This year, the two companies are due to jointly release a remote and autonomous IT system for vessels, leveraging key technologies such as Big Data analytics, Internet of Things and cyber security.
This system will enable the remote deployment of third party services and applications, allowing for a quick and simple implementation of new capabilities to a ship.
"The Speedcast and Danaos strategic alliance represents an exciting new direction for the maritime sector," said Tim Bailey, SpeedCast’s EVP of products, marketing, and business development."The combination of Speedcast's expertise in delivering high quality critical communications solutions and Danaos's ability to create a state of the art application environment will accelerate the digitalisation of the maritime business."
"Danaos recognised Speedcast as a strategic partner in our vision of enhancing on board IT infrastructure and delivering advanced solutions, meeting today's market needs with minimal effort for implementation and support," said Dimitris Theodossiou, managing director of Danaos Peripherals.
Speedcast has also announced group revenues of $246.3 mill for the first half of this year - a 143% period-on-period increase.
Service revenues grew 165% to $231.9 mill.Underlying EBITDA profitability was $52.8 mill, a 210% increase over 1H16. EBITDA margins grew 470 basis points to 21.4% in 1H17.
Net debt was reduced from $356 mill as at 31st December, 2016 to $333 mill on 30th June, 2017.
Since the acquisition of Harris CapRock earlier this year, Speedcast has completed around 80% of the identified integration milestones. Key initiatives remaining include ERP implementation, full integration of the ticketing system and network consolidation.
Additional cost synergy benefits have now been identified with total cost synergies expected to be over $30 mill, compared with $24 mill previously communicated.
"We are very proud of the progress we have made since the completion of the acquisition of Harris CapRock," said Pierre-Jean Beylier, Speedcast CEO. "Amidst a difficult market background, Speedcast has executed well, both from a financial and an operational perspective. We are taking advantage of the opportunities in all of our target markets, and delivering world-class, innovative global solutions. Speedcast is well positioned to deliver value to our customers, partners and shareholders in 2017 and beyond."