Company:
Marine Atlantic, a passenger and commercial marine transportation ferry service between Newfoundland and the Canadian mainland.Vendor:
Telesat, broadband and broadcast satellite company.Project:
Marine eCommerce Application (MeCA) project, bringing wireless connectivity to the ships with applications including VoIP, facsimile, high speed Internet access, ATM transactions, distance learning, and tele-tourism.
People often welcome access to technology from the most unexpected places.
For instance, it probably wouldn't occur to many people in the land-locked areas of Canada that a ferry might be a good place to use the Internet. But ask someone on a ship that's out to sea for more than two hours a day if they'd like the option to check their e-mail, use an ATM machine, or even engage in distance education programs on the water, and you'd probably get an enthusiastic response.
At least that's what satellite company Telesat was told in 2002 in the wake of its first trial project, called Marine Integrated Service Technology (MIST), for the Marine Atlan,ic ferry company. As a result, the company is back with a second project trial for Marine eCommerce Applications (MeCA) that will run on the original boat (MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood), plus two new Marine Atlantic ships (MV Caribou, and MV Leif Erricson) and two boats operated by another ferry company, the Woodward Group (MV Robert Bond and MV Northern Ranger).
Funded partially by the Canadian and European Space Agencies, the MeCA project is a partnership between Telesat, Collaborative network Technologies Inc., Marine Atlantic, Woodward Group of Companies, Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland, and SmartLabrador.
The trial, which run from June to September, will provide VoIP, facsimile, high speed Internet access, ATM transactions, distance learning, and vessel tracking via a GPS system.
"We looked at where we thought the business case was available, that's when we said 'let's focus on the e-commerce side,'" Marine Atlantic CIO Murray Hupman says.
On top of e-commerce applications, e-learning programs will allow crew members to upgrade their certification onboard the ship when they aren't busy with other duties, rather than taking a week off to go to an institution on land.
Meanwhile, tele-tourism kiosks will give tourism companies exclusive rights to advertise their services to passengers. Already Marine Atlantic has found 300 interested tourism operators in Newfoundland alone.
Like the MIST project, MeCA will connect via satellite to a hub in Montreal. From there users can access all the terrestrial networks (such as the Internet) for all of their regular applications. The kiosks and other related equipment on each ship will be connected as a shipboard local area network (LAN). Wireless access points will allow passengers and crew to tap in with their laptops. Each ship will also contain half a dozen computers and a "cybercafe" with jacks for those without wireless capabilities.
The installation phase takes about two to three weeks per ship. While the setup is designed to operate smoothly on its own while at sea, crew will be trained to take care of any technical glitches along the way.
As Ken Gordon, director of broadband technology for Telesat, explains it, there are several good reasons why ship owners are paying attention to his company's trials. "The economic proposition to ship owners - there are a few. One is new revenue, they're looking at new models where you could charge - for example, for Internet access, ATM transactions, or long distance voice calls. In other cases it's a promotion to use their service, you're on board and they offer all these capabilities, so it's marketing for getting people on board. And then there's the crew, to attract crew on board if you can offer some of these services like distance education that's popular."
For a company like Marine Atlantic, which transports about 500,000 passengers yearly in the area between North Sydney and Port aux Basques (a five- to six-hour crossing) and North Sydney and Argentia (a 16-hour voyage), Internet connectivity also seems like an attractive option purely from a customer service perspective. In fact, it is as a result of customer feedback that Telesat added several new services to the ones it provided in the initial MIST trial.
The MIST trial prompted Telesat to experiment with two new bands as a basis for its satellite connection. In response to concern over the more costly 2.4-metre antenna, it has moved to a new band which only uses a 1.2-metre antenna, making the proposition more economically viable for the four new ships.
While this is Telesat's first foray into the nautical market, the company is known for finding and addressing remote connectivity needs via satellite. Previously, the company has engaged in distance education, ehealth, and tele-justice (which allows charges for criminal offences to be officially laid within the legally required 48 hours in remote areas via satellite). Mr. Gordon anticipates that the rest of the marine market will soon recognize the value of satellite connectivity. "There's a market out there of several hundred vessels around North America that are out to sea more than two hours, so we're looking at this as a good commercial opportunity for Telesat."
Once Telesat's trials end in October, ship owners will have to decide whether to keep investing in their newfound connectivity. From Mr. Hupman's reaction, it seems that Marine Atlantic is already onboard. "We've changed a lot of our physical infrastructure to accommodate the services," says Mr. Hupman. "We've installed kiosks and ATMs, we've cut walls out, we've done a fair bit of work to receive this equipment and facilities. We see it as a definite customer service opportunity for us." Passengers also seem to be pleased with the new offering, adds Mr. Hupman. "Customers are big-time in favour of it — most people tell us 'it's about time you got into the twentieth century.'"
