Inmarsat, ORBCOMM Team to Build M2M Satellite Platform; Rupert Pearce Comments

Inmarsat and ORBCOMM have formed a partnership to jointly develop and commercialize a satellite platform for machine-to-machine communications applications.

They will also explore potential synergies in areas such as capital investment, technology development and ground-based infrastructure support to future satellite programs, the companies said Monday.

Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat CEO, said the companies aim to help global M2M customers leverage mobile communications technology and services through the satellite platform.

ORBCOMM is working on a set of interchangeable modems intended to run on its OG2 very high frequency system and Inmarsat’s L-band platform.

ORBCOMM seeks to offer customers a multi-network access point system designed for M2M applications and the system works to integrate with Inmarsat M2M access technology.

The alliance will also deliver Inmarsat’s IsatData Pro satellite packet data service and BGANM2M, a global 3G Internet Protocol-based service.