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60 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • SEPTEMBER 2014 demand and receive similar internet ac- cess and options as they might enjoy on land. Meet IP-MobileCast In mid-May 2014 KVH went ‘live’ with the new IP-MobileCast, a new service designed to make it affordable for mariners to receive a wide range of content. While Dodez would not com- ment on buy-in to date, he did note that “We’re in the process of signing up sub- scribers, and we have announced 4,000 VSAT terminals in the fi eld already who all can receive this new service.” IP-MobileCast and services like it are designed to bring entertainment op- tions onboard the ship that heretofore could only be found on land. Onboard treatment of the seafarer has come full circle in recent years, driven by legisla- tion such as MLC2006 but perhaps more so by the basic need to attract and retain talented mariners from an increasingly shallow pool. KVH and Dodez believe that services such as IP-MobileCast can help to do that. “When we look at it we look at it from the customer perspective and we think there is a big human resources require- ment: the Crew Morale requirement in the Maritime Labor Convention,” said Dodez. “Previously for the crew we had internet café and calling; now we’re adding movies and TV, we’re adding sports and we’re adding news and music to round out the Crew Morale offering. When we’re talking to the HR manager, we have the solution for crew morale.” The IP-MobileCast service utilizes multicasting technology to deliver large amounts of content to many ships at once. With the new service content is delivered over the top of the network so there is no charge for the delivery, only for the content itself; and the multicast- ing transmission does not affect the ves- sel’s mini-VSAT Broadband onboard data speed. Also, the service ensures dig- ital rights management (DRM) of copy- righted material, such as Hollywood movies and television programs; and the content is delivered using forward error correction to minimize burden on the mini-VSAT Broadband network. Content available via IP-MobileCast is provided by KVH Media Group, a pro- vider of commercially licensed news and entertainment content to the maritime, hotel, and retail industries. While the connection and the content are the critical component, KVH’s new media server which was launched at Posidonia 2014 adds brawn to the sys- tem. The new media server, which re- tails for $4995, has a terabyte drive to start and is upgradable, has the power to store all of the broadcast content, a mass MARITIME COMMUNICATION Jim Dodez, SVP Marketing and Strategic Planning, KVH Industries, Inc. KVH Middletown Manufacturing MR #9 (58-65).indd 60 9/3/2014 10:56:59 AM
