There's a science to commercial fishing, and Singapore's Addvalue Technologies' iFleetONE™ maritime satellite communications terminal together with the Addvalue proprietary Vessel Monitoring System (“Addvalue iFleetONE-VMS™”) serves this realm. Now with an exclusive agreement with Network Innovations Inc. based in the U.S., these maritime satellite communications terminals will be available, and an initial order of 50 units have kick started the marketing program.
Addvalue iFleetONE™ Terminal bundled with its proprietary Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) has been Type Approved by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) as meeting the requirements of the NMFS/OLE Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) program for use in the:
- Fisheries of the Western United States
- Fisheries of Alaska
- Fisheries of the Western and Central Pacific
- Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (Hawaiian island chain)
It is mandatory for all commercial fishing vessels legally licensed and permitted to fish in certain U.S. Fisheries Management regions to carry NMFS/OLE type approved VMS terminals that securely report their GPS positions via a secure satellite link. In the U.S. there are around 4,000 fishing vessels required to comply with the VMS regulations.
Until now all of the type approved VMS terminals used in U.S. and most of the rest of the world are based on older low-speed, narrow band communication technologies introduced more than two decades ago.
The Addvalue iFleetONE-VMS™, with its broadband capability, represents the most significant advancement in fisheries management VMS technology today. It is capable of taking full advantage of the modern IP connectivity technologies built upon the backbone of the fourth generation of Inmarsat satellite network's most advanced L-band mobile satellite technology service.
The introduction of the Addvalue iFleetONE-VMS™ will enable Fisheries Management officials, biologists, researchers, analysts and NMFS Law Enforcement for the first time to have a suitable platform for applications and tools that have previously been severely limited by the available technologies of the past, such as on-board imaging and other monitoring systems like winch and other gear sensor data that can be economically transmitted in real-time back to shore.
Dr Colin Chan, Chairman and CEO of Addvalue remarked that the commercialization of the U.S. type approved Addvalue iFleetONE-VMS is a testament that their business transformation process to grow their recurring revenue is bearing fruit. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they expect the hardware sales, the VMS subscription and airtime revenue to grow significantly from this year and beyond.
