Videoworks creates new connectivity business unit to meet rise in demand

Videoworks has created a new business unit dedicated to ensuring superyacht clients experience better connectivity at sea. The firm has also opened a new office in Istanbul, Turkey.

The number of clients requesting the same standard of connection on their yacht as in their homes and offices is rapidly increasing, said the company. To meet this demand, Videoworks said it was necessary to build Connectivity & Communication Solutions Business Unit dedicated to studying and developing these solutions.

The firm’s new division tasked with tackling this challenge, the Connectivity & Communication Solutions Business Unit, will be headed by Paolo Tagliapietra.

“It was important to grasp this particular moment because in the world of connectivity, we are in the presence of an authentic revolution with a very rapid evolution of systems, new technologies, new players with LEO [Low Earth Orbit] satellite systems, such as Starlink and ONE Web,” he said.

Tagliapietra added that the ultimate aim is to deliver bandwidth “very similar to 5G” at sea to meet the increase in demand for data-heavy applications used by clients. This is in part due to charters becoming increasingly international and more clients using superyachts to work remotely.

Another aim is to meet the growing demand for connectivity solutions that aid superyacht maintenance programmes on board “[That] is an important aspect because often a very trivial breakdown that can easily be solved remotely, at sea and without assistance can turn into a big problem,” said Tagliapietra.

As well as offering its new business unit services to new owners and shipyards, the company said that a fundamental part of its plan is to offer an upgrade service to existing yachts. According to Videoworks, its clients mostly use yachts equipped with technologies that are now obsolete despite only being launched a few years ago.

Videoworks said it has also opened an office in Istanbul due to the growth in the region and to offer its services to shipyards.