Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) announced today that
Marlink, Speedcast, Applied Satellite Technologies Ltd (AST) and
Satcom Global are the initial global maritime launch partners for
Iridium Certus. The first regional maritime launch partner,
Arion, will focus on delivering Iridium Certus to the Asian market.
These commitments represent a major milestone for the Iridium
Certus program, allowing each company to deliver a new choice in
the maritime industry and offer what will soon become the market’s
fastest L-band satellite connectivity.
For decades, the maritime industry lacked truly global coverage
and had only one real choice for L-band connectivity at sea.
This changed with Iridium®, and with the introduction of
Iridium Certus, a cutting-edge alternative has arrived for
mariners. Offering a high-performing, competitively priced solution
that features state-of-the-art technology, Iridium Certus is
designed to meet the needs of the ‘connected ship.’ Operating on
small-form-factor terminals with solid-state, active-array
antennas, the service will enable more efficient business
operations, cost-effective crew welfare solutions, and safety
communications, while providing a pole-to-pole, truly global grid
for Internet of Things (IoT) smart ship applications. Already
undergoing live testing, Iridium Certus terminals built by Cobham
and Thales will debut at speeds of 352 Kbps, later upgradable to
704 Kbps through a firmware update. With eventual speeds reaching
approximately 1.4 Mbps, Iridium Certus will also enable multiple
streaming classes and safety services designed to provide reliable
connectivity in even the harshest environments.
The Iridium Certus launch partners represent the truly global
nature of Iridium and will deliver business critical broadband
solutions to all key maritime markets. Marlink, a leading global
maritime communications, IT and digital solutions provider, is a
long-time Iridium partner and will offer Iridium Certus as both a
standalone service and as a companion to very small aperture
terminals (VSAT). “We combine the industry’s most extensive
portfolio of technology-agnostic multi-band connectivity services
and value-added solutions with a consultative approach to address
client needs,” said Ghani Behloul, chief marketing officer,
Marlink. “Our long-term, non-exclusive alliances and commercial
collaborations with Satellite Operators ensure we can deliver
future-proof solutions, and we look forward to continuing our work
with Iridium in order to bring the benefits of its next generation
network to our global customer base.”
As a global leader in critical communications in maritime,
energy, enterprise, and government, Iridium partner Speedcast
brings its many years of expertise to the Iridium Certus family.
“The uniqueness of Iridium Certus’ reliability and the unmatched
global coverage expands our Managed Services portfolio, bringing a
new choice to our tailored solutions for the maritime industry,”
said Tim Bailey, executive vice president, products, marketing and
business development at Speedcast. “The innovation in L-band
broadband throughput which Iridium Certus promises, will address a
wide range of services for the ship owner, and complements our
broad portfolio of high-end, customized solutions we deliver
today.”
With a proven track record in delivering market-leading maritime
projects world-wide, The AST Group of companies, one of Iridium’s
largest partners, joins the Iridium Certus program as a global
launch partner, bringing over 25 years of expertise and innovation
to the maritime market. “In today’s ‘bring-your-own-device’
world, managing communications on board vessels is critical,” said
Mark Sykes, director, The AST Group. “AST’s unique suite of
value-added services, combined with Iridium Certus, will deliver
unprecedented capabilities to maximize efficiency and reduce costs
at sea.”
Satcom Global, a worldwide expert in maritime satellite
communications and engineering services, will deliver Iridium
Certus to its wide network of customers as a global launch partner.
As a valued Iridium partner with more than four decades of
experience in the maritime market, Satcom Global will bring its
value added approach to the Iridium Certus rollout. “Iridium’s
signature full global coverage, coupled with the enhanced capacity
and speed of Iridium Certus, has created a real buzz in the
marketplace,” said Graeme Gordon, global commercial director,
Satcom Global. “We’re excited to bring this new service to our
diverse maritime customer base.”
An Iridium partner since 2015, Arion is a trusted supplier of
marine and offshore safety systems and engineering services. Arion
brings a strong footprint and expertise in Asian markets and will
provide service as a regional Iridium Certus maritime launch
partner.
Enabled by the $3 billion Iridium NEXT satellite constellation,
Iridium Certus will provide high-definition voice capabilities,
alongside enterprise-grade broadband functionality, covering all of
the earth’s oceans. This investment leverages the inherent
advantages of Iridium’s lowearth orbit (LEO) satellite
constellation, to deliver 100-percent global satellite broadband to
the maritime market, catering to the needs of the ‘connected ship’
environment.
“Iridium Certus is creating a marketplace that brings choice and
innovation, which is something the industry has been craving,” said
Wouter Deknopper, vice president and general manager of maritime at
Iridium. “For many years we have been listening to the market, and
we know that mariners are often forced to sacrifice quality for
bandwidth, or vice versa, due to high prices. But soon we
will be delivering a standardized solution that helps solve this
persistent issue. Iridium Certus is a game changer and is directly
responding to the feedback we hear from our industry partners and
customers.”
Iridium Certus is planned for commercial availability in
mid-2018, and Iridium plans to announce additional maritime service
providers in the coming weeks. Iridium NEXT is the Company’s
next-generation satellite constellation, which will replace its
existing network. To date, there have been four successful
Iridium NEXT launches, deploying more than half of the new
constellation. Four additional launches are planned in 2018.
For more information about Iridium Certus, please visit
https://www.iridium.com/company/industryleadership/iridiumcertus.
For more information about Iridium NEXT, please visit
www.IridiumNEXT.com.
About Iridium Communications Inc.
Iridium is the only mobile voice and data satellite
communications network that spans the entire globe. Iridium enables
connections between people, organizations and assets to and from
anywhere, in real time. Together with its ecosystem of partner
companies, Iridium delivers an innovative and rich portfolio of
reliable solutions for markets that require truly global
communications. The company has a major development program
underway for its next-generation network — Iridium NEXT. Iridium
Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Va., U.S.A., and
its common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under
the ticker symbol IRDM. For more information about Iridium
products, services and partner solutions,
visit www.iridium.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not purely historical
facts may constitute forward-looking statements as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company has
based these statements on its current expectations and the
information currently available to us. Forward-looking statements
in this presentation include statements regarding the deployment
and capabilities of the Iridium NEXT constellation and products and
services to be offered over the constellation, including IoT and
Iridium Certus, as well as the potential market for such products
and services. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the
words “anticipates,” “may,” “can,” “believes,” “expects,”
“projects,” “intends,” “likely,” “will,” “to be” and other
expressions that are predictions or indicate future events, trends
or prospects. These forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the
actual results, performance or achievements of Iridium to differ
materially from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to,
uncertainties regarding potential delays in the Iridium NEXT
deployment, the development and functionality of Iridium NEXT and
related products and services, and the company’s ability to
maintain the health, capacity and content of its satellite
constellation, as well as general industry and economic conditions,
and competitive, legal, governmental and technological factors.
Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those indicated by the forward-looking statements include
those factors listed under the caption “Risk Factors” in the
Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February
23, 2017, as well as other filings Iridium makes with the SEC from
time to time. There is no assurance that Iridium’s expectations
will be realized. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties
materialize, or if Iridium's underlying assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected,
estimated or projected. Iridium's forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date of this press release, and Iridium undertakes
no obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Press Contact:
Jordan HassinIridium Communications Inc.+1 (646)
872-0067Jordan.Hassin@iridium.comTwitter: @IridiumComm
Investor Contact:
Kenneth LevyIridium Communications Inc.+1 (703)
287-7570Ken.Levy@iridium.comTwitter: @IridiumIR
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