jan Michelsen

VP Maritime, Cobham SATCOM

Jan Michelsen is responsible for the global maritime satellite and radio communications business at Cobham SATCOM. He shares his insights on the status and future direction of sat- com’s penetration in the global maritime market.

nals, reliability is pretty much ingrained. installation and commissioning and then

Big Data: The phrase is everywhere, creasingly heavy legislative, and liti-

Stabilization technology established in testing. The approach we introduced was but what does it mean in maritime? gious environment?

Using data in a structured way to opti- the early 90s ensures a satellite antenna to deliver everything needed, factory Cobham SATCOM is part of the EU ini- mize shipboard and land organization can track a satellite when under six de- tested in a single box. This signi? cantly tiative Ef? ciency 2. This is driven by our processes, thereby reducing the underly- grees of motion and today, we are work- streamlines procurement and installa- desire to in? uence the maritime industry ing cost base. Shipping has been around ing on incremental changes and holistic tion, to some extent transforming VSAT and ensures safety and ef? ciency goes for more than 5000 years, it is also very approaches to squeeze every last drop of to an off-the-shelf product. hand in hand. The advances in ICT can much a culture change journey. How- reliability and performance from anten- Of course, we recognize the com- act as a catalyst to remove some of the ever, the growing trend to leverage the nas of decreasing size. This behind the plexity of SATCOM and in contrast to administrative burdens onboard ships gigabytes of data generated by shipping scenes work plays a part in making Big the SAILOR VSAT approach, Sea Tel to ensure that the crew use their time on ? eets has potential to seriously change Data a reality for shipping. products are designed for non-standard what is most important which is running the way that the world does business. vessels and installations. They are used the vessel as safely as possible. for vessels with very special or particular

What is Cobham’s view on the changing requirements, where the number of users,

Why should ship owners take notice? maritime satcom landscape? How is your company investing to en-

It is the era of smart shipping and the ? exibility and bandwidth required far

More importantly, are they investing in sure its presence in the market?

world of maritime SATCOM will be outweighs that of a commercial transport We are committed to serve the global the new capabilities?

If they don’t their competitive advantage very different ? ve years from now. vessel. Essentially, Sea Tel VSAT is the shipping industry with sophisticated will gradually erode. Shipping is also platform for complex, custom networks products for safety, operational and

The maritime satcom picture is a com- being professionalized post the ? nancial on cruise ships, offshore vessels or any crew welfare applications to create su- plex one. In your estimation is it too crisis. The private venuture funds that other maritime vessel where a degree of perior value and a great future for all complex? If yes, what can be done to have moved into commercial shipping complexity is required in the network stake holders in the Cobham SATCOM deliver more clarity have a very different view on risk man- con? guration to provide speci? c, often Ecosystem. Of course, we always have agement and operational/supply chain Yes, we work with complex technol- high-end communication functionality. one eye on the future, which is why our optimization; data is a key prerequisite ogy but Cobham is known for providing SAILOR ku-band VSAT antennas have

The maritime market is cyclical, and to support decision making and identify solutions to the most challenging prob- been ready for Ka-band VSAT for nearly several sectors are in the midst of areas that can be optimized, removing lems. But it should not be complex to two years. This means that those us- historic lows. Looking at 2016 and be- inef? ciencies, leading to cost reductions. install or operate, so our R/D department ers currently on a traditional wideband yond, where do you see opportunities?

continuously focus on how we can pro- service can cost-effectively migrate to vide more value to the ship owners and It is a dif? cult question to answer. The a new Ka-band HTS service without How is the Satcom industry turning this managers and enhance the overall satel- maritime industry is either a user, pro- changing antennas. We believe this will buzzword into a tangible reality?

By focusing on the capabilities and lite terminal use-case. ducer/transporter of oil or both. But be a signi? cant thing for both maritime bene? t that we bring to the table. (At An important thing to remember whether the underlying freight market is SATCOM service providers and end-us-

Cobham SATCOM) we look at the en- about SATCOM is that not everybody weak or booming, there will be plenty of ers, who will have the ? exibility to move tire solution life-cycle together with our is an expert. This is why we try to keep opportunity for streamlining operational to a different service without having to partners and end-users. SATCOM is in- it simple for the customer and end-user processes on board the vessels and we get all-new on board hardware. tegral to shipping’s use of Big Data and (where relevant). For instance, with should not forget that the young genera-

What new can our audience expect

ICT in general but for the connected fu- SAILOR VSAT, one of the key goals in tion of seafarers demand to have access from Cobham in 2016?

ture to really become a reality, there has initial development was to simplify the high-speed data connectivity so they can to be high availability of fast, reliable procurement and installation process. use their many different devices to com- A lot of our focus will be spent together broadband on a global basis. We’re near- We took the whole process and turned munication with their family and friends. with Inmarsat to ensure that GX takes off ly there in terms of services, especially it on its head. Previously, all the com- successfully. But we will also focus on

The maritime market is heavily regu- with new High Throughput Satellites ponents to bring VSAT on board a ves- our new suite of navigational products, lated. What is Satcom’s role in helping coming fully online for maritime users sel came from several suppliers, which for example or new GNSS positioning shipowners ef? ciently navigate an in- in 2016. In terms of the shipboard termi- meant putting things together during receiver. www.marinelink.com 41

MR #2 (34-41).indd 41 2/3/2016 11:09:15 AM