MAIN HEAD France Telecom DECK HEAD France Telecom has developed a virtual private network system enabling shipboard computers to connect directly and securely into the company computer network over Fleet MPDS BODY France Telecom has set up a virtual private network system which enables ships to be part of the ship's office computer network. The shipboard computer is configured so that it can only talk to the computer network, and not access the internet or dial into any other computer. This means that it is very difficult for anyone to hack into the shipboard computer without first hacking into the office system. In a similar fashion, the company computer network knows when the ship is trying to log-on, and not a hacker. Both the office and the ship have a fixed IP (internet protocol) address, identifying them securely. The virtual private network is particularly suited to Fleet MPDS. The idea is that ships can be continually logged onto their company networks; both ship and shore can monitor the data transfer and make sure that only useful data is going from one to the other and neither system and instant communications can be made. One problem with ships being connected to the shore network all the time is that phone calls to the ship cannot get through - Inmarsat is currently working on a "call waiting" system, to alert ships if a phone call is coming through while they are connected to MPDS. The virtual private network system was originally developed for the B-GAN system, a terrestrial satellite communications system, to enable remote workers to connect securely to their company systems. SUBHEAD Data management France Telecom has developed a MPDS home page, which shipping companies can go to, to make control settings for how MDPS should be used by the vessels, for example selecting websites that the vessel is or isn't authorised to go to. Connected to this is an online system to analyse traffic information. Shipping companies can see exactly how their communications money is being spent and make sure there is no unwanted traffic. They can allocate cost codes to calls made by different people or calls to different destinations and work out exactly how much it costs. SUBHEAD Seafarer calling cards The company is planning a release of seafarer calling cards later this year, which work on MPDS. Instead of buying call time minutes, they will buy kilobits of MPDS. This will enable seafarers to pay for accessing web services from ships over MPDS and also for sending e-mails. France Telecom is working on a scheme to enable seafarers to purchase crew calling "cards" over the internet, but instead of receiving a physical card, they receive a code number by e-mail. The cards could be purchased using a terrestrial internet café (eg at a port). SUBHEAD Weather information France Telecom has a service called France Telecom Meteo, provided together with Meteo Consult, the 3rd largest weather information provider in the world. The shipboard software is free of charge, but shipping companies still have to pay for the communications and for the content. About 500 ships are currently using the service. Seafarers can request information about wave height, current and other weather information for all areas of the world. The data is sent as a small e-mail attachment, which is then displayed graphically using the software. The virtual private network system was trialled onboard Spanish environmental research vessel Vizconde de Eza, currently monitoring maritime pollution levels following the Prestige oil tanker disaster off the coast of Spain. Information on all equipment on board (including propellers, generators, navigation devices, winches for fishing etc.) is sent in MPDS mode to engineers on shore, who analyse the information and inform crew of any maintenance needed or problems detected. A Fleet 55 terminal was used onboard the ship. Testing was completed in September 2003, and now the Spanish Government is planning to install the same equipment on all of its fleet. "That was a very interesting project for us," says France Telecom maritime services director Ghani Behloul. One of the main objectives for the Spanish government was to develop an engine monitoring application, connecting remotely to the engine to make a diagnosis about how well it was running. They found that MPDS was ideal for monitoring the engine with small data packets, but the ship would need to be connected to ISDN if the engine was actually going to be controlled from shore.