Inmarsat opens new digital communications centre in Ålesund

The move comes as Inmarsat continues to drive the digitalisation of shipping by connecting vessels to its high-speed broadband Fleet Xpress service, and through partnerships with software providers in its Certified Applications Provider (CAP) programme.
The NMCC is part of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology campus where academics, digital service providers and commercial companies are working closely together in the fast-moving process of shipping and offshore digitalisation. A whole range of new applications has been made possible since Inmarsat launched Fleet Xpress in March 2016. More than 3,000 ships are now connected to the service and Inmarsat has contract commitments covering a total of more than 10,000 systems.  
Commenting on the new facility, Inmarsat Maritime President, Ronald Spithout, said: “Ålesund opens a new chapter for the CAP programme and Inmarsat’s strategy to work with third parties on content-rich applications to populate the digital maritime world enabled by Fleet Xpress. We welcome all partners, whether their motivation is to develop greater operational efficiency, improve crew welfare, IT and security, or regulatory compliance. In addition to creating new revenue streams for partners, application-triggered bandwidth allows users to choose to dedicate connectivity to specific efficiency measures, or for the application to trigger bandwidth ‘dynamically’ and transparently.”