High-Speed Internet Goes to Sea

Teekay has recently signed a deal with Connexion by Boeing (CBB) to equip up to 90 its ships with high-speed connectivity technology, replacing dial-up connectivity with a global high-speed communications system. Teekay expects that their customers will benefit from a faster flow of information from ship to shore, and by being able to access data in real time while vessels are at sea. The system will also benefit sea staff, enhancing e-mail and other services connecting them to their families, and even bringing in television signals for the first time.

Under an agreement to become Boeing’s maritime launch customer, Connexion by Boeing’s satellite-based high-speed Internet service will be fitted on 50 vessels during the first phase, with an option for 40 more over the next three to four years. The service will provide data rates of up to 256 kilobytes per second from the vessel to the satellite, and data rates of up to five megabytes per second from the satellite to the vessel. The high data rate enables multiple, simultaneous users to access the Internet, corporate intranet and e-mail, and allows access to news, weather or destination information via a simple portal interface.