The Call of the Sea, With a Better Signal

Partner Success Story

Nowadays, peoples’ tastes turn faster than the tides. And that is why luxury cruise lines are always trying to keep up. One thing their passengers are after? Better connection at sea.

Not so long ago, making a call from a cruise ship was slow and expensive. That didn’t cut it for travelers used to non-stop phone service on land. And for one of the world’s largest international cruise line, they were scrambling to keep every phone upgraded to give their passengers the best experience while at sea.

Things were getting a little rocky. To give cruisers the connection they wanted, the cruise line needed to rewire entire liners. They needed to bring in more reliable equipment that could explore the seas along with them, and they wanted to do it all while being as kind to the ocean (and the earth) as possible.

Phybridge says…

They called Cisco to come aboard, and Cisco called us. We specialize in expanding ethernet networks in times when it’s tough to supply power. That’s perfect for the more than 6,000 internet-enabled phones the cruise line wanted to install on two of their liners.

Together, we set out to bring their passengers the best phone service and experience—with as little ship downtime and environmental footprint – as possible.

The first step was to use the existing single pair telephone wiring to deliver the Ethernet and PoE to the new Cisco IP Endpoints, which kept 15 tons of wires from the landfill and cut port time. The next step was selecting the best hardware. Cisco was an easy choice for the servers, combined with our power-over-ethernet tech which allows longer distances between servers. Meaning, more savings on hardware. And fewer server rooms meant less energy cooling them. That was cool enough for the line to get a 5-Star green certification from IoTG.

Now, passengers on one of the largest cruise lines in the world can stay connected and share their stories while out at sea. Without their calls cutting out just as they get to the good part.

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