Wireless World: Never lost at sea

Your wireless Internet connection -- dear workaholic -- will never be lost at sea. Whether you are sailing the Caribbean, the Mediterranean or the open ocean, your wireless broadband will continually be connected to the office, family or friends -- an electronic lifeline back to the mainland. Cruise-ship operators and maritime telecom providers are aggressively moving forward with networks for travelers, experts tell UPI's Wireless World.

"I can't tell you how many times my clients ask me if they will have cellular coverage and Internet access at a resort, on a cruise or on an island during vacation," said Mary Pace, director of corporate accounts at GlobalStar Travel Management Corp.

Last week SeaMobile Inc., a developer of at-sea wireless, data and Internet communications, disclosed that the Federal Communications Commission had approved its acquisition of Maritime Telecommunications Network Inc., a satellite-based broadband purveyor based in Miramar, Fla.

"Cruise travelers can take their own cell phones, BlackBerry devices, and laptops, and read their hometown papers (online), watch live TV, access their bank accounts through onboard ATMs and much more," said William D. Marks, chief executive officer of SeaMobile, which is based in Seattle. "It's truly a new day at sea."

These offerings are apparently in response to market demand. A survey by Management Recruiters International, one of the leading headhunting firms in the United States, found that of 730 executives polled, a whopping 47 percent refused to use all of their allotted vacation time -- due to job pressures. Another 35 percent said they wouldn't even think of taking a vacation, as they had too much to do at the office.

Since seven-figure executives are a prime target of the travel industry, the industry has created a way to let its customers take their office with them, relieving their anxiety about completing important projects while they play shuffleboard and drink pina coladas on the deck of the Love Boat and her sister ships.

Airlines have been executing this same strategy for about 18 months now -- with some significant results. An in-flight Internet service was launched by a major airplane maker in May 2004 and is now offered on more than 180 routes around the world on airlines like Lufthansa, SAS, El Al and others.

A survey released in recent weeks by Boeing indicates that of 3,200 global business travelers surveyed, 83 percent said the availability of wireless connections to the Internet aboard an aircraft was having a significant impact on their choice of carrier. The primary reason for 44 percent of respondents was to remain productive during transcontinental or transoceanic flights, according to the survey, conducted with Burke Research.

The survey also determined that 90 percent of respondents accessed their work e-mail while in-flight, and, most interestingly, did so via secure, virtual private networks. Another 76 percent of executive travelers accessed their personal e-mail while in the sky at 35,000 feet, and 41 percent instant messaged their family and friends from the plane.

The wireless services in the sky provide "airlines with new ways to differentiate their brand and retain and attract new customers," said Laurette Koellner, president of Connexion by Boeing, the Seattle-based wireless Internet unit of the Chicago-based airplane maker.

Cruise ships, including those of Oceania Cruises, are now accessing this niche. According to the Cruise Line International Association, cruise ships carried 2.63 million guests during the first quarter of last year, an increase of 8.9 percent. Thus, there is a "growing communications opportunity at sea," a spokesman for SeaMobile told Wireless World.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Related stories:

Motorola Demonstrates World's First WiMAX 802.16e Mobile Handoffs in Downtown Chicago
Motorola presented a mobile WiMAX experience last night that included live handoffs during an exclusive cruise along the Chicago River for media and industry analysts in town to attend WiMAX World USA. Attendees experienced uninterrupted mobile applications including web browsing, voice over IP (VoIP) calls, video streaming and MobiTV while moving past access point sites along the route of the cruise.
Wireless World: Lifestyle now for boaters
Captain Roger Sardina navigates the Sea Ray Run, a 40-foot-long Sundancer motor boat made by Brunswick, through the "Danger Spot A" of Burham Harbor on Lake Michigan, using the wireless global positioning system. We've just completed a quick cruise of the lake, on a very rainy morning here in Chicago, but the sea state -- the height and movement of the waves -- was relatively steady.
Networking: Gamers get satisfaction
Special agent Ethan Hunt -- a.k.a. Tom Cruise -- suddenly appears on your mobile phone's color screen. You're being recruited to be a non-official cover intelligence asset. As Hollywood prepares to premiere the third installment in the "Mission: Impossible" film franchise, Paramount Pictures, and producers Cruise and Paula Wagner, are working with a mobile-gaming company to bring the action right to your "third screen." Is it any wonder, experts are telling United Press International's Networking column, that, with interactive games like this, consumers are today very satisfied with the level of performance of their mobile networks?
Information Suitor Highway goes mobile
More online-dating businesses are shifting gears to keep up with the latest technological trend in eDating by going mobile.
Networking: 'Smart highways' emerging
Commuters cruise down Interstate 95 from New York City to Washington, D.C., bumper to bumper, at a speed of 120 miles per hour -- about a two-hour trip at that speed. Do they worry about collisions? Not at all. They can even check the Dow Jones industrial average or browse new books on Amazon.com while they motor.
Computer scientists develop ubiquitous video application for 3D environments
Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego have taken the wraps off a new technique for mixing images and video feeds from mobile cameras in the field to provide remote viewers with a virtual window into a physical environment. Dubbed 'RealityFlythrough,' the application constructs a 3D virtual environment dynamically out of the live video streams.
Logitech Unveils the World´s First Laser Mouse
Logitech the leading manufacturer of computer mice, today announced the Logitech® MX™1000 Laser Cordless Mouse, the world´s first mouse to use laser illumination and tracking. Combining laser with Logitech´s powerful MX processing engine and Fast RF™ wireless technology, the Logitech MX 1000 Laser Cordless Mouse sets a new performance benchmark for responsiveness and accuracy.

Scientists making waves with wireless ocean monitoring
The Great Barrier Reef and other sensitive environments could in future be managed with the help of a marine wireless network developed by University of Queensland (UQ)-led research.

News discussion:

Technology news