Cruise Dinner for the launch of Fleet Broadband

While celebrities of the tv world are strutting down the red carpet in anticipation of the Emmy Awards, I was walking down my own red carpet towards a cruise ship for the launch of a new broadband on ship organised by Stratos. The ship named Cheng Ho was docked at Marina Pier, its red exterior glenaning in front of the setting sun. Dragons adorned its fronts protecting the ship from any harm and danger. It is 3-storeys high with the top floor being opened for the pasengers to bask in the sunlight or moonlight while out at sea. Fitting almost 150 people, with pillars blocking the sight of the presentation, this ship might not be the most ideal place for a presentation but the glory of launching a new product on a ship supercedes it all. Having dinner on a ship is by itself a great way of opening a conversation, Hey, where are u now? On a ship in the middle of nowhere having dinner.

The event started with a presentation on how the Fleet Broadband works on a ship. For those who are not familiar with the maritime industry, yes, there is NO broadband on ship, how do these people survive, u may ask? Yes, all this while those who work on ships survive on mere emails and reading newspapers. U don’t even get cable tv on ships.

So, this company called Stratos is here to change all that by being the reseller of Immarsat's new Satellite phone service to be made available all over Middle East, Africa and the APAC. It is a dual mode phone that supports voice and data over both satellite and GSM networks (900 MHz only). It is exciting to be part of this launch which culminates to a conference on Digital Ship to be organized in Suntec Convention Hall, Singapore. I will not have the chance to attend the conference as I am not in the industry but it was fun and exciting to be part of the industry for a while.