KVH Industries, Inc., (Nasdaq:KVHI) announced today that Applied
Weather Technology, Inc., (AWT) has become the WEATHERlinkTM launch
partner for KVH's IP-MobileCastTM content delivery service. KVH
will use IP-MobileCast, a breakthrough service utilizing
multicasting technology, to deliver AWT's high-resolution weather
and ocean data to ships at sea for a low fixed monthly fee. AWT is
a marine industry leader in weather forecasting and ship routing.
The AWT data, which includes forecasts with wind, wave, visibility,
and currents with tidal stream data, will be updated up to four
times per day to help ships optimize voyage planning and safety.
The IP-MobileCast service will support AWT's recent new release,
BonVoyage System 7 (BVS 7), a powerful onboard voyage optimization
system. With more than 5,000 ships already under contract, AWT is
the voyage optimization software market leader. KVH's content
delivery service will also provide AWT's frequent, detailed port
vicinity forecasts as well as pirate attack information and rogue
wave forecasts.
"Voyage planning and optimization are of paramount importance
for mariners' safety and also to meet new MARPOL regulations that
limit greenhouse gas emissions from ships," says Martin Kits van
Heyningen, KVH chief executive officer. "Due to these new
regulations, shipping companies are facing new challenges, both
with requirements to travel at slower speeds to reduce emissions,
and with requirements for use of high-cost bunker in many coastal
regions. AWT's weather data and voyage planning services affordably
delivered with IP-MobileCast will be of great value to help ship
officers optimize their voyage plans."
The WEATHERlink content delivery is scheduled to begin beta
testing this month and to be commercially available by September.
All installed KVH TracPhone® V-IP series satellite communications
systems will support this new content after a free over-the-air
software upgrade. The IP-MobileCast service has been live since
May, delivering a wide range of news and entertainment content,
such as daily digital newspapers, television news, sports updates,
music, new-release blockbuster movies, and TV shows and series, via
KVH's mini-VSAT Broadband network.
"IP-MobileCast's WEATHERlink gives our customers the autonomy to
make informed decisions at sea, to optimize passage planning, and
to take the ship's current operating factors into consideration,"
says Richard Brown, AWT vice president for products and services.
"We're enabling BVS 7 to automatically open incoming weather data
files in the background so that they're ready to go and the user
can get to work immediately. Not only will we use IP-MobileCast to
deliver wind, sea state, and currents with tidal stream data, we'll
also use it for future BVS software versions."
The IP-MobileCast service utilizes multicasting technology to
deliver large amounts of content to many ships at once, overcoming
the prohibitively high satellite communications costs typically
charged to deliver files for individual use. The new service
(patent pending) is notable for technological advancements that
enable the content to be delivered over the top of KVH's mini-VSAT
Broadband network, while also ensuring that the multicasting
transmission does not affect the vessel's mini-VSAT Broadband
onboard data speed.
KVH's strategy for adding more operations content for
IP-MobileCast delivery is to establish partnerships with leading
applications providers in the maritime industry. Other types of
operations content that are planned for IP-MobileCast delivery
include weekly electronic chart database updates from Jeppesen,
KVH's CHARTlinkTM launch collaborator.
"AWT is staffed by former ship officers, meteorologists working
24/7, and software developers codifying their knowledge into
optimizers that handle real-world complications such as emission
control areas and traffic separation schemes," says Robert Hopkins,
Jr., KVH director of IP-MobileCast services. "They're an incubator
for developing new ways to improve fuel efficiency, which is the
most important operational problem facing ship owners today."
Note to Editors: Additional details about WEATHERlink will be
available at the KVH stand (1,218, Metropolitan Expo) at Posidonia
2014, Athens, from June 3-6. For more information about
IP-MobileCast and WEATHERlink, please visit the IP-MobileCast
website (www.ipmobilecast.com). For more information about KVH's
mini-VSAT Broadband solution, please visit the KVH website
(www.minivsat.com/vip). For more information about Applied Weather
Technology's products and services, please visit the AWT website
(www.awtworldwide.com). High-resolution photos of IP-MobileCast and
WEATHERlink are available at the KVH Press Room Image Library
(www.kvh.com/press-room/image-library.aspx) for download and
editorial use.
About Applied Weather Technology, Inc.
AWT is a leading provider of shore-based ship route advisory
services, onboard voyage management systems, and fleet management
systems. Its award-winning products and services are designed to
help ship owners, charterers, operators, fleet managers, and
captains identify the safest, most time-efficient or fuel-efficient
routes for their fleets. Its products include onboard voyage
management systems BVS, Seaware EnRoute, and EnRoute Live, and
shore-based Fleet Decision Support System (FleetDSS). AWT is
headquartered in California's Silicon Valley, with worldwide
offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, New York, New Jersey,
Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Korea. AWT is a StormGeo
company. The StormGeo Group is headquartered in Bergen, Norway, and
operates out of 22 offices in 14 countries.
About KVH Industries, Inc.
KVH Industries is a leading provider of in-motion satellite TV
and communications systems, having designed, manufactured, and sold
more than 175,000 mobile satellite antennas for applications on
vessels, vehicles, and aircraft. KVH is also a leading news, music,
and entertainment content provider to many industries including
maritime, retail, and leisure. KVH is based in Middletown, RI, with
research, development, and manufacturing operations in Middletown,
RI, and Tinley Park, IL. The company's global presence includes
subsidiaries in Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Cyprus, Denmark, Japan,
the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, and the United Kingdom.
This release contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, for
example, statements regarding the timing and occurrence of new
service rollout plans; the anticipated strategic relationship
between Jeppesen and KVH; the functionality, characteristics,
quality, and performance of KVH's products, services, and
technology; as well as customer demand, preferences, requirements,
and expectations. The actual results could differ materially from
the statements made in this press release. Factors that may cause
such differences include, but are not limited to, potential
unanticipated technical or legal impediments that could delay or
impede service rollout plans or expected strategic relationships;
the need for, or delays in, qualification of products to customer
or regulatory standards; unanticipated declines or changes in
customer demand, due to competitive, economic, seasonal, and other
factors, particularly with respect to the TracPhone V-IP series
products; unanticipated increases in media costs or loss of
distribution rights; access to sufficient and uninterrupted
satellite capacity to provide the service; risks associated with
the delivery or performance of critical hardware; and changes in
the costs and capabilities of competing offerings. These and other
risk factors are discussed in KVH's most recent Form 10-Q filed
with the SEC. KVH does not assume any obligation to update its
forward-looking statements to reflect new information or
developments.
KVH, IP-MobileCast, WEATHERlink, TracPhone, and CHARTlink are
trademarks of KVH Industries, Inc. mini-VSAT Broadband is a service
mark of KVH Industries, Inc. All other trademarks are the property
of their respective companies.
CONTACT: Jill Connors
Media & Communications Manager
KVH Industries, Inc.
401-851-3824
jconnors@kvh.com
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