Complex IT maintenance requires joined up solutions

Packaged tools are the only way to ensure that shipboard networks function as they should, says Vizada’s solutions director, Reinhold Lueppen

Gone are the days when a ship’s network infrastructure consisted of a solitary e-mail terminal. Modern vessels are often equipped with multiple PCs, connected to each other, linked to a shore-based headquarters and the Internet. While such connectivity delivers benefits operationally and in terms of crew welfare, it also brings an increased IT maintenance burden.

Someone has to maintain the router, the crew e-mail and web browsing software and its billing system, as well as the anti-virus software and data compression. According to Vizada’s solutions director, Reinhold Lueppen, all this is reaching a point where it is almost too much to handle.

Traditionally, the onus has been on the operator’s IT administrator to seek out a collection of task-specific utilities to perform these tasks. “This can be time consuming and is often frustrating,” he maintains. “While there are various individual ‘component’ utilities out there, they often do not work well together. Even if they are compatible today, it is always uncertain whether that will remain the case one or two years down the line.”

Furthermore, few networking tools are set up to pay attention to data throughput because they are intended for terrestrial deployment, where it can safely be assumed that connectivity is a limitless and virtually free resource. However, this is hardly the case for a ship-based network operating over a satellite link. To prevent airtime costs spiralling out of control, it is necessary to install additional systems for measuring and managing data throughput as well as providing barriers to protect against unwanted traffic.

Having spoken to its ship operator customers and identified their needs, Vizada is now offering a packaged solution that pulls all these utilities together and ensures they work in harmony. It is currently providing one such package to a large German containership operator. Last year that company embarked on a programme to equip some 80 vessels with broadband terminals and subsequently offer crew improved voice and Internet browsing services, as well as facilitate remote IT maintenance.

Mr Lueppen observes: “Remote IT maintenance, where a shore-based engineer can take control of a desktop on a ship as his own, is often a driving factor for deploying broadband. A 60-minute session logging into a ship’s PC to fix some faulty software would cost between US$100-200 over FleetBroadband. Taking into account flights and hotels, it would be difficult to send an engineer to do the same job in person for anywhere for less than US$1,000.”

At first, the intention was to use VSAT for core connectivity, but this was deemed to be too expensive. Instead, the container ship operator eventually settled on a dual Iridium OpenPort/Inmarsat FleetBroadband installation. “Though VSAT vendors talk about unlimited airtime, they are often subject to fair usage policies. Meanwhile, both Iridium and Inmarsat are now offering competitive airtime packages,” notes Mr Lueppen.

Later, the operator noticed that some crew members were downloading as much as 600-700Mb of data each night using the service, and consequently, generating substantial airtime bills. To prevent this, it then needed to deploy a system for monitoring bandwidth and, when necessary, blocking unwanted traffic.

Continues Mr Lueppen: “What seemed a simple undertaking at the outset was becoming increasingly complex. The devil, as they say, is in the detail. It was not long afterwards that they approached us.”

Mr Lueppen revealed to MEC that Vizada is also developing a new compression system, which he says will in effect increase downloadable data per dollar by a factor of four. The system will combine traditional http stream compression with algorithms for images, as well as add-ons for blocking webpage advertisements and video streaming.

Ad-blocking is a good example of ‘hidden complexity’. “It is simple to install in isolation but can create headaches when combined with other IP traffic filtering systems, such as those for domain blocking or filtering e-mails, because everything is processed on the same server. Our IT experts spent considerable time and energy ensuring that everything works together. It is unrealistic to expect ship operators to devote similar resources since their primary concern is running their ships. In effect, we are relieving them of this burden.”

This is especially true of small to medium sized operators, who are unlikely to have a specialist IT engineer available. Even when they do, he is normally tasked with looking after all ‘electronic’ systems, including core ship communications as well as bridge and navigational/safety systems. “He does not have time to tweak software and network configurations in order to solve obscure compatibility issues.”

However, not all ship operators are created equal. Vizada claims that its approach can also help the world’s largest shipping companies and counts names such as Shell, CMA CGM, Cosco and AP Møller-Maersk amongst its client base. “Larger organisations tend to want more end-to-end connectivity with their fleet, both at head and local branch offices. Because all the data traffic from their ships enters our infrastructure so bandwidth can be monitored, it is possible to deliver it to their corporate network gateway without routing anything through the public Internet,” explains Mr Lueppen. MEC