Yes. It’s out dated, a waste of time, and a source of unnecessary aggravation.
Yes, needs to move to local cell systems on your vessel and you dial 911 on your phone.
Local cell computer adds the vessel data and your good to go.
An industry insider told me this years ago.
Change in the IMO?
The silly old farts cant even use computers so what chance to change?
I think it was outdated almost from its inception. I’ve always thought the system should have been PC based. Easy and intuitive.
VERY outdated. For HF especially there are vastly better protocols assuming we still even need HF-DSC. Meanwhile every single distress call I hear on VHF has the rigamarole of where are you who are you etc. etc. and I have had the DSC distress alert go off exactly one time in about a decade and that was an accidental button push 
VHF and HF DSC goes off lots in asia, mostly from Vietnam and China
Well, when you consider how long radiotelegraph stations were on vessels (into the late 90s). . . there is a certain amount of inertia in bringing new technology to the maritime industry. Not surprising with how quickly technology evolves now, and the timeline of getting systems approved by global regulators. . . .
The way I read the linked article in the OP it has nothing to do with the equipment on the ship but rather how the data collected is to be used. Perhaps someone is being paid to do some “big data” wizardry or some such.