Friday, April 27, 2012

Inmarsat awards 12 XpressLink dealer contracts

http://www.tankeroperator.com/news/todisplaynews.asp?NewsID=3489

Inmarsat has announced the identities of the first 12 companies to be able offer XpressLink services under its global network of dealers.

The companies are based in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

XpressLink is Inmarsat's new integrated Ku-band and L-band solution, available for a fixed monthly cost.

Until now the service was only available direct from Inmarsat, through a channel consisting of its subsidiaries, formerly known as Ship Equip and Stratos.

The company saids that XpressLink supported always-on data speeds of 768 kbps, with a committed information rate of 192 kbps, when the VSAT service is active.

Customers using XpressLink will automatically be switched to the Inmarsat Global Xpress Ka-band service when it is launched while at the same time, they will see their bandwidth double.

In arriving at this list of 12 new XpressLink dealers, Inmarsat said that in early March it asked its distribution partners, service providers and system integrators to confirm their interest in becoming a seller of the service.

This met with a positive response from more than 80% of those contacted, according to the company and negotiations with the majority of applicants are now at what it calls "an advanced stage."

The initial 12 dealers are:
- Anchor Marine Equipment & Repair Company
- AND Group
- Arskom Marine
- DH-INTERCOM
- Elcome
- Hellenic Radio Services
- Navarino
- One Net
- Otesat-Maritel
- Satlink
- Station Satcom
- Tile Marine.

"We are excited by this endorsement of the XpressLink service as a gateway to Global Xpress," said Frank Coles, president, Inmarsat Maritime.

"These 12 companies are at the forefront of delivering high-quality and cost-effective solutions to shipping fleets. They will not support a service unless they know it offers demonstrable value to their customers – value that is future-proofed with the transition path to Global Xpress.

"Several of the dealers we have announced today have already closed deals and we expect more soon," he concluded.

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