To make data sharing and transfer more efficient, DI has installed Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007 as its central collaboration and data platform. However, keeping this portal accurate on every vessel required expensive satellite communications. The company chose Corpora’s iOra software to deliver the compression and data synchronisation technology that would allow it to run SharePoint efficiently across its massively distributed organisation, which relies upon a narrow bandwidth satellite communication network.

The SharePoint portal, which will be updated over satellite every 12 hours, would not have been feasible without iOra. It will optimise bandwidth usage across the fleet, reducing the actual amount of data sent over satellite each time the SharePoint portal is updated to only 2% of the amount that would otherwise have been sent. The deployment of iOra is projected to save close to 100% of airtime cost per unit of data.

Prior to the deployment if iOra, updating the SharePoint portal over the Inmarsat satellite network was forecast to cost $21.60 for 1MB of amendments and take 15 minutes. To send those same amendments over Inmarsat using iOra, which reduces the content to 2KB, will cost $0.30 and take 12 seconds.

Because the iOra software fully automates data synchronisation, personnel will no longer have to manually distribute, update and manage information. This equates to an additional averge man hour cost saving of $3,000 per vessel per year.