On February 10th, 2010, the IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced a project that improves communications on board ships, helping to improve safety of Baltic Sea maritime traffic.

IBM has collaborated with the Technical Research Center of Finland and the Finnish maritime authorities to develop software, based on open source and open standards technology, enabling all vessels equipped with a PC to access new Automatic Identification System (AIS) messaging.

Up to now, routine communication has been carried out via voice radio, which is a repetitive, manual task. Ship location tracking is achieved by means of the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which is a standardized system mandated by the International Maritime Organization. The AIS system is now under development to provide new maritime digital services, such as automatic weather and hazardous cargo information. This can free the ship's crew to work on less routine matters and help authorities react more effectively should an incident occur.

However, the adoption of these new digital AIS services is slow, due to interoperability issues with existing AIS devices and investment costs to shipping companies.

The first version of the system has been successfully piloted since January 2010 on the Finnish passenger ferries m/s Mariella and m/s Gabriella, which operate the Stockholm-Helsinki route.

Mr. Johan Sandell, General Manager of IBM Finland, says: "At a stroke, nearly every ship in the Baltic Sea - no matter where in the world it has come from - is able to employ the new communications technology.  The system is based on open standards and open source software and in the future could be applied to other parts of the world. Dozens of IBM volunteers around the world are currently signed up to continue to develop the solution free of charge as part of the company's On Demand Community relations program."

It is an initiative that has garnered the support of the Baltic Sea Action Group, a collaboration of states, corporations and non-governmental organizations which met in Helsinki. Its goal is to tackle the numerous problems that are impacting the Baltic Sea which has seen a significant increase in marine traffic over the past ten years and is currently one of the world's busiest and most polluted sea areas.

Mr. Larry Hirst, Chairman of IBM Europe, Middle East & Africa, adds: "Developments like ours should be set against a backdrop of profound changes in the world of technology. Enormous computational power can now be delivered in forms so small, abundant and inexpensive that it has become possible to infuse intelligence into everything: from transportation systems to supply chains; from power grids to medical systems and from buildings to natural systems like waterways and oceans."

The Baltic Sea Action Group Summit took place in Helsinki on February 10th, 2010.  At the summit leaders representing governments, the business community and NGOs made practical commitments to help the Baltic Sea.

For more information about IBM, please visit www.ibm.com.  

For more information please contact:
Ms. Petra Snellman
e-mail: Petra.Snellman@fi.ibm.com
T..:+358 (0)40 709 4367
IBM, Finland