Maritime Broadband
Maritime Broadband LLC is a US engineering company providing VSAT communication systems for maritime use. Founded in 2009, the company is headquartered in New York City and has R&D and manufacturing facilities in New Jersey. The company has worked with partners such as Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN) and VT iDirect (iDirect) to develop advanced maritime communication solutions for large merchant vessels (container ships and oil tankers). <ref name=The Maritime Executive (magazine)>The Maritime Executive (magazine)
C-Bird™
The C-Bird™ VSAT system is Maritime Broadband's flagship product and was developed over a period of 6 years.
The system uses a proprietary stabilized tracking antenna with a 2.4 meter diameter, Intelsat certified dish. C-Bird™ operates on the C-Band satellite frequency and is fully operational at up to 85 knots headwind. Total assembled weight is 600Kg and the system can be installed by a ships crew in less than 6 hours.<ref name=Digital Ship Article March 2010>Digital Ship Article March 2010
==Sea Trials== In January, 2010 Hellespont Hammonia GmbH & Co announced the installation of the C-Bird system on its MT “Hellespont Progress”.<ref name=The Maritime Executive (magazine)>The Maritime Executive (magazine)
The MT “Hellespont Progress” is a 228.6 meter product carrier, built in 1996. .<ref name=The Maritime Executive (magazine)>The Maritime Executive (magazine)
The ship's initial voyage with the system installed was between Flushing, Netherlands and El Segundo, CA, and was reported that it was successful in improving crew morale. ”<ref name=Digital Ship Article March 2010>Digital Ship Article March 2010