Based at Legana, the company uses software to connect with other ship simulators interstate for training purposes.

Monday’s event was meant to showcase PMI’s recent upgrade to gigabit internet, but with the connection still not ready, it was business as usual at the head office.

PMI director Jeffrey Hawkins said increased internet speed would allow the company to broaden its reach from interstate to overseas.

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“It means we will be able to provide global support, which will be huge for us,” he said.

“Recently, I had to fly over to Amsterdam to instruct people on how to use one of the simulators, which was a two week trip.

“With gigabit internet, I can do the same thing without having to leave Legana.”

Mr Hawkins said the update would also benefit buyers of the training equipment.

“It will take away a lot of the risk for people purchasing this equipment, because we can go in and run it for them,” he said.

“Some people want to just be users now in the sense they don’t want to learn the ins and outs of the software.

“If they just wanted to learn how to steer a ship into port, we could get their system up and running at a time that suited them and then be able to tell them if they did it correctly.”

On Monday, a training exercise at Sydney TAFE was used an example of how simulations can be controlled from PMI’s Legana office. 

Mr Hawkins said artificial intelligence within the software allowed for a collaborative learning approach.

“As soon as we log into their system, we can do everything except turn the wheel to steer the ship,” he said.

“This means we can see whether they are doing it correctly.

“We also have AI built in the software which monitors users.

“We can tell whoever is using it how steer the ship in a controlled way and then we can monitor on the system how well they have done.”

PMI’s fibre-to-the-premises connection is being facilitated by Launtel through the National Broadband Network’s Technology Choice program. 

Speaking at Monday’s demonstration, Launtel chief technical officer Damien Ivereigh said the connection was physically complete, but was waiting on configuration from NBN.