GVF Maritime Satcom Forum and InterManager Co-ordinate Joint Programme for 6TH International Conference 'Broadband Maritime Offshore & Oceanic 2012' 9th January.

Through an initiative designed to optimise the use of broadband solutions for seafarers, the GVF Maritime Satcom Forum is collaborating with InterManager, the international ship-management association, to stage a joint conference programme involving leading representatives of the two sectors.

Entitled, 'Broadband Maritime Offshore & Oceanic 2012: Information & Communications Networking Mobility South East Asia', the joint programme will take place on 14th-15th February 2012 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore, where the GVF-EMP partnership's 6th conference on maritime communications will feature a dialogue that offers extended 'Maritime Insights,' discussion of satellite broadband-supported information and communications technologies (ICTs), applications that fulfil mission-critical needs in the maritime sector, and shipping industry discussion of its Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Standards.

The conference is being held in association with Inmarsat (Principal Sponsor) and Hughes (Guest Sponsor). It will afford an opportunity to both maritime communications solution providers and shipping industry end-users, to further their dialogue on how the satellite industry can best match solutions to the growing requirements of the maritime sector for broadband-based applications.

InterManager's Secretary General, Capt. Kuba Szymanski said, "The Shipping KPI Standard proposes a global shipping industry standard for defining, measuring and reporting information on operational performance in order to:

(1) Boost the internal performance of companies engaged in ship operation activities; and,

(2) Provide an efficient communication platform for relaying ship operation performance information to internal and external stakeholders. The parallel discussion at this conference of the technology, services and applications offered by the satellite communication sector is an overwhelmingly obvious synergy and opportunity."

Martin Jarrold, GVF Chief of International Programme Development, added "The collaborative relationship between the GVF Maritime SatCom Forum - a vertical market industry sub-group of the Global VSAT Forum - and InterManager began in early 2011. In September 2011, Capt. Szymanski addressed a meeting of the Maritime Satcom Forum in London, where arrangements were confirmed for a deeper collaboration with the well-established GVF-EMP Broadband Maritime series of conferences. We have now advanced our collaboration to implement these arrangements."

In connection with the collaborative conference programme, Paul Stahl, Managing Partner, EMP noted that, "The technology of communications and the exchange of information which it facilitates, has undergone an accelerated development in recent years, and with the availability of advanced communications at sea it is now the case that the maritime communications environment has expanded to include not only narrowband, but also an increasing variety of broadband solutions.

"The technologies and services to support the increasingly sophisticated information and communications applications solutions required - just as much afloat as on land - are becoming more widely evident in the communications marketplace."

Mr. Stahl continued, "Now, the co-location of the programmes of the two Associations and industries offers essential advantages, including the advanced networking opportunities between representatives of the two industry sectors that are created, a shared conference dialogue on topics of overlapping interest, and, in certain key areas, the opportunity to fully leverage the inter-dependence of those topics. These facets extend the rationale of inter-industry collaboration firmly into the conference/meeting space."

The conference programme will be presented in two Streams - Stream One on 14th February, and Stream Two on 15th February.

On 14th February, comprising Stream One which will be chaired by Mr. Jarrold, will be sessions on the following topics:

• The Maritime Communications Marketplace: Understanding the Bigger Picture
• Segmenting Maritime Sector Communications Services: Who Wants What and Where?
• Evolving the "Unlimited Broadband" Bandwidth Equation: New Evolutionary Trends in C,
• Ku, Ka & L Frequency Footprints for the Maritime Space
• Maritime Communications Platforms: From ICT for the Ocean-Going Office on the Bridge to ICT for Crew Training, Welfare & Retention
• Efficient Fleet Management in the 21st Century: Why is Broadband the Key?
• Regulation of Communications Inshore & on the High Seas: Who Makes the Rules? WhoEnforces the Rules?
• Evolution of Maritime Satcoms Terminal Equipment: Supply-Side Innovation for an Expanding Market
• New Maritime Antenna Technologies & Installation Training Resources: The Multi-Band Challenge in a Stabilised Market
• Safety & Distress Maritime Communications Systems & the Broadband Environment

The following day, comprising Stream Two, will be an agenda to be chaired by Capt. Szymanski, which will include posing the key question: "What is stopping your company from measuring your own performance?" which is premised on the following Aims and Objectives:

(1) To provide information on the Shipping Industry KPIs;

(2) To introduce to the concepts of the InterManager Shipping KPIs;

(3) To provide assistance in "getting started" with the KPIs;

(4) To tackle myths surrounding KPIs; and,

(5) To exchange ideas concerning Shipping Industry KPIs.

Source: The Journal of Commerce