Inmarsat, the provider of global mobile communications services, today announced that it is working with partner SkyWave Mobile Communications to develop a new low data rate tracking, monitoring and messaging service that is planned for launch in Q3 2011.

IsatData Pro will deliver a significant increase in capability over other services already in the market. Near real-time messages of up to 10,000 bytes to the device, and up to 6,400 bytes from the device, will meet the increasing demand for higher data speeds in machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions. In comparison, other global M2M services currently on the market offer data connectivity at just 270-340 bytes.

The new service will support a wide range of security and location-based services in the fast-growing M2M market: from tracking and in-cab messaging for commercial transportation and government fleets, transmitting telemetry information from oil & gas distribution equipment, to remote management and control of fixed assets.

SkyWave and Inmarsat will promote IsatData Pro to government users and the road, rail, merchant shipping, commercial fishing, oil & gas, and utilities sectors. Target geographies include the U.S and Latin America, but also China and Russia, two rapidly expanding markets for M2M services.

"This is a new service, with new hardware and new infrastructure, that significantly expands the applications that the Inmarsat system supports," said Drew Brandy, Director of Land Services at Inmarsat. "We see lots of untapped opportunity in the M2M market for a reliable global service that can offer more: more data, more flexibility and a more reliable network. And, as people will see when we launch the service, it will be highly cost-effective too."

The new service was unveiled at the Satellite 2011 Conference and Exhibition in Washington DC, U.S.

"With IsatData Pro, we are introducing a major innovation into the M2M market," said David Sward, VP of Marketing and Business Development at SkyWave. "This will be a global service with a packet data capability far beyond anything currently out there. Being able to send and receive more data from remote assets will allow better visibility of business operations and manage risks more effectively. It enables organisations to stay in touch with remote assets and workers where, previously, this was technically impossible or prohibited by cost."

IsatData Pro is ideal for time-critical applications and the very low latency of messages transmitted means asset owners and managers can exchange information in near real-time. For example, this will be an advantage for sending information to drivers operating in high-risk areas, or for receiving error logs from remote equipment or sensors in an emergency.

The IsatData Pro hardware portfolio manufactured by SkyWave will include complete terminals for both land and maritime environments, ready for immediate use on mobile and fixed assets. A modem-only version for OEMs and systems integrators will also be available.