THALOS connects sailors to land with satellite solutions

Based in Lorient, France, THALOS develops satellite connectivity solutions. Thanks to these solutions, sailors and skippers can interact rapidly with land (as can transport companies and ocean racing teams). Talk to Delphine Robinet, the company’s marketing manager.

Could you introduce THALOS?

THALOS defines itself as a creator of innovative digital solutions serving the operational performance of ocean-going vessels. The company employs around forty people in France. We also have an international presence with two companies in Taiwan and Mauritius. These two sister companies enable us to have a commercial and technical presence in order to intervene on ships. Since 2019, the company has been part of the Spanish Grupo Arbulu group. This equity investment has given us real power in international markets. However, each company remains independent and autonomous in its management. 70% of our sales come from exports.

What solutions does THALOS develop?

We have a whole section dedicated to connectivity, with two solutions. THALOS’ flagship product is OceanBox. Installed directly on board ships, it manages and secures all connectivity. Ships going far out to sea can no longer access the terrestrial Internet network. They are therefore obliged to use satellite connectivity. This technology is complex, and requires detailed management of usage. We quickly saw the need to develop a solution to manage, optimize and secure this connection. The OceanBox is connected to the ship’s satellite antennas. It then acts as a link between the satellite and the on-board networks, with an architecture that integrates hermetically-sealed networks. It embeds data flow management functions, authorizing or denying certain accesses, or limiting bandwidth if the package limit is reached.

The second connectivity solution is the ShoreManager. It is closely linked to the OceanBox. It’s a supervision portal that lets you see, in real time, throughput, bandwidth, connected users and devices. You can block or authorize certain sites or applications. This application is mainly used by companies with an armament or a shore team to supervise what’s happening at sea. THALOS is, in a way, a connectivity partner for ships, because we offer a service from start to finish.

We are also developing two other solutions for the fishing industry, aimed at improving operational efficiency.

What business areas are your solutions aimed at?

A large proportion of the solutions developed by THALOS concern satellite connectivity. We equip vessels in the ocean racing and maritime transport markets, including sailing freighters. We also deal with work and service vessels. This can include the marine energy market for wind farm maintenance. The aim is to provide value-added solutions to help ships improve their operational performance. For ocean racing, this is a major challenge. Ocean racing accounts for 5% of our sales, but in terms of the number of boats, it’s huge, because we equip a lot of boats, especially during races. Fishing represents 65% of our sales. Finally, workboats and merchant ships represent between 25% and 30%.

In your opinion, has satellite connectivity changed sailing in ocean racing?

Satellite connectivity arrived about ten years ago. Since then, it’s just taken off. It has changed a lot of things on board. Solutions such as routing systems have been developed. They potentially require satellite connectivity. It has brought many tools on board to help sailors in their navigation by providing them with weather data, but also by enabling them to contact land easily in the event of damage for skippers. In the past, skippers with no connectivity management solution connected to their satellite antenna only when they needed to communicate in the event of a problem or accident, so they had no time to connect to send their message. Today, high-speed satellite connectivity combined with our OceanBox brings real convenience. Finally, now the boat will be like a remote office. We’ve also seen this in recent major ocean racing events. Skippers were able to easily share their experience with very high video quality. This can also change the way skippers work. Visibility has increased tenfold. The public has even more ways of following their adventures and taking an interest in ocean racing.

The sailing industry is also benefiting from these technological developments.

Freight transport is subject to timing constraints. If the sailing transport market is to be viable, deadlines have to be met. Now, with satellite connectivity and the routing that goes with it, this is possible. It’s also possible to contact customers in real time to let them know if we’re going to be early or late. Communication has become essential.