Singapore: Thome Selects FleetBroadband from AND Group and Inmarsat

Inmarsat and its distribution partner AND Group have announced a new deal to provide Inmarsat FleetBroadband and AND’s IPSignature2 value-added communications software to the vessels of Singapore-based Thome Ship Management.

Thome Ship Management is a world leader in integrated ship management services for the international shipping and offshore industries. Under the new framework agreement, AND Group becomes the exclusive communications provider to Thome for Inmarsat FleetBroadband and will deliver the FleetBroadband service through a combination of pricing packages, including the Very Large Allowance (VLA) package. The terminals will be mostly FB500s, capable of supporting up to 432kbps of standard IP data communications, but also some smaller FB250s.

“We looked at the range of options for connecting our fleet and selected FleetBroadband from Inmarsat and AND Group because of its scalability,” said Ryan Dalgado, Procurement & Supply Chain Manager for Thome Ship Management. “This new deal provides plans for heavy users within our fleet and smaller packages for less intensive use. It gives us options for all vessel types, and with a large and diverse fleet like ours, that level of flexibility was very attractive. We liked the fact that the experience and reliability of the FleetBroadband service was consistently good. The addition of AND’s IPSignature2 service, offering simple and effective cost control tools, made it a powerful proposition.”

IPSignature2 from AND Group is a leading combined data communications package for ship-based email, internet access and other data applications, allowing unparalleled analysis and control of the usage and cost of data movements to and from vessel or land-based terminals. Developed to be fully compatible with Inmarsat services, IPSignature2 enhances services by increasing network efficiencies as well as supporting cost savings with intelligent data transfer technologies.

Mary Baey, CEO of AND IPSignature (Singapore) Pte Ltd, said: “We are extremely honoured to be selected as the exclusive service provider of Inmarsat FleetBroadband services for Thome Ship Management. We believe our appointment will allow Thome Ship Management to streamline their communications and benefit from the synergy of Inmarsat and AND Group services deployed across the fleet.”

“Thome is a well-respected ship management company in Asia Pacific, and indeed globally, and this is a significant deal,” said Frank Coles, President, Inmarsat Maritime. “It also demonstrates that, by working together and combining the service quality and reliability of Inmarsat with the value-added services of our partners, we can deliver a very attractive package to the global shipping community.

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World Maritime News Staff, February 28, 2012; Image: Thome Ship Management