UK’s Innovation Agency backed FrontM to Pave the Way for AI Enabled Edge Applications for Maritime

FrontM is on a mission to be the EDGE-intelligent app marketplace where the world goes to connect, inform and care for remote teams and customers. The innovation focuses on overcoming digital poverty in remote and isolated environments, such as the Blue Economy. The World Bank defines the blue economy as the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem.”

FrontM’s initial use cases include the maritime commercial shipping market, particularly transforming shore-ship team collaboration, automation of workflows, crew safety and welfare.

FrontM is proud to be recognized by Innovate UK and receiving a grant to study the feasibility of integration of Edge AI enablement technology from Hammer Of The Gods (HOT-G). HOT-G is a Palo Alto, California based deep-tech startup, building the infrastructure and developer experience tools for observability, security and monitoring for edge computing. This integration accelerates FrontM’s distributed software infrastructure and paves the way for innovative AI-enabled edge applications in its app-marketplace.

A market research report, written during 2021 by consultancy company Thetius and sponsored by the Inmarsat Research Programme, estimated that by 2030 the digital maritime industry will be worth $345 billion, up from a previous forecast of $279 billion. It reported an explosion in the use of IoT and digital tools in maritime due to massive growth in consumer demand for e-commerce and the use of online booking platforms for shipping freight.

Centralising data in the cloud is a big challenge in maritime due to a combination of factors – the bandwidth constraints in transporting the entire data set from ship to shore, the proliferation of IoT and the generation of more data from each sensor than what is required. While enabling inference from data at the edge can address some of the challenges, deploying AI on constrained devices is today prohibitively complex and expensive compared to developing and deploying AI models on the cloud.

HOT-G’s embedded machine learning orchestration tools combined with FrontM’s programmable app framework seek to address these technological challenges by taking advantage of FrontM’s tools to accelerate maritime digitalisation across a broad range of applications ranging from safety, remote assistance, surveys, predictive analytics and crew welfare.

Enquiries: Anne-Marie Barclay, anne-marie@frontm.com

About Innovate UK

Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For further information visit innovateuk.gov.uk.

London Startup FrontM partners with Inmarsat and VIKAND to Develop COVID-19 Healthcare Information Hotline for Maritime workforce

FrontM, a collaboration software provider to the maritime and aviation industries, announced their collaboration with global satellite telecommunications giant Inmarsat and VIKAND, a global, maritime medical operations and healthcare solutions provider, to provide seafarers with immediate access to a COVID-19 healthcare hotline. This service will deliver vital frontline medical information to the shipping industries and seafaring workforce at a time when they need it the most.

The London based startup was approached by their partners Inmarsat and VIKAND to provide a telemed collaboration platform that would enable medical staff to provide remote and isolated maritime workers with access to COVID-19 related medical advice and support. This will help more vessels and shipping firms navigate the uncharted territories that their workforces face. In order to facilitate the hotline key development staff were directed from new projects to develop a scalable, secure and reliable web based video-conferencing solution that runs over a dedicated connectivity allocation connecting seafarers across the Fleet Xpress Inmarsat fleet with medical experts within a 2 week timeframe.  

“I am sure you are all aware of the battle the maritime industry has waged against COVID-19 to ensure that vital medical supplies and food shipments reach our shores whilst we all adhere to ‘Staying at home, to ‘Protect the healthcare system and Save lives' said Pradeep Roonwal, VP delivery and operations at FrontM. “That is why we are proud to announce the collaboration with our partners to provide seafarers with this hotline to ensure the immediate well-being and safety of our mariners. This is also a remarkable achievement for our development team who went above and beyond in order to meet the tight delivery timeframes”.  

Technology can sometimes be seen as having a detrimental impact on people’s well-being, however, FrontM focuses on building solutions that have a positive impact on society and the world at large, actively promoting tech for good. 

“By answering the call to arms by our partners Inmarsat and VIKAND we have been able to develop a powerful telemed solution that will help provide commercial seafaring vessels and their employees with quick and easy access to the COVID-19 medical information they need during these difficult times.  The longer-term collaboration with Inmarsat and VIKAND will help to provide a stable platform that will allow mariners to connect with expert telemed services, in order to improve the quality of their care and life whilst at sea.” said Kiran Venkatesh FrontM’s CEO. 

“We are delighted that FrontM and VIKAND will join Inmarsat in delivering this timely, relevant and requested information service to our Fleet Xpress clients,” said Marco Cristoforo Camporeale, Head of Digital Solutions, Inmarsat Maritime. 

“This is fully in line with our wider partnership vision to help resolve medical concerns quicker and allowing companies to respond earlier in case of medical emergencies,” said Mr. Camporeale. 

Brief Summary Bio about VIKAND & Inmarsat 

“By urgently providing this information hotline along with Inmarsat and FrontM we will offer vessel owners and Captains all over the world easy access to information to help give relevant medical information around COVID-19 at this difficult time. Over the longer term, our shared vision for the partnership with Inmarsat is to ensure a healthier environment onboard ships, early intervention when seafarers are not well and a rapid support system in the event of an emergency, utilizing the communication strength of Inmarsat.” said Peter Hult, CEO of VIKAND.

VIKAND is a leading global maritime healthcare solutions provider offering 24/7 medical management, consulting, biomedical equipment maintenance and sales, case and claims management, medical escort service, and air and surface decontamination solutions to the industry. 

VIKAND’s vision is to be the world’s leading expert in Maritime Health Care and VIKAND’s mission is to provide the highest quality, timely and most cost-effective Maritime Health Care possible. VIKAND strives to provide reliable services by skilled professionals supported by the most current technology. For more information, visit http://www.vikand.com.


Inmarsat is the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications. It owns and operates the world’s most diverse global portfolio of mobile telecommunications satellite networks, and holds a multi-layered, global spectrum portfolio, covering L-band, Ka-band and S-band, enabling unparalleled breadth and diversity in the solutions it provides. Inmarsat’s long-established global distribution network includes not only the world’s leading channel partners but also its own strong direct retail capabilities, enabling end to end customer service assurance.

The company has an unrivalled track record of operating the world’s most reliable global mobile satellite telecommunications networks, sustaining business and mission critical safety & operational applications for more than 40 years. It is also a major driving force behind technological innovation in mobile satellite communications, sustaining its leadership through a substantial investment and a powerful network of technology and manufacturing partners.

Inmarsat operates across a diversified portfolio of sectors with the financial resources to fund its business strategy and holds leading positions in the Maritime, Government, Aviation and Enterprise satcoms markets, operating consistently as a trusted, responsive and high-quality partner to its customers across the globe.