ISTANBUL & PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Turkey’s leading shipping and container company, Arkas Line (part of Arkas Holding), is enhancing communications across its fleet and international offices with a hybrid network, Maritime Connect and security services from Orange Business Services. The solution helps Arkas expand its business with a single source provider for reliable and secure global networks, covered by SLAs and with global helpdesk support.

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Orange Business Services integrates Arkas' fleet of ships and international offices through hybrid network. (Photo: Business Wire)

The Orange Business Services hybrid network incorporates terrestrial and satellite connectivity, managed security and Business VPN Internet to connect 11 vessels and 25 land-based sites. It allows Arkas to securely manage growing internet traffic and create a better end-user experience for employees at all sites. The solution also enables worldwide application of security and governance policies.

Communication is a key criterion for crew members working and living far away from their families and friends for long periods of time. The hybrid network is optimized for unified communications and enables Arkas’ employees to use corporate applications, including voice, video and instant messaging communications securely across its entire global operation.

The on-board network is provided by the Orange solution Maritime Connect, which integrates the fleet seamlessly into Arkas’ corporate network. This enables Arkas to access critical applications for the operation of its vessels at sea, such as maintenance software, real-time reports, database access, e-mail, Internet and VoIP. Connecting the fleet also improves data flow between the fleet and terrestrial sites, and allows Arkas to deploy new real-time services. These include geolocation for its vessels, transmission of electronic data on the status of the fleet and monitoring consumables on each vessel.

“At Arkas, our objective was to find a solution with a powerful communications infrastructure integrating our fleet of vessels into the corporate network and to improve overall operational efficiency. Through this digital transformation, we have achieved higher service quality levels by using advanced technology to improve operational readiness and provide better end-user experience for our employees. The vessels are also better equipped to manage safety issues and ensure regulatory compliance, in close contact with the headquarters, quickly and effectively,” said Mert Oruz, CIO, Arkas Holding.

“The maritime sector is undergoing its own digital transformation, as network infrastructures are expanded and upgraded. This helps shipping companies manage their fleets more efficiently, achieve fuel savings, and also outsource more tasks to the shore. Orange Business Services is uniquely positioned to integrate technologies and networks with secure, end-to-end connectivity at sea and on shore,” said Luc Serviant, vice president – Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, Orange Business Services.

About Arkas Holding

Arkas is a company that has been in existence since 1902 and currently operates in many different fields, including, agency services, ship operations, port operations, logistics services that integrate sea, land, rail and air transportation as main fields and bunkering, automotive, insurance services, information systems and tourism.

Arkas Holding currently has 63 offices, 14 in Turkey and 24 in other countries. Arkas employs 7300 people in Turkey and outside of Turkey in 64 different companies. Arkas is a partner or a representative of 10 world-class companies in Turkey. Arkas has also been building a fleet of vessels since 1996, and its Merchant Marine Fleet currently boasts 45 vessels that make up Turkey’s largest container vessel fleet. The fleet also includes 5 bunker barges. Arkas Line, established with the purpose to be the first container shipping line in the private sector made up of vessels, currently provides scheduled service in the Mediterranean, Black Seas and West Africa with container vessels of the Arkas fleet. Arkas Line is ranked 20th in the world container fleet ownership according to Clarkson’s Research Company.

About Orange Business Services

Orange Business Services, the B2B branch of the Orange Group, and its 21,000 employees, is focused on supporting the digital transformation of multinational enterprises and French SMEs across five continents. Orange Business Services is not only an infrastructure operator, but also a technology integrator and a value-added service provider. It offers companies digital solutions that help foster collaboration within their teams (collaborative workspaces and mobile workspaces), better serve their customers (enriched customer relations and business innovation), and support their projects (enriched connectivity, flexible IT and cyberdefense). The integrated technologies that Orange Business Services offer range from Software Defined Networks (SDN/NFV), Big Data and IoT, to cloud computing, unified communications and collaboration, as well as cybersecurity. Orange Business Services customers include over 3,000 renowned multinational corporations at an international level and over two million professionals, companies and local communities in France.

Learn more at www.orange-business.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and our blogs.

Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with annual sales of 40 billion euros in 2015 and has 256 million customers in 29 countries at 30 September 2016. Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.

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