Thales Enables the Big Ambitions of Iridium Certus and Global Partners

Marking the successful final launch to deploy the Iridium NEXT constellation, which occurred Friday, January 11, 2019, Thales announces it has signed Marlink and Speedcast to expand its official network of resellers for ThalesLINK satellite communications (satcom) solutions. These solutions enable connectivity for people anytime, anywhere with Iridium CertusSM. This visible commitment to Iridium Certus was also recently recognized by Iridium who dedicated satellite SV-125 to Thales for its role as a value added manufacturer in aviation, land and maritime markets.

As Thales strengthens its footprint in the mobile satellite services domain, Marlink and Speedcast now have rights to sell and distribute the Thales MissionLINK and VesseLINK solutions, into a broad range of land-mobile and maritime markets. This reseller expansion further demonstrates Thales’ commitment to Iridium’s big ambitions as all ThalesLINK satcom solutions are Iridium Certus certified to ensure the best capabilities are available to customers who need decisive technologies for mobile connectivity.

“At any moment, any person in our world has the potential to be connected and those connections rely on Thales,” said Alan Pellegrini, CEO of Thales USA. “We are excited to have partners that will help us push the boundaries and enable connectivity for people no matter where they are in the world.”

Through rigorous validation and testing, Marlink and Speedcast helped create benchmark standards for customers who will use the Thales MissionLINK and VesseLINK solutions. Mirroring Thales’ extensive worldwide presence, they will provide complementary reach and customer support to users.

“Marlink’s position as a key partner enables ship owners globally to develop a value-driven path towards maritime digitalisation and we are committed to integrating innovative new services and technology into our network to provide even more flexibility,” said Tore Morten Olsen, President Maritime, Marlink. “We are confident that the combination of Iridium Certus and Thales antennas will deliver the bandwidth and availability that our customers need, contributing to their ability to modernise operations using innovative, satcom enabled solutions.”

“Speedcast is excited to be offering the Thales terminals as part of our Iridium Certus offering to our customers for our maritime, offshore, and land-based customers,” said Tim Bailey, Executive Vice President of Products, Marketing, and Business Development for Speedcast. “Being one of the first service providers offering Iridium Certus with Thales terminals continues Speedcast’s commitment to providing customers with cutting-edge solutions for their remote communications needs.”

The addition of Marlink and Speedcast to Thales’ certified satcom reseller network will help foster a more healthy and competitive reseller environment as they join AST, Comsat, Globalsat Group, MetOcean Telematics, MVS USA, Network Innovations, Pivotel, SpaceNet and Trace Systems, who were the first nine resellers to sign with Thales. Now more customers will be able to think smarter and act faster by leveraging Thales satcom solutions available anytime, anywhere on Iridium Certus.