Page 17: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2020)

“So if someone is spending an inordinate amount of time on

Candy Crush, or some other wasteful app, then it can just be cut out. 20-25% of the traf? c we see on ships at sea is rubbish; if you can cut the rubbish, you’ll save money because you won’t need so much bandwidth.”

Gregory Darling

Group MD, AST

AST broadband package, but not ef? cient when offshore using sat- ogy to meet their speci? c needs. “We’re small but beautifully ellite. The vessel operator logged into myastportal and via formed,” Darling said. “Our target market is vessel owners the INTEGRA See service, was able to pinpoint a singular that need tailored solutions to meet a particular need. No two encrypted application which was consuming unusually high companies have the same need, and in fact you can’t just say amounts of bandwidth. INTEGRA’s deep packet inspection ‘marine’ because marine can be a canoe, it can be a cruise enabled Apple Photo Stream to be recognized as the culprit ship and everything in between. We are looking for compa- and using the INTEGRA Control service, the vessel operator nies that want to improve their ef? ciency, companies that was able to block the application and restore normality to the want to understand how they can bene? t from digitalization, vessel’s satellite communications. “So if someone is spend- how they can from good crew communications to how they ing an inordinate amount of time on Candy Crush, or some can monitor their cargo and machinery. That’s where the op- other wasteful app, then it can just be cut out,” said Darling. portunity is for us, as we have many tools in the toolbox. Our “Twenty to 25% of the traf? c we see on ships at sea is rub- job is to match capabilities with needs.” bish; if you can cut the rubbish, you’ll save money because The current COVID-19 pandemic has provided a number of you won’t need so much bandwidth.” challenges, as many companies put a hard-stop on spending from the outset to evaluate the market and its direction. From

Different Budgets, Different Needs a company perspective, Darling said his team was prepared

Darling is not one to mince words, and in discussing the in advance to work remotely and deliver service, which he differing needs across the maritime spectrum he references a says has been done 24/7 without a hiccup.

client that had the requirement to provide communications to While this business (and life) interruption event has caused its Far East based ? eet of 700 shipping vessels. “This was the pain and disruption that transcend geographic and industry bottom end, but they wanted the lowest cost to provide com- boundaries, Darling sees some trends, including increased munications amongst themselves, so we provided Iridium uptake in digital solutions, that could provide the theoretical handsets and some sticky tape!” ‘silver lining.’ “I think remote monitoring to inspect equip-

At the other end of the spectrum are the large modern ? eets, ment, rather than sending in a tech, that will happen more and and AST has a full set of solutions to provide creative set more, saving cost and increasing the ef? ciency of connectiv- hardware and service solutions which includes VSAT, VSAT ity,” said Darling. “Also the crew will expect more connec- fail over, GSM integration, voice service, a range of technol- tivity to home.” www.marinelink.com 17

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