Emerging Commercial Opportunities based on

Kurzfassung

The cost reduction pressure on companies and the increasing regulatory and legislative demands together with a rapid technological progress in space-based communication and navigation are opening up new and exciting commercial opportunities. This situation is illustrated and analyzed in the present paper, which describes a novel service for maritime monitoring and surveillance by means of a GNSS-based (Global Navigation Satellite System) two-way messaging system. System & Services: An end-to-end solution for asset tracking and fleet management, positioning and tracing, messaging and security is considered for all types of seagoing vessels via Inmarsat’s constellation of geostationary communications satellites. The service applies a vessel-based unit hosting a GNSS receiver which transmits the navigation status together with messages to a service center with a flexible return-link capability. To enforce international regulations by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the space segment will be augmented in a second stage by a polar orbiting satellite constellation to achieve truly global services 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week. Market & Business: In the past, customers of space-based services have usually been either public entities or commercial enterprises. In contrast, the new application serves likewise National Cost Guards, National Fishing Agencies and the IMO as well as fishing companies and fleet management operators. This mixed customer scenario, in turn, challenges classical revenue generating concepts. A flexible approach to offer a variety of value-added service levels has therefore been developed. Furthermore, a detailed market analysis has been performed to assess the addressable and acquired markets and to determine associated penetration factors. A careful analysis of the environment for competition suggested the use of existing space-based communication and navigation services to a large extent. This reduces development costs while ensuring an aggressive time-to-market schedule which is targeted for 2008. Process & Outlook: To assess the commercial potential of newly emerging space-based business concepts, a generic and flexible business tool has been developed. This allowed the evaluation of alternative business models and their profitability, sustainability and feasibility taking into account major commercial drivers of the system. Finally, a consistent, healthy and profitable business concept in the range of approximately MEUR 100 p.a. has been established. Although tailored to a specific market, the applied approach can serve to develop other commercial opportunities in space-based communication-navigation services