Vizada, an independent satellite communications provider, and Météo-France, a meteorological center, have renewed their agreement to provide professional digital weather information and software to the maritime community. The partnership signing coincides with the release of a new version of its SkyFile Weather solution, based on Météo-France’s latest Navimail software.
The new version of SkyFile Weather delivers meteorological information to crew more rapidly through a direct internet connection established via the mobile satellite terminal. This applies to all new generation IP-based services typically found on board ship including Inmarsat FleetBroadband and Iridium OpenPort.
Vizada will introduce a monthly subscription option at the beginning of 2010, enabling customers to download up to three weather files per day for a fixed amount, as opposed to paying per file download. This will significantly reduce the costs involved in accessing meteorological information on board.
In addition, the new version of SkyFile Weather enables customers to superimpose a forecast on the map in order to determine the optimal route for the ship.
SkyFile Weather provides seafarers with customizable weather information, high resolution satellite images and other critical data such as sea surface temperature, wind and swell. The data is based on that provided by Météo-France.