Siren Marine hopes to ride ‘connected-boat’ wave

WAVE RIDER: Siren Marine CEO Daniel A. Harper hopes to revolutionize the connected-boat market with the MTC Pro, a new Cloud-based wireless system. / PBN PHOTO/ KATE WHITNEY LUCEY
WAVE RIDER: Siren Marine CEO Daniel A. Harper hopes to revolutionize the connected-boat market with the MTC Pro, a new Cloud-based wireless system. / PBN PHOTO/ KATE WHITNEY LUCEY

New Internet of Things technology developed by Siren Marine has the Newport-based company eyeing a leadership role in the evolving “connected-boat” market.

The 5-year-old marine-technology firm says wireless beta versions of its IoT Monitor Track Control Pro System will soon be afloat and providing private and government boat operators ashore and at sea instantaneous reports on the vital condition of their boats.

Daniel A. Harper, Siren Marine CEO and founder, describes the new MTC Pro as a “data-driven, Cloud-based wireless system that can talk to every electro-mechanical device on a boat, connect them to a central hub, analyze the resultant ‘big data’ in the Cloud and display the result on the owner’s smartphone.

“On a boat this is a major technological accomplishment made possible by our hardware, our proprietary Cloud and our proprietary apps that form the second generation of our system,” Harper said. “The MTC Pro not only flags the remote boat owner about problems, tracks with its GPS a leased or stolen boat at sea and enables remote control of accessories such as lights, HVAC and bilge pumps, but reports problem data to service providers and ongoing, immediate status reports to a boat operator at sea.”

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Harper called the product, “The full realization of the 21st-century connected boat.”

“We spent $1 million to develop MTC Pro,” he added. “Now we are raising $5 million in Series A venture capital, primarily to market it.”

Jonathan Banks, Siren Marine chief operating officer, and former executive director of Sail America, a U.S. sailing industry trade association, reports early plans to test the Beta MTC Pro on private boats, and possibly by the New York-New Jersey Port Authority.

“None of our principal competitors, such as GOST and Boat Command, can really match [the technology],” Banks said. “None of them have an IoT platform and technology built from the ground up as we do, and technologically this really defines what is possible.”

Banks says the basic new system is expected to be priced at $600, plus an annual $180 service fee.

Harper conceived the need and concept of Siren Marine products based on boat problems he faced over more than 20 years of maritime experience as a yacht captain and entrepreneur.

“You learn quickly how small problems become big problems and what those problems can do to you,” Harper said. “You really understand this when you arrive at your boat and it won’t start because shore power is dead, or its bilge pump is pumping in the wrong direction, or the HVAC isn’t working.

“That’s when you think about how great it would have been to have been told in advance,” he added. “It’s also a great comfort to be able to remotely turn on your air conditioning and bilge pumps before you arrive.

“And then, of course, there are the potentially costly challenges of finding your boat is half-sunk at its mooring, or it isn’t there at all because someone has stolen it,” he said.

Harper says that less than half of the estimated 6,000 boats stolen nationally each year are recovered. The MTC Pro is designed to track a boat the moment it gets underway, regardless of who is on the bridge.

Siren Marine developed the second generation of Harper’s original text-based product line with the outsourced help of Connected Development, an advanced IoT technology company in Cary, N.C. It also outsourced work on its Cloud technology to Leverege, in Baltimore, Md.

Siren’s staff in Newport is lean, and Harper forecasts holding it to “15 or 20 by the end of 2017, while sales rise rapidly with introduction of the second-generation system.”

Banks said the market for the “connected boat” in the U.S. by 2020 will be 7.5 million boats.

“Siren Marine’s business plan conservatively targets expected sales to 15 percent of the total – 530,000,” Banks said. “And maybe we can do 20 percent, in line with our expanded marketing plans. Revenue is conservatively forecast to rise to $40 million by 2020-21; total subscribers to 100,000 – up from 1,200 today.”

The company is seeking to build a global network of dealers. It also seeks to expand sales to commercial fleets, boat-lease fleets and government-security boats. It also seeks to meet new boating needs.

“For example, we can provide a major benefit to the boat-leasing business in regard to its insurance costs and liability,” Harper said. “Our GPS puts a geo-fence around a leased boat and reports if an accident has occurred in an area it was agreed the boat would not travel – a fairly common occurrence.

“We are truly poised for growth,” Harper said. “We plan to be the connected-boat market leader.” •

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