How to save at least 40% on your communication costs
Imagine that you own and operate a vessel that sails regularly between Shanghai in the Far East and Hamburg in Western Europe.
During this voyage you are connected to the internet on a constant basis in order to get the regular weather and other updates, fulfill all the required administrative tasks in preparation of entering ports and loading and unloading, report back on the ship’s status and maintenance requirement, and in effect be a regular part of your organization as a remote office. Next to this your crew needs to stay in touch with their loved ones and have access to the news, sports and entertainment when at sea.
All of this requires data connectivity with the outside world.
The connection with the internet is established using Satellite communications. Based on the provider you have you may experience any or a combination of the following issues on your journey; capacity or bandwidth limitations based either on the network or your subscription, forced outages based on regulatory issues, and network congestion due to large numbers of users in particular areas such as out front of large ports like Singapore or Rotterdam.
The first issue could be fixed by e.g. buying extra capacity although this may not be the most economical solution in all cases, however the other problems are often difficult to prevent or circumvent.
Now as it happens mobile connectivity is available off the coast often. In effect vessels are in reach of mobile connectivity between 12 and 15 times between Shanghai and Hamburg for longer or shorter period. However, these mobile networks are not part of the existing system set-up and if not managed well data charges may be preposterous because of roaming increments. NB, typically, global operators may have good fees in one or several part of the world however all of them have weaker regions in their portfolio with fees that may well exceed those of satellite connectivity.
In order to effectively connect to mobile networks, it is a prerequisite to install -preferably 2-long range LTE antennae on board. Next to this as a provider one needs to properly manage roaming costs such as using multiple IMSI’s with the proper profile being loaded/activated based on the location. Taking it a step further, if one implements a smart solution managing the satellite and mobile connectivity as one, a lot more benefits can be reaped. Applying ”Assurance” based “Software Defined Networking” one can ensure the user experience is uniform regardless of the type of network used for the connectivity. This applies for instance to least cost routing, user allowances and other network settings. Also one can implement smart settings such as large file downloads preferably taking place using 4G/LTE connectivity. Finally, using machine or self-learning network techniques, overall user experience can be optimized either towards being most economical or delivering best performance or anything in between using a simple gliding scale or completely customizable settings.
iVent has done just that.
Being a MVNO itself and as such an integral part of the mobile world and at the same time managing satellite networks for its partners it has brought together the best of both worlds building a seamless network combining the 2 technologies. Already at the forefront delivering network interoperability across many satellite and terrestrial networks in the past we now added our whole mobile ecosystem of global connectivity.
The users experience a single network that will automatically route based on the preset preferences and thus they will not suffer any more from the problems depicted before caused by the single network dependency.
Different vessels may have different routes. However using iVents unique mySim e-UICC technology a combination of optimal SIM profiles is downloaded per vessel. This will allow the satellite operator or system integrator, i.e. the “service provider” which is in the end our customer, to manage cost and performance in the best possible way.
Our customer can now give the customer an optimal experience and manage its own network utilization in the best possible way at the same time. Unique quality of service at the best possible economics for both the service provider and the end-user.
For further reading please also refer to MySIM and Administrative Tooling under Solutions.