Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) has announced that Lars Thrane A/S is the newest Iridium Certus terminal manufacturer — the companies have now unveiled the LT-4200 maritime SATCOM system.
The new terminal will be one of the first to support the Iridium Certus 200 service class, that features upload and download speeds of up to 176 Kbps over Iridium’s L-band network. It is designed for demanding maritime environments, such as those experienced by fishing vessels and other workboats, that desire faster speeds but want to avoid the coverage limitations, terminal sizes and costs associated with existing competitive options.
The terminal has also been designed to support Iridium’s future Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) services, in addition to other regulatory safety and security services including Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) and Ship Security Alert System (SSAS). The system has a range of interfaces making integration simple and offers a simple upgrade path from legacy solutions as well as greenfield opportunities for Iridium Certus partners.
Made possible by the recently upgraded Iridium® satellite constellation, the Iridium Certus service goes beyond serving solely as a connectivity solution. It provides a platform for the company's partners to develop specialized broadband, midband and narrowband applications only possible through Iridium's crosslinked L-band network. The service offers the flexibility to scale device speeds, sizes and power requirements both up and down based on the needs of the end-user.
Wouter Deknopper, VP and GM, maritime line of business at Iridium, said the Iridium Certus 200 service class addresses a very specific market niche in the maritime industry, but that niche includes a large number of vessels, such as commercial fishing boats, workboats, coastal shipping and leisure craft. The new LT-4200 from Lars Thrane is a smaller, lighter, faster and cost-competitive option when compared to the closest alternative in the market. As a result, Iridium and the firm's partners are once again bringing a new and superior option to the maritime industry.
Peter Thrane, CEO of Lars Thrane, added that the LT-4200 maritime SATCOM product is an important product for Lars Thrane, which allows the company to offer customers a compact and competitive L-band product with faster bandwidth and maritime performance specifications, which will satisfy most requirements for a maritime product in this class. More details about this product will be forthcoming in the near future.
