How can we make a product that benefits all our customers by opening up the IP world, even for those who don’t intend to use VSAT?

This was how we set out to define our new range of products, the Generation4.
The “4” came after we decided to look over the horizon, not only to limit our ambitions inside the 400-kbps confines of the 3G mobile systems.

Having access to real broadband at sea, the way we know it from home, may always be an expensive luxury. Not because the satellite airtime prices will stay at today’s level, but because we’ll be used to more and more bandwidth (BW) on shore so that the gap will always be there, or even increase.

The only way to make our vision a reality was to start all over by developing a completely new communication core, set free from all transactional thinking. This means that we’re ready for an always-on situation, where transferring data files is just one of the functions, and we let several communication systems add up to the total BW, depending on availability. An important prerequisite was to retain all the functionality of today’s Dualog products, or to improve them.

For our customers, this means that more standard software will work onboard while retaining full communication cost and security control. We even offer an API for our partners so they can utilise fully the communication options in our Generation4 products.

On the communication system side, we see the available BW for mobile use increase day by day onshore, in ports and along the coastline. Inmarsat will launch their Fleet Broadband with their Inmarsat4 satellites, and several other satellite owners are planning for higher BW in the years to come, even with coverage for the marine community.

There will be more BW available for the marine users.
The challenge will be to make the best use of it in a secure way, while maintaining cost control.

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