MIDDLETOWN, R.I., June 2, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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.