Maritime Telecommunications Network (MTN) recently offered its satellite-based communications services to help Intel Corp. show off its latest Centrino mobile technology platform.

Intel has been hosting a series of demonstration events to show how Centrino can be used to keep laptop owners wirelessly connected in various locations. “They went to a hotel. They did it on a plane. Then they wanted to demonstrate the technology on a ferryboat,” Steve Scraper, director of business planning and development for MTN, told Satellite News. “So they contacted and asked us to provide the satellite link for their event that was going to be partly on shore at the Ferry Building in San Francisco and partly on the ferry.”

To help with the demonstration, MTN provided its new Compact Mobile Terminal (CMT). The terminal is a land-based piece of equipment that provides connectivity via a Ku-band connection. Once set up, the CMT usually achieves a lock on the satellite within about five or 10 minutes. “That was our connection to the satellite,” Scraper said. “On the ferry, we put up omni-directional antennas and wireless access points for a wireless local area network that was set up on the ferry. We had every deck as a hotspot so everyone could open up his or her laptops and access the Internet.”

Scraper said the ferry ride lasted for about an hour and the connection between the CMT and the ferry was not lost during the event. “As long as the omni-directional antennas were in line of sight to the CMT, it maintained a connection,” he said. Scraper noted that the ferry traveled around San Francisco Bay about a mile or two away from the pier that the CMT was set up.

“The MTN satellite networking demonstration showcased how wireless computing can give people freedom and flexibility in how and where they communicate, do business, and play,” Karen Regis, director of marketing programs for Intel Mobility Group, said in a prepared statement.

(Steve Scraper, MTN, [email protected])