Speedcast awarded multi-year contract with Lindblad Expeditions

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Speedcast will deliver five times the bandwidth levels and enhance near-shore wireless services
Speedcast will deliver significantly increased connectivity and serve an additional five Lindblad Expeditions ships after being awarded a multi-year contract extension with the cruise line.

Under the terms of the contract, the ships will be upgraded with Speedcast’s Unified Global Platform (UGP) network solution, delivering five times the bandwidth levels and enhancing near-shore wireless services. It will also upgrade all its technology onboard.

Connectivity anywhere in the world

‘We value high-quality services that make life at sea better for all of our guests and team members onboard,’ said Arthur Theodorou, VP of information technology at Lindblad Expeditions. ‘Our communications solution enables our guests and crew to remain connected – for both necessity and fun – no matter where we’re located around the world.

‘Speedcast has been our connectivity partner making this possible for our global fleet, and we look forward to the enhanced services that will benefit our valued guests and crew.’

The communications and IT services provider recently announced the addition of 13 Gbps of capacity to its global network, nearly doubling the capacity it provides worldwide to 30 Gbps of total bandwidth.

A hybrid technology model

On the process behind delivering the enhanced connectivity, Brent Horwitz, SVP cruise & ferry at Speedcast, said, ‘At the core of addressing Lindblad’s needs was to first define the “art of the possible.” We collaborated with their IT and hotel operations teams to explore this concept, customising a technology solution for the fleet that not only met their objectives, but also challenged the status quo for onboard connectivity standards.

‘By embracing a hybrid technology model, Lindblad will maximise what they can achieve onboard and as a result, further enhance the guest and crew experience.’

Investment

He went on to say that Lindblad is ‘truly leading the expedition cruise industry forward, adopting the latest technologies to better serve their teams and guests' and adding that the line ‘made investments early on’ to achieve these goals. 

‘We’re proud to support a progressive company seeking to provide the highest quality experience aboard their expeditions,’ he concluded.