Read indepth magazine
MYS: Meridian 4G on Solving Slow Internet Onboard
A good connection is one of the primary requirements for modern life, a truth universally on land or sea. Julian Clemens is the man behind Meridian 4G, a company evolving the connectivity of life on board some of the biggest superyachts on the water.
With 150 yachts in the portfolio, such as Eclipse, Dilbar, Octopus, Ona and Radiant, the Meridian 4G system is changing the game in terms of security, speed and reliability and making VSAT standard connection a thing of the past.
“Meridian 4G is a very unique technology, as our clients would say it’s simply solved the problem of slow internet on board the superyacht,” explains Julian Clemens, Founder & CEO of Meridian 4G. “Yet it’s the only technology that brings 4G reliably and with a very high-performance on board the yachts, and to give you an example, by using our product, owners can benefit from significantly reduced costs on the VSAT side and can have a highly improved experience on the internet side on board which was not the case before.”
Meridian 4G is the answer to a new phase in modern technology on board boats, bringing the internet up to speed with the myriad lifestyle breakthroughs happening across the industry. The speed in question is a clear sign of that step forward.
“VSAT was the main internet source on board a superyacht, 3G and 4G connections were not reliable enough and the coverage was not existing enough," says Julian. "We managed to solve both of these issues, we can increase the coverage to shore up to 40km or 20nm, and we can achieve a speed of 160mbps […] when you compare this to the VSAT connection, maybe guests on board could get 10mbps.”
One of the key conversations emerging with a rapidly evolving technological landscape is cybersecurity. With exclusivity at the core of the superyacht lifestyle, online security has been considered in equal measure.
“Security is indeed one of the main benefits the users can experience when using our product,” adds Julian Clemens. “We’re not only distributing the data across the four available modems or internet lines, we managed to form aggregated link from the four modems and this is a very unique method. It’s very easy to do a surveillance of these lines, and we are encrypting the connections and spreading the data load in a random way. There’s no chance to guess which load is where, so it’s an encryption in an encryption.”
This is a technological revelation, and something that is connecting life on board to the globe for work, play and feeling a little less alone while out on the open water. Watch the full video above for more information.