Tuesday, 22^nd April 2003

A forthcoming record attempt to row across the Indian Ocean is demonstrating the effectiveness of Satamatics' satellite-based telematics information service as an all-encompassing location tracking, status monitoring and ship security alert solution. The two-man team of Rob Abernethy and Mike Noel-Smith aims to row Transventure between Western Australia and the French Department of Reunion Island this summer, a gruelling voyage of over 4,000 miles. Using equipment supplied by Satamatics, and linked to the company's satellite network service, updated position reports of the team's progress will be available at www.fleetviewonline.com - a location monitoring and marine charting service operated by Satamatics’ approved reseller Transas Telematics.

Rob Abernethy and Mike Noel-Smith hope to break the current 64-day record for the crossing, and will be raising money for SPARKS, a charity specialising in funding medical research for children. In addition to transmitting position reports every six hours, the Satamatics equipment on board Transventure is also functioning as a Ship Security Alert System (SSAS), to meet the SOLAS X1-2 specification. Activated by a panic button, the system will enable the team to send an automatic alert message to a designated contact, if under threat from circumstances such as illness, accident, untenable weather or piracy. The SSAS functionality forms an integral part of Transas Telematics' Ship Guard service, which will be used to monitor any alert messages and route them accordingly.

Satamatics' global satellite communications network, which utilises the Inmarsat D+ protocol, is an end-to-end solution, integrating mobile satellite terminals with satellite gateways in strategically located Land Earth Stations, together with message handling systems, data processing centres and end-user information delivery via the Internet. Available worldwide, the service is independent of all terrestrial-based communication systems - such as radio or cell-phone technologies - and enables seamless operation across the world’s oceans, in port or on passage. The service offers numerous benefits for maritime users – from large fleet operators, to charter companies and private owners – in terms of efficient management and logistics routing, as well as safety and security.

Used at the remote end of Satamatics’ service are the company’s satellite terminals. Capable of remote programming, with built-in processing intelligence, the compact terminals are similar in size to a personal CD player – enabling discrete installation – and can be interfaced to a variety of on-board sensors.
They include a GPS receiver and can also transmit information when specific conditions have been met or exceeded - for example, when a vessel moves outside a designated zone, the temperature of a refrigerated hold exceeds the permitted range, or a particular hatch opens. Transventure‘s terminal is installed inside a waterproof housing, to ensure its continued operation throughout the two-month voyage, irrespective of weather conditions.

Please visit www.transventure.com for further details of Transventure’s cross-ocean record attempt and its sponsorship, and www.sparks.org.uk for more information on the charity being supported.

About Satamatics
Satamatics' worldwide telematics services provide the critical enabling technology for track and trace monitoring, two-way messaging and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) capabilities for remote installations. Headquartered in the UK, Satamatics works with Application Service Providers around the world, including Transas Telematics, to develop and deploy end-to-end service solutions across the world's ocean regions and land masses–or fleet management, asset tracking and tracing, controlling and monitoring remote sites, and for security applications.

Satamatics Ltd is part of the Richtec plc group of companies, which is active across a range of communications, electronics and process control technologies, with annual revenues in excess of £25 million. (For more information, please see www.satamatics.com).

Rob Abernethy and Mike Noel-Smith on the boat they will use for their record attempt.