AWARDS 2022 | Best Intercom Supplier – Zenitel

This Norway-based has been renowned globally for decades for its high quality intercom, public address, alarm, speaker, and radio systems. It supplies them for every imaginable marine and terrestrial use.

At sea, these systems are fitted to vessels of all shapes and sizes as well as oil and gas rigs and fish farms to name a few.

"Our IP intercom solutions with enhanced audio quality can provide speech intelligibility even in the most demanding environments," Thomas Aas, Head of Marketing and Communications at Zenitel, told Baird Maritime. "Our intercom platform affords integrations with a large variety of other systems in order to give the customer a seamless and efficient operation. Each complete turnkey communication solution is tailored to each customer's needs."

In 2022, the company released an updated version of the main range of IP intercom stations to provide extended functionality and improved audio performance. Also, an updated version of the company's explosion-proof intercom stations was launched, and this included an option for the connection of an external loudspeaker with up to 25 W output.

"The year 2022 was a good year overall with an expected business increase of around eight per cent," added Aas. "Since our business is closely related to the construction of new vessels and retrofits of existing vessels, it follows the rates of vessels being built or retrofitted."

Aas said that Zenitel has been seeing that its product portfolio of various systems is becoming more complete, starting from our core products within public address and general alarm (PAGA) as well as intercom solutions to also include other offerings such as CCTV cameras, wireless communication, LAN and networking equipment, and info and entertainment solutions. Crew welfare is more and more important in certain markets, and the company realises there is a need to deliver more complete offerings to address this requirement in addition to satisfying the general demand in the market.

"We believe that the continued growth of IoT will have a large impact on the industry with increased focus on remote system management as well as intelligence and interoperability between systems," Aas told Baird Maritime when asked about the future of the marine electronics industry.

"Another major trend is the increased focus on cyber security and the introduction of maritime regulations and approval schemes for network security. In general, there is also a growing awareness around the importance of audio in interacting with technology as well as for providing support and guidance in critical situations."

For a list of the 2022 "Best Of" award winners, please click here.