Backed by 25 years of experience and hundreds of innovative audio/video, lighting & comfort, entertainment and IT systems installed on board superyachts sailing around the world, Videoworks has met a precise request from shipowners and shipyards, which are increasingly insisting on having an Internet connection similar to that of their home and office at all latitudes. Videoworks has confirmed its ability to continue to innovate and respond proactively by introducing itself in the new year with the unprecedented Connectivity & Communication Solutions Business Unit, dedicated precisely to developing the most cutting-edge solutions in the field of on-board connectivity.
Paolo Tagliapietra was called to coordinate the new Connectivity & Communication Solutions BU. With 30 years’ experience in the nautical world and, most importantly, 15 in the specific sector of navigation and communication systems (including satellite systems) in leading companies in the sector, he says: “It was important to seize this particular moment because we are witnessing an authentic revolution in the world of connectivity, with systems evolving very rapidly: new technologies, new players with LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite systems, such as Starlink and ONE Web, with which we are cooperating closely. The stated goal is to have a bandwidth capacity similar to the one we are used to on the mainland. Today's boat owners want to be able to access platforms such as Netflix with the same speed and image quality they are used to having in their living room at home; Videoworks guarantees the technology to do so.”
The creation of the Connectivity & Communication Solutions BU is the latest step in an evolutionary process that Videoworks had already started and announced last year at the Monaco Yacht Show with the presentation, during the joint press conference with ONE Web, of all the opportunities that this technology guarantees: a latest generation Internet experience in terms of both speed and latency, to ensure complete use of streaming and IP TV services with a connection very similar to 5G, but in the high seas. To offer the opportunity to recreate on the yacht what people are used to having on land, it was necessary to have a unit that could be totally dedicated to studying and developing these solutions; the Connectivity & Communication Solutions BU was born from this consideration.
“The goal is, as always, to serve customers (the shipowners in this case), in the best possible way and with a complete service,” stresses Paolo Tagliapietra. “It is not just the sale of on-board infrastructure, but also its implementation with all the other yacht services and, above all, continuous monitoring of its efficiency when the yacht is launched and is sailing anywhere in the world. This particular aspect is especially important, because often a very trivial breakdown that is easily solved remotely can, at sea and without assistance, become a major problem.”
The goal of the Connectivity & Communication Solutions BU is therefore to offer shipyards and shipowners a range of cutting-edge solutions from which to choose the ones that best meet their specific needs. To do this, the required team must not only work with and have an in-depth knowledge of existing technologies, but must also carefully monitor all the technological evolutions and developments that are radically changing the connectivity scenarios with ever-increasing rapidity.
A fundamental aspect is also to offer an upgrade service to existing yachts. We are dealing with a large sailing fleet, mostly made up of yachts equipped with technologies that are now obsolete even if they were launched a few years ago. At the same time, charters in particular are increasingly international and must ensure that their customers can follow their favourite television programmes on whatever sea they are sailing on. So this second type of demand, a sort of “refitting of on-board connectivity”, is another need that will be increasingly felt in the future and which will find the best response in the new Videoworks Connectivity & Communication Solutions BU.
Meanwhile, the growth of the Videoworks network continues, confirming the company is determined to play a leading role among the world's System Integrators. New yachts are built mainly in Italy and the Netherlands; Turkey has joined as the third industrial hub in recent years. The main geographical areas of use are the Mediterranean Sea and the seas between Florida and the Caribbean. Videoworks has its operational offices in these areas: Ancona, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Viareggio in the Mediterranean Sea, Schiphol-Rijk in the Netherlands and Fort Lauderdale in Florida. The Istanbul office in Turkey has recently been added to continue the structuring of an increasingly branched network.