Furuno brings the KU-100 Ku-band VSAT communications solution to the maritime industry to meet the growing demand for more bandwidth at sea. VSAT provides broadband communications at sea that are comparable to the communication data rate we are accustomed to using while on shore. On top of fast communication data rate for data and voice applications of up to 1 Mbps, VSAT delivers the cost-effective means to maritime broadband communications through its monthly flat communication rate, allowing ship owners to budget air-time rate without any unanticipated fare to be charged. The ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system at the head office can be extended to the vessels via VPN (Virtual Private Networks). This means that the officers and crewmembers are now able to make use of more bandwidth-hungry applications such as videoconferencing and downloading, streaming video on demand and others without worrying about the communication bill thanks to the flat communication rate.
This will totally transform maritime communication, with increasing levels of both operational and social communications conducted all at the same time through this new service. Navigators can obtain weather and chart updates* online in order to optimize their route planning and monitoring tasks, while all onboard can still enjoy the benefit of the Internet, e-mailing and making voice calls to the head offices or their friends and families back home all via a single terminal. It would greatly increase information efficiency onboard. It will change the way mariners and vessels communicate, just as on-shore broadband data communications paved the way for the broadband IP era.
