KVH Industries, Inc. has announced that its content delivery service IP-MobileCastTM now includes high-resolution updates from Applied Weather Technology (AWT), a marine weather service provider, as a standard feature. Subscribing vessels will receive global weather data four times per day via the KVH mini-VSAT Broadbandsm network without incurring any data transmission costs.

This standard feature is now available to all KVH mini-VSAT Broadband customers who also are licensed users of AWT’s Bon Voyage System (BVS®), an onboard application for weather rendering and voyage optimisation. To begin receiving the AWT weather updates, mini-VSAT Broadband customers need only subscribe at no monthly charge to the FORECASTlinkTM channel of KVH’s IP-MobileCast service.

“As a weather-based, ship routing and vessel performance company, AWT is excited by this opportunity. We can deliver high-resolution weather data at every six-hour forecast interval, while collecting ship data from our customers for performance optimisation,” says Haydn Jones, AWT’s CEO.

The ability to provide weather data updates with no data transmission costs is made possible by KVH’s IP-MobileCast multicast communications protocol, a technology launched by KVH in 2014. The IP-MobileCast service also features news, entertainment, training, and sports content for subscribing vessels at sea without affecting data transmission speeds or vessel communications performance.

“We are thrilled to be working with AWT to enable vessels to receive such high-quality weather information around the clock via our FORECASTlink channel,” says Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH’s CEO. “Weather data gives vessel operators essential information for voyage planning and route optimisation, critical to their bottom lines, especially during these challenging economic times. This is one more way that our breakthrough IP-MobileCast service is transforming the maritime industry.”

Tags: Applied Weather Technology (AWT), Inc., KVH Industries