As the convention comes to a close, Offshore Communications 2009 has left a profound impression on me that maritime, shipping and oil and gas end-users are just as, if not more diverse than commercial or land-based enterprise customers.
   While the applications are pretty much the same and resemble much of the technology that has already saturated other business and government sectors, the bandwidth and network needs are greatly varied. The physical environment and circumstances of doing business offshore presents a challenge for end-users – whatever solution they choose will be expensive and require long-term technical and financial investment. The only consensus is cost.
   The three most popular solutions to cater to these customers are – connectivity by satellite alone, by fiber alone and by a hybrid network construct of both satellite and terrestrial. While oil and gas companies like to explore all the options, there is clear bias and preference towards particular solutions, which leads to exaggerated claims and complaints. Most of these rumors come from customers who just haven’t kept up with the latest technology developments that providers can offer.
  However, the problem may also be that providers have become too comfortable with a specific type of customer and may need to explore changing up their strategies to expand their base. From the people I’ve met here, I can comfortably say that there is not one type of oil and gas company or shipping outfit or any related business and they’re all listening in for a different set of keywords.