The Periskal group
of companies is owned by Marc
Persoons and Wim
Kalfsvel and is active
in the field of RIS.
It consists out of Tresco cvba,
Wuustwezel – Belgium, Tresco
Navigation Systems Belgium, Tresco
Rom srl Turnu-Severin Rumania and
Tresco Ukraine ltd, Kiev. The oldest
company, Tresco cvba was founded
in 1990 in Belgium.
Tresco cvba worked closely together
with the VUB, Free University of
Brussels, department Elec of Prof.
Van Biesen. Prof. Van Biesen was
that time already involved in digital
vector charts for survey work. At
the University the first digital
charts of the River Scheldt and
North See were developed. Soon the
need for a navigation program to
control this charts came up. The
first Tresco Inland ECDIS Viewer
program was born at the university
and tested with success in the field.
We are 1993 when Tresco took
part in the first maritime exhibitions
like Europort (Amsterdam –
the Netherlands) and HISWA (Amsterdam
– the Netherlands) The first
brochures where spread among interested
sailors. In 1994 it became clear
that development towards electronic
charting for inland waters was
the best opportunity. A second
company Tresco Navigation Systems
was started and took responsibility
for the sales of products in Western
– Europe. This activity
was taken over again in 2003 by
Tresco cvba. In 2004 new companies
were founded in Rumania and Ukraine
to serv better the local markets.
Also the network of distributors
was increased towards Switserland,
Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria.
Users in inland shipping
From 1994 on the first Tresco
Inland ECDIS Viewer systems for
navigation appeared in Inland
Shipping. The motorvessel Claudia
(inland tanker) on the River Scheldt
was the first one. In 1995 and
1996 the first systems on inland
rivers like the Rhine appeared.
This went together with the increased
availability of charts in inland
waters. Mid 1999 the 500th ship
was equipped with Tresco Inland
ECDIS Viewer . This event appeared
widely in the national press in
Belgium.
In 2001 the 1000th system of Tresco
Inland ECDIS Viewer was hand over
in the Netherlands to the Unitas
of Mr. Speksnijder. In 2002 all
software was renewed and the transfer
to ECDIS was made. All existing
charts were converted from the
older Microstation format into
Inland ECDIS s-57. In 2007 the
latest product Periskal Radar
Overlay was certified by the German
FVT. This product combines the
digital chart with the image of
the radar. Nowadays more than
3000 ships in Europe use products
from the Periskal group.
Used technology and strategic
partnerships
Early 1990’s the charting
technology was based upon Microstation
DGN format. The software development
was done in MDL, Microstation
development language. The charting
technology has been used till
2002. Then all charting activities
switched over towards the ‘Inland
ECDIS’ standard S-57. As
software an external kernel was
used from the middle 1996 till
2002 but theb abonded and replaced
by the Seven C’s Ecdis kernel.
This strategic partnership with
Seven C’s has lead to a
strong increase of the company
and the number of clients.
Distribution
Products of the Periskal group
are distributed in Europe by own
companies and distributors. A
complete list of distributors
can be found elsewhere on the
site. The biggest distributor
in the Benelux is Radio Holland
from Rotterdam, in Germany this
is Kadlec&Brödlin. Distribution
in Rumania is done by Tresco Rom
and in Ukraine by Tresco Ukraine.
Products of the Periskal group
are available in Belgium, the
Netherlands, France, Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, Hungary,
Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania
and Ukraine. Other countries can
be handled by the head office.
|
