CapRock Announces Its Crew Infotainment Solution at
Offshore Europe 2009

New morale service takes stage

ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND and HOUSTON, TEXAS - September 8, 2009

CapRock Communications, a leading provider of global communications to remote environments, today introduced its latest value-added service offering to international oil and gas attendees. The new crew morale service is a fully managed, all-inclusive infotainment system designed to support crew morale and corporate applications. The solution is scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

The new solution, representing the latest value-added service offering to CapRock’s line of crew welfare services, delivers a wealth of content including new functionality to live TV, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, gaming and music. CapRock’s Crew Infotainment Solution also supports distance training applications such as safety and corporate training, certification courses and company orientation. Additionally, the solution is capable of integrating with CCTV, ROV feeds and other content as necessary to keep operations running smoothly.

“Our crew infotainment solution has so much more to offer than the traditional IPTV services currently being used in the marketplace,” said CapRock Chief Technology Officer Philip Harlow. “This is a flexible platform and is easily scalable to meet unique customer requirements as well as support future value-added services.We truly believe it will have a significant impact on the full spectrum of customers we serve.” 

As drilling campaigns continue to get more and more remote, taking place in the deepest of waters hundreds of miles from shore, a reliable entertainment and communications platform is vital to maintaining crew morale and business operations. For years, rig owners and operators have understood the importance of keeping crew members reliably connected to the outside world while they are in an isolated environment.

But today’s crew members not only want the ability to make a phone call back home to family and friends, they also want to stay up-to-date on the latest movies, watch their favorite television series or listen to music in their spare time. And they also need to stay updated on industry practices and technologies too. By offering capabilities such as these, organizations with operations all around the world can experience increased employee retention, improved operational performance and reduced travel costs associated with onsite training requirements.

“CapRock designed this scalable infotainment solution with user-friendly navigation,” said CapRock Director of Product Management and Marketing Rohit Chhabra. “Customers can navigate through it just as they would a DVR/VCR and the menu design is comparable to something you’d find at a five-star hotel. And it’s also rich with content. Customers can choose from thousands of movies, television shows and music options and get new content as frequently as on a quarterly basis.”

Features of CapRock’s next-generation solution include trick-play capabilities – pause, fast forward, rewind and seek – quick channel changing, closed caption options and interactive program guides for live TV. Since the solution is IP-based, customers can leverage its advantages over existing analog solutions such as fewer equipment requirements, which reduces maintenance and operational costs, and the solution doesn’t require users to switch out equipment when a rig or vessel moves into a new region. In addition, on-demand content allows crew members to stay entertained or trained while en-route or outside of a satellite footprint.

“This solution was designed in conjunction with our customers to solve the prominent challenge of hiring, training and retaining their most valuable asset, their crew,” continued Chhabra. “Its development is a testament to CapRock’s commitment to further expanding its portfolio of reliable, fully managed products and services that provide tangible benefits to the customers we serve.”

CapRock’s suite of crew welfare services also includes prepaid crew calling, newspaper email service, hard copy books and NetSpot™ – CapRock’s on-demand wireless Internet service.

About CapRock Communications

With nearly three decades of experience, CapRock Communications is a premier global satellite communications provider for the energy, maritime, government, engineering and construction andmining industries as well as for disaster recovery services. The Company utilizes the latest field-proven satellite technologies to deliver highly reliable managed communication services including broadband Internet, voice over IP, secure networking and real-time video to the world's harshest and most remote locations. CapRock delivers on its promise to be the market's reliability leader by leveraging "best of breed" partnerships, technical expertise and a robust global infrastructure that includes four self-owned and operated teleports and eleven regional support centers across the U.S., Central and South America, Europe, West Africa and Asia Pacific. More information about CapRock is available at www.caprock.com.

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