BMSEAC Programme Opens With Analysis Of Satellite-Based Solutions Supply & Demand Across Maritime Sector Marketplace

15 February 2010

The Broadband Maritime South East Asia: New Communications Networking Offshore & the High Seas Conference (BMSEAC) – taking place 23 to 24  February 2010, at the Marina Mandarin hotel in Singapore, and organised by Global VSAT Forum (GVF) and United Kingdom Event Management Partners (UK-EMP) – is being held in association with Inmarsat, Intelsat, Hughes, SingTel, KT, C-COMM, and Marine Technologies LLC.

Commented Martin Jarrold, GVF Chief of International Programme Development and BMSEAC Chairman, “GVF and UK-EMP are delighted to have engaged the support of our global and regional sponsorship partners. We look forward to their respective contributions to the conference programme, as well as to those other organisations who have committed their support to the Conference dialogue.”

Representatives of Inmarsat and its commercial partners will be addressing such subjects as Satellite Operators & Satellite Network Providers: Deployment of New Global Broadband & Narrowband Services Initiatives; Maritime Antenna Technology: Design Parameters & Case Studies; and, The Merchant, Leisure & Passenger Segments – Communications Networking for Efficient Fleet Management & the Passenger Mobile & Broadband Requirement in Port & at Sea.

Contributions to the programme from Intelsat and its commercial partners will include the topics of Segmenting the Maritime Communications Sector: The Comparative Market Significance of Broadband Satellite Requirements in the South East Asia Region; Satellite Operators & Satellite Network Providers: Deployment of New Global Broadband & Narrowband Services Initiatives; and, Maritime Satcoms Terminal Equipment: Supply-Side Challenges & Developments.

Hughes Network Systems representatives at the conference will examine Communications Networking for Efficient Fleet Management & the Passenger Mobile & Broadband Requirement in Port & at Sea, plus Supply-Side Challenges & Developments in Maritime Satcoms Terminal Equipment.

Conference registrations from SingTel comprise a large interdisciplinary delegation, and Titus Yong, SingTel's Vice President of Satellite, said: "SingTel is pleased to participate in the Broadband Maritime Conference. As Asia's leading satellite service provider, SingTel is excited to play an important role in enhancing the productivity of maritime companies and enabling them to gain a vital competitive edge. With our broadband maritime satellite solutions, we have improved the lives of seafarers by allowing them to stay in touch with their loved ones while at sea, as well as further their education through e-learning. This is critical today to attract and retain talents in the maritime sector."

At time of writing, maritime sector companies pre-registered to attend the Conference include:

Anglo-Eastern Shipping; APL/Neptune Orient Lines; B&H Equimar; Diamond Tankers; Hallin Marine (Offshore Services); IM Skaugen Marine Services; Ezra Ship Mnagement; MSI Ship Management; Norgas; PB Maritime; Executive Ship Management and, POSH Fleet Services / POSH Maritime.

Paul Stahl, Managing Partner of UK-EMP, said that “GVF and UK-EMP are committed to supporting the continuing dialogue between the maritime sector and its communication solutions providers in exactly the same way as we are committed to the dialogue between the oil & gas industry end-users of satellite broadband communications and the providers of such services. The contribution of our Conference sponsors, and of the other participating companies, can only serve to advance and enhance the three overall key subjects within this dialogue, namely: (1) Key hardware technology developments; (2) New service provisioning; and, (3) Access to applications and networks.

Moreover, added Martin Jarrold, “the conference agenda will look to the fact that whilst there has already been much recent improvement in the availability of advanced communications at sea, it is only now that the maritime communications environment is progressing fully, from a mainly narrowband communications arena, and into the broadband age, exploiting the increased synergies of advances in satellite equipment technologies and the availability and accessibility of new bandwidth across, and linking, all the world’s oceans.”

Other elements of the Singapore programme will include such featured topics as –

The Northern Sky Research examination of The Maritime Communications Marketplace: Analysis of Satellite Communications Demand & Supply Shifts across the Sector will include definition of the metrics of the maritime communications marketplace; analysis of the economics of maritime communications – past, present, and future; supply & demand in satellite resources over the oceans; vendor and user competitive advantage in C-band, Ku-band, and L-band spectrum; and, spectrum switching for high-seas global roaming.

MTN Satellite Communications will explore The Mobile Maritime Office: Communications Platform as Critical Precursor to Enterprise Planning, including examination of the integration and optimisation of shipboard and ship-to-shore ICT-based strategies; and, satellite communication in shipboard and remote information management systems.

The subject of The Multi-Technology Challenge for Satellite Communications at Sea in the context of a multi-technology, multi-vendor environment; and issues of integration, standardisation & scalability, will be presented by Gilat Satellite Networks.

Recent developments in the GVF Installer Training Programme with particular reference to Evolution for the Stabilized Antenna Market will be introduced by GVF. This session will look at the advanced technical requirements for mobile stabilised antenna installations; installation training support from the global industry association for fixed and mobile satellite; and, growth of the stabilised antenna installation services market.

The Conference Regulatory Open Forum: Communications Inshore & on the High Seas panel will feature Squire, Sanders & Dempsey; Maritime Telecommunications Network, Inc.; and, CGP Solutions. Discussion will cover such topics as: What are the relevant regulatory & licensing frameworks affecting maritime satellite communications? Port licensing: overcoming common, and not-so-common, obstacles; regulatory & licensing experiences from the user perspective; spectrum allocation & spectrum security issues for inshore & high-seas connectivity; and, frequency coordination between communications & navigation systems.