Iridium Open Port

Iridium reports that its new-generation global marine satellite communication system, Iridium OpenPort™, has successfully completed sea trials on a number of different vessels, and worldwide commercial rollout is now underway.

“The feedback from beta test platforms has been overwhelmingly positive, and we have a strong backlog of orders from shipowners who recognize the unique value proposition of Iridium OpenPort,” said Don Thoma, executive vice president, Marketing, Iridium. “In the current economic climate, shipowners are looking for ways to trim operating costs for ships at sea, and Iridium OpenPort offers a very cost-effective alternative to other broadband satellite systems in terms of hardware, installation and monthly usage costs,” Thoma added.

Thoma noted that Iridium OpenPort is the only truly global high-bandwidth marine satellite communication system, with coverage over 100 percent of the Earth’s surface, including Polar waters beyond the reach of geostationary satellites.
Frank Coles, President and CEO of Globe Wireless, an Iridium Service Provider, said, "We have conducted exhaustive testing of Iridium OpenPort systems, and we have successful tests on customer ships. The pilot testing we have done showed that the OpenPort system was capable of handing a large volume of data and provided quality voice services. We are now rolling out systems to our customer's ships, who are seeing significant reductions in voice and data costs."

“Iridium OpenPort is as easy to use as the Internet at home,” said Jérémie Béyou, skipper of Delta-Dore and Vendee Globe participant. “The greatest feature is that you can stay connected permanently without the need to re-start the modem and antenna every time you want to receive or send an e-mail. The connection speed is good and allows you to make phone calls while surfing the Internet, and the terminal is really easy to install.”

Introduced in mid-2008, Iridium OpenPort provides three independent phone lines and a separate scalable data circuit supporting speeds of 9.6 to 128 kilobytes per second. Data rates can easily be adjusted up or down without any modifications to hardware or software. The low-profile, lightweight antenna array does not require a stabilized pedestal and is therefore less costly to purchase, install and maintain.

Source: Iridium Press Release