Astrium Services will showcase their latest innovations in maritime communications at the upcoming Seatrade Middle East 2012 in Dubai. Astrium Services is the 'satellite services' unit of Astrium, comprised of four business divisions: Business Communications, Government Communications, Satcom Systems and Solutions, and GEO-Information Services.

The Vizada Group, including its affiliates Marlink, Vizada Networks and TDcom, joined Astrium to form a leading provider in fully managed satellite services with a global reach in diverse industry sectors.

The new Astrium Services Business Communications entity will host all commercial satcom activities of Astrium Services, serving three main markets: Maritime, Enterprises and Aero.

In the maritime market, the company will continue providing services in the same successful structure as today: indirect through the existing, well-established service provider channel whereas Marlink will remain an independent commercial organisation focusing on maritime end customers.

This clear distribution strategy ensures that partners and customers in the maritime transport, offshore, oil and gas and passenger/cruise vessel sectors benefit from the most extensive multi-technology service portfolio, combining the complete range of satellite connectivity services in L, C, Ku and Ka-band with the largest range of innovative solutions, optimized for the specific customer requirements of each sector.

Tore Morten Olsen, Head of Maritime Services at Astrium Services, explains, "For our regional customers it is very much business as usual.

The overall sentiment in the Middle East and Africa region is that of confidence with such a strong and global satellite services player at the helm. With Astrium as an expert in space and satellite technologies, we are in a position to provide our partners and customers with superior communications solutions and the best choice of a multi-technology services portfolio."

Astrium Services will showcase its global maritime VSAT service at Seatrade Middle East, developed with a view to making maritime VSAT easier to install and more accessible to a wider range of vessels including medium-size transportation, fishing and leisure boats.

The Ku-band antenna comes in a range of sizes at 60cm, 80cm and 1 meter, and is delivered pre-assembled for more simple installation. Additional hardware providers will produce the antenna further down the line to provide companies a more complete choice.

Customers benefit from a 10 GB data package at speeds of 1.5Mbps. In terms of coverage, the Ku area has been significantly extended in the Indian oceans recently, delivering the most extended VSAT coverage for increasingly international maritime traffic.