Cobham SATCOM’s Henrik Fyhn presents the 50,000th SAILOR FleetBroadband terminal to Matt George (left) of Network Innovations (photo: Cobham)

Cobham SATCOM has marked a major milestone for its Inmarsat FleetBroadband hardware portfolio, with delivery of the 50,000th SAILOR FleetBroadband terminal. Launched in parallel with Inmarsat’s then game-changing L-band maritime satcom service in 2007, SAILOR FleetBroadband has played a major role in enabling safety and efficiency improvements on board merchant ship and fishing vessels, while proving a popular choice for keeping ocean going yachts and motorboats connected globally.

Cobham SATCOM’s 50,000th FleetBroadband terminal, a SAILOR 250 FleetBroadband was delivered to Matt George, Vice President Global Maritime Sales at Network Innovations, in Miami on 24 April 2017. The SAILOR 250 FleetBroadband with its 30-cm reflector dish was launched alongside the flagship SAILOR 500 FleetBroadband, with a 50-cm reflector in 2007. Within just two years, Cobham had shipped 10,000 terminals. SAILOR 150 FleetBroadband, with a 15 cm reflector followed in 2009, helping to bring FleetBroadband to an even wider user-base. This was extended further in 2015, with the launch of the SAILOR Fleet One terminal, which is based on the same technology as SAILOR FleetBroadband terminals and aimed more at private users and smaller fishing boats.

“We’re delighted to have shipped so many SAILOR FleetBroadband terminals, which help thousands of vessels stay safe and connected to shore,” says Casper Jensen, Senior Vice President, Cobham SATCOM. “Despite being introduced nearly a decade ago, SAILOR FleetBroadband continues to be an important part of our maritime satcom antenna portfolio, alongside our line of SAILOR VSAT Ku and Ka-band terminals, which offer the same high reliability and feature rich operation for all widebeam and spotbeam VSAT services, including Inmarsat’s new Fleet Xpress.”

“Over the last ten years, FleetBroadband has become an industry standard for vessels requiring reliable IP connectivity and voice communication globally,” says Ronald Spithout, President, Inmarsat Maritime. “As a service launch partner and a principal ground infrastructure developer for the network, Cobham has played a vital role in this success and it is a fantastic achievement.”

“FleetBroadband remains an integral part of our L-Band portfolio strategy by providing thousands of vessels with a cost-effective solution for seamless voice and broadband data coverage across the world’s oceans. More recently, it has become a critical back-up component of our next generation service, Fleet Xpress, which paves the way for shipping companies to embrace the Internet of Things and the benefits of Big Data onboard their fleet,” says Spithout.

Easy installation and high-reliability in even the most extreme maritime environments has helped to position SAILOR FleetBroadband as the best-selling Inmarsat FleetBroadband terminals by far. While SAILOR FleetBroadband was quickly established as a prominent FleetBroadband platform on launch, Cobham has continued to develop its portfolio to ensure full compatibility with additional features from Inmarsat, including the Multi-Voice Service, which adds up to nine simultaneous voice lines to a single terminal. Cobham also introduced the SAILOR 3771 Alarm Panel for SAILOR FleetBroadband systems, which provides Voice Distress Calling with full priority access in ship-shore and shore-ship communication.

“SAILOR FleetBroadband was quickly established as the most rugged and reliable FleetBroadband terminal on launch and has continued to go from strength to strength over the last decade,” says Matt George of Network Innovations. “Cobham hit the perfect balance between price and performance, helping us to ensure our customers are always online, whether they are using FleetBroadband as a primary or secondary communications channel.”

Tags: Cobham SATCOM, Network Innovations