A fresh face and a fresh perspective: 2014 was a busy year for Inmarsat Maritime with acquisitions, new products and the launch of the first Global Xpress satellite as well as a significant change in senior management
Ronald Spithout, previously President of Inmarsat Enterprise, was appointed to the position of Inmarsat Maritime President in October and has[ds_preview] since overseen a vertical restructuring of the business. He takes the helm at a critical and exciting time for the company. The first of three Global Xpress satellites entered commercial service in July 2014, the second was recently launched and and is currently undergoing payload testing. With the Inmarsat-5 F3 expected for launch in the coming months, the company sees itself on schedule to achieve full global coverage early in the second half of 2015. »The fleet of high throughput satellites will offer a unique combination of seamless global Ka-band coverage from a single operator, allowing Inmarsat to deliver the world’s first globally available, high-speed mobile broadband service«, Spithout says. The Global Xpress constellation represents a 1.6 bill. $ investment into the next generation of global mobile broadband communications.
Inmarsat has announced an »enhanced Maritime product roadmap«, which adds the possibility of moving customers towards Fleet Xpress via the immediately available FleetBroadband Xtra, signalling a definite change of direction concerning the service phase-in of the Ka-band coverage.
FleetBroadband Xtra effectively overlays capacity from the first Global Xpress satellite on present L-band connectivity across its current functioning area of coverage. Outside this area, customers will use existing L-band connectivity. With the first satellite in position above the Indian Ocean there is a substantial business case for opening up this service, with vessels trading in this area able to take advantage of the improved connectivity almost a year before full global coverage is completed.
A clear view of the future
Under his direction, Inmarsat Maritime has been realigning itself, phasing out the last of the legacy businesses, to present a clear and consistent offering to the market. Spithout has done a lot to achieve a single brand proposition for the company, streamlining structures and integrating acquisitions vertically to optimise functional efficiency.
The growth strategy has three key areas of focus; value, volume and diversification. Concerning the traditional sector of strength for Inmarsat, the deep sea and merchant marine market, the objective is to concentrate on delivering more value. Existing services will be refreshed, and new services will be developed and added to the portfolio, for example, the Fleet Media package.
Inmarsat’s volume play is targeted to address the under-penetrated market for smaller leisure and fishing vessels. This sector holds massive opportunity but requires propositions that specifically speak to the reduced requirements in terms of both hardware, data volume and cost.
The third identified area, diversification, is concerned with the growth of a maritime enterprise market. Enabled through the launch of the Global Xpress satellite constellation and positioning Inmarsat as a business that is selling access to the maritime market. Spithout explains: »Inmarsat is progressing its role as an integrator through the Inmarsat Gateway and allied partnership with Cisco. Communications have evolved far beyond being simply another cost obligation on owners. Communications are now a fundamental driver of efficiency, not to mention safety and crew welfare.«
Inmarsat Gateway will refine the satellite provider’s ability to separate traffic. With the possibility of segmenting traffic and the associated billing, there is potential scope for numerous equipment suppliers and others to be able to connect with their products in situ and provide their customers performance monitoring and condition-based maintenance services from real-time data. The age of the truly connected vessel, where there is seamless integration between shore and ship, is at hand.
In respect of possible threats of competition, Spithout sets out very clearly that the vision for the company is as an enabler of applications and not a developer. He sees the most beneficial landscape of the sector to be one of a level-playing field with Inmarsat not competing with its partners. Since his appointment, there has been a restructuring of the way Inmarsat interacts with partner companies. The reorganisation means that all companies in the future will simply be known as »partners«, and it will be their set of value enhancing capabilities within the Maritime market that will categorise them.
RD
