Photo: Speedcast

Speedcast has secured a five-year contract with Stena Drilling to expand its communications service with a new solution designed to maximize operational effectiveness and support the digital transformation of Stena’s global fleet. Speedcast announced the deal April 13. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

The company has worked with Stena Drilling for years. Now, Speedcast said it will provide advanced Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) modem technology; multi-orbit and tri-band antenna systems; SD-WAN, out-of-band management and telemetry applications; and an enhanced design to maximize LTE coverage. 

“Our team is keenly focused on investing in innovation and technology for our globally dispersed fleet,” said Ian Fraser, IT manager at Stena Drilling. “To accomplish our goals, it is paramount that we partner with a technology advocate that will work in collaboration with our team to continue enhancing the connectivity solutions we believe will maximize our operational effectiveness.” 

In a recent interview with Via Satellite, Speedcast’s new CEO Joe Spytek spoke about how the company is driving efficiencies with technology to future-proof customer networks. 

“There’s a multitude of new constellations coming, and customers are confused about LEOs and MEOs. What we need to do is deploy a technology that future-proofs our solutions, and future-proofs their networks,” Spytek said. “We have a new concept of software-defined service delivery and software-defined networks. It’s a satellite-enabled take on SD-WAN. We’re starting to deploy the technology and test it with our high-end customers in cruise and energy.”