CASE STUDY
“The maritime industry
is undergoing its own
digital transformation.”
consumption, speed or maintenance
issues, for example. shore and is able to transform them into
branch offices at sea.”
Maritime Connect also delivers
innovative maritime bandwidth
management and optimisation
features. It manages voice, video
and data in limited bandwidth and
challenging weather conditions and
prevents cyberattacks thanks to an
integrated suite of security features. René Kofod-Olsen, Chief Executive
Officer, Topaz, said: “The maritime
industry is undergoing its own digital
transformation, from digital ports to
vessel management. We operate in a
unique context spanning ship to shore
operations, with the majority of our
people based offshore. By enhancing
the communications capabilities of
our vessels, we are able to synchronise
and manage our integrated business
operations more effectively and ensure
our crew can easily access the Internet
for all their business communication
needs, as well as connecting them to
family and friends and transforming the
onboard experience.”
Orange is uniquely able to support
maritime digital transformation
by combining many different
technologies and networks – both
onshore and offshore – with end-to-
end integration and in-house satellite
connectivity. Shipping companies,
IT managers, captains and the crew
can control access to data and voice
services on board vessels or remotely
from the shore.
Luc Serviant, vice president, Middle East
and Africa at Orange Business Services,
said: “Today Orange is working across all
sectors to help enterprises to respond to
the demands of digital transformation.
Historically in the maritime sector,
limited connectivity and the need for
multiple communications providers
has meant the exclusion of fleets from
the centralised business processes,
ultimately resulting in reduced
productivity. With Maritime Connect,
Topaz can integrate its ships with the
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Intelligent CIO spoke to Kris Vedat,
Head of IT for Topaz, to find out more
about the solution.
How does the platform increase the
efficiency of the fleet?
Digitisation is an important investment
for any modern fleet, benefiting
customer, company and crew. It
removes the need for many manual
processes making the crew more
efficient and allowing better visibility for
the shore staff for planned maintenance
activities, fuel consumption, average
speeds etc. Digitisation gives us the
“Topaz takes
cyber security
seriously,
treating a vessel
as an office and
ensuring the
same protection
is applied.”
ability to collect and then process data
in real time and having access to this
information enables us to be more
proactive in our approach to planned
and preventative maintenance and
allows us to identify potential problems,
such as an equipment malfunction, in
real time too.
How does it lower costs?
Fuel consumption and vessel downtime
will be positively impacted. For example,
we will be able to optimise vessel
routing and speed as well as identifying
abnormal fuel consumption in real time.
How does it improve the onboard
experience of the crew?
The welfare of our crew is imperative
and this platform will allow them to
more easily stay in touch with friends
and family via instant messages and
video call technology such as Skype,
and with the outside world in general
through better internet availability and
the ability to update media archives
onboard, replicating an airline-style
media system.
How well does the concept of the
ships being ‘offices at sea’ work
in practice?
All our vessels are treated as a branch
office with the same access to
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