UK Marine electronics company, Digital Yacht, has been given the honour to receive the highly respected prize after 2011 Technology Award from the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) held in a beautiful charter destination Florida, for its incredible navigation server, BOATraNET, which allows to go through onboard navigation data wirelessly, using any common browser based device.

UK manufacturer, Digital Yacht, received the prize at this weekend’s 2011 NMEA International Marine Electronics Conference & Expo at Fort Myers in Florida. Since its launch at London Boat Show in January, BOATraNET has generated a great deal of interest among journalists and boaters alike.  Not only can it be used for the practical and safety side of boating, but it is also a great entertainment system too.

BOATraNET connects to existing marine electronic systems and networks and makes the data available to any mobile WiFi enabled device such as an iPhone, iPad, Android tablet or phone as well as MACs and PCs.  In fact, any product with a HTML 5 compatible internet browser can connect and view GPS, instrument and navigational data, see the vessel’s position and next waypoint on the embedded Navionics electronic charts, as well as access the central multi-media file database, which is ideal for storing manuals for the equipment on board.  BOATraNET boasts some fun features too, allowing users to upload and listen to music, view photographs and read eBooks.  No specialist software, apps or downloads are required as all data is displayed in the browser and delivered by the inexpensive BOATraNET server.  And what is more no internet connection is needed as BOATraNET creates its own WiFi hotspot, so it will work wherever you are sailing in the world.

“For a UK company to receive this award which takes innovation, technology and value into account is a huge accolade and a massive credit to the team who have worked hard for nearly two years to bring this product to market,” commented Nick Heyes, CEO of Digital Yacht.

“BOATraNET will help the whole marine electronics sector grow as it’s symbiotic with all leading systems and links marine electronic devices to the latest range of consumer products,” added Nick who received the trophy at the weekend.

Digital Yacht employs over 35 staff in its UK, USA, New Zealand and Shanghai offices and has dealers established worldwide. The development of BOATraNET has been led by Chief Technology Officer, Paul Sumpner, and Chief Architect, Tan Chen, and his team of 10 software developers and programmers.

The panel of judges were particularly impressed with BOATraNET’s capabilities for the future, especially the user development area for custom features and heralded its capabilities for boat builders wanting to e-enable their boats.