Signed and sealed: The reliability of the newly developed on-board communication platform has been confirmed. On September 26th, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems - a company of ThyssenKrupp Technologies - received the certificates from Germanischer Lloyd confirming the safety of the Multi Service Board Network.

The Multi Service Board Network is the first on-board communication system allowing the transmission of all on-board data via a single network. For the first time ever, critical systems such as the fire detection system, emergency light control or the public address and general alarm system are included in addition to standard applications such as climate control, lighting control, talk back systems, telephone systems, TV including HD solutions as well as closed circuit television systems and all kind of safety applications.

The network, which has been developed by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems in cooperation with T-Systems, is especially fail-safe: The redundant design is able to find, report and - in some cases - also eliminate faults on its own. The key innovation, however, is that copper cables have been replaced by fibre optic cables integrating, based on the Internet Protocol, all applications into a single network. The basic requirement for this is an intelligent interface as a connection between the fibre optic network and the conventional copper-based connections.

With the development of the Fibre Optic Substation, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems has been able to design such an interface. The task of T-Systems was to sketch a fail-safe network architecture and to develop the controlling and monitoring network management for the Multi Service Board Network.

The new communication platform offers financial advantages for both owners and shipyards. Weight and space can be saved on board and decisive advantages with respect to future modifications such as updates and extensions of on-board systems are provided.

Interested customers have the opportunity to watch the operation of a demonstration system on the premises of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel. The demonstration system represents a ship with all its fire zones and all those interested may convince themselves of the high degree of safety and reliability of the new development.