ITC Global's Crew Welfare Solution Enhanced

ITC Global, a leading provider of satellite communications to remote and harsh environments, announced today that it has released an enhanced version of ITC Crew LIVE, a turnkey solution for crew welfare, to deliver wireless communications and entertainment to remote personnel. Introduced to the market last November, Crew LIVE now boasts more than 11,500 registered users, with several new service updates that enable better operational efficiency and an enriched user experience.

The solution enhancements include increased upload and download speeds, regional to global beam switching capabilities on a single antenna solution, dashboard management and reporting features, an improved user interface, and flexible deployment options, supported by Panasonic’s next-generation global network.  

Per crew member, we’re seeing a monthly average of 930MB of data utilized, and a daily average of 100Kbps download speed with about 20 individual users online simultaneously, based on a typical 120-member crew, said Joe Spytek, Chief Executive Officer, ITC Global. 

Performance data of onboard service from our 11,500 registered Crew LIVE accounts demonstrates the importance of continual updates to the solution in order to scale with growing customer requirements. Leveraging Panasonic’s robust global network ensures service remains seamless and enables us to deliver the high speeds that are critical for both corporate and crew network demands. In addition, users gain access to the best-in-class global live TV service through Panasonic’s renowned platform, continued Spytek.

Customers have realized tangible savings in monthly corporate network bills as a result of decoupling operational and crew networks onboard and alleviating the need for remote staff to rely on the corporate network for personal calling. Additionally, separating the networks removes latent security risks associated with allowing remote workers to stay connected across the same link that handles corporate traffic. Crew LIVE closes that loophole and eliminates the security threats that come with the growing prevalence of the bring-your-own-device approach, which poses a significant risk to corporate networks. With a steadily growing number of registered accounts, user data also shows that remote crews are willing to purchase internet service via the crew network to meet their personal communications needs if service is high-quality and reliable.

We’re addressing personal connectivity needs for remote crews at the highest caliber, said Spytek. In the past year, fleet operators saw significant cost reductions as a direct result of crew-funded service, while crew members took full advantage of the quality entertainment amenities available. By giving operations leadership the flexibility to provide these services onboard, and enabling crews to have full control over the decision to utilize these offerings, Crew LIVE is truly a win-win for all stakeholders. We anticipate an order of magnitude increase in customer savings and crew participation following our newest service enhancements, concluded Spytek.

The solution’s new features maximize service quality and enable customers to realize almost 100% uptime, providing an improved crew morale and welfare experience:

•    Dashboard and reporting tool provides visibility to operations leaders on crew welfare service performance and usage, and monitors uptime to help verify and validate Service Level Agreements  
•    Streamlined equipment package above and below deck saves time and money for simple, complete setup and management, even when switching between regions
•    Flexible deployment options address varying customer delivery preferences, including complete managed service or zero-cost installations
•    Live streaming global TV services delivered via Panasonic’s seamless network, alleviating the hassle of managing regional TV vendors and set-top-box equipment when changing operating locations

ITC Crew LIVE demonstrations and information will be available in booth 601 at OilComm 2016, October 11-13 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.