Here’s a fascinating story from one of our esteemed satellite partners, Iridium Communications. It explains how Iridium satellite technology plays an integral part in tackling the growing threat to international shipping from Somali pirates.

Iridium is the preferred communication medium for ship “citadels” – a fortified, onboard panic room where crew can take refuge if the ship encounters pirates. Earlier this year, NATO published guidelines for the comms systems to be used in these citadels and specified self-contained, independent, two-way external communications, sepcifically a satellite voice and email solution.

Due to its global reach, compact size and low latency SBD for tracking, Iridium has emerged as the favoured partner for these on-board emergency systems and is currentle being deployed in citadel systems worldwide.