Marlink antenna. Photo: Marlink.

Marlink has expanded its Sealink Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) portfolio with new service plans specially designed for the business needs of maritime customers. Marlink created the new Sealink Business to meet the operational and crew communication requirements for maritime customers of all segments and features a choice of Committed Information Rates (CIR) to guarantee constant minimum bandwidth at all times.

According to Marlink, the service plans enable digitalization of vessel operations by ensuring fixed bandwidth is always available for applications and processes that contribute to more efficiency throughout the shipping value chain.

With seven CIR levels available from 32 to 256 Kbps, in addition to a burstable Maximum Information Rate (MIR) up to 2Mbps, Sealink Business provides bandwidth that will always be present, ensuring access to business-critical applications at the defined speed, regardless of data consumption of other users.

SeaLink Business is available as a regional or global service on a range of antenna sizes from 60 cm to 1 meter. In addition to user-definable fixed speeds, the service also features two to four voice lines and support including remote access for reduced downtime and less onboard intervention, using XChange Universal Remote Access (URA).

With full integration of XChange, Sealink Business customers can access features such as XChange Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), enabling crew to use personal devices on board; XChange Media for daily news and sport bulletins; and XChange Telemed for managing illness/injuries at sea, meeting the latest Internal Labor Organization Maritime Labor Convention (ILO/MLC) and International Maritime Organization Standards of Training Certification and Watchkeeping (IMO/STCW) labor regulations for crew health and medical treatment. XChange also offers the ability to set policies over separated crew and corporate networks so that business-critical traffic always remains prioritized.

Sealink Business users get access to the full range of Marlink value-added services, including Portal360, Marlink’s online customer portal for service monitoring; Universal Card for prepaid telephone and data usage; Local Numbers, which enable calls to vessels from shore for the same cost as local calls; and Virtual Private Network (VPN) for secure connections between vessels and land offices. Sealink Business users can take advantage of the SkyFile software suite including SkyFile Mail and SkyFile Anti-Virus.