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Satcom: It's a jungleSeaWave LLC's Integrator comes with built-in Iridium and GPS, has an option for built in GSM--the most popular international standard for cell phones--and connects to external Inmarsat systems. The unit sends communications requests over the most cost-effective medium available, while taking into consideration performance requirements. Geographic variances, message size and signal quality of all available networks are taken into consideration. Another SeaWave solution is its Remote Management Suite, a value-added package that places vessel IT control in the hands of professionals on shore, allowing the crew on board the vessels to concentrate on the jobs they are meant to do. SeaWave is one tool that can help the operator hack through a jungle of competing communications options. Today, it sometimes seems as if everyone is a distributor, a reseller or an agent for everyone else. Companies that historically were hardware providers sell airtime and airtime providers sell hardware.
Today Sea Tel is the largest manufacturer of commercial shipboard stabilized antenna platforms in the world for satellite communications, satellite television and satellite weather systems. Initially, Sea Tel systems were very large and suitable only for larger ships. But with the increased power of modern satellites, Sea Tel has introduced much smaller dishes and systems,including antennas as small as 0.3 meters (14 inches). Beyond that, Sea Tel now offers its customers a variety of air time service plans through a subsidiary WaveCall Communications. In January, Sea Tel, announced a business agreement with Telenor Satellite Services, a subsidiary of Telenor of Norway, where the two companies will offer a combined package of Sea Tel WaveCallTM equipment with TelenorŐs Sealink broadband communications services. Those who yearn for a simpler life, with rigid boundaries between who sold what to whom,might have found things easier in the days when satcoms meant Inmarsat and you accessed the system via one of a handful of companies that likely had their origins as a PTT--the telephone and telegraph department of a national postal service. Since those days, Inmarsat has gone from an intergovernmental authority to first a private then a public company. It still remains the biggest player on the maritime scene, but its airtime is sold through a huge number of resellers, many of whom are happy to sell you other people's airtime, too, if it better meets your needs. And, while the maritime sector remains Inmarsat's most important market, it is also making major efforts to become a major player in the land and aviation sectors.
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For instance, think of "Sea Tel" and you probably think of antennas. The company was founded back in 1978 by Robert J. Matthews, a former COMSAT design engineer and pioneer in developing commercially viable marine stabilized antenna systems for satellite communications.
