• Customer contract follows AERO-SATCOM’s appointment as GX Government Aero VAR

United Kingdom | December 6, 2016– AERO-SATCOM, the joint venture (JV) between Eclipse and NSSLGlobal, today signed an agreement with Inmarsat’s Global Government business unit which sees the JV appointed as Global Xpress (GX) Value Added Reseller (VAR) for the Government Aero market*. With Swift Broadband and Swift 64 distribution agreements previously signed, this latest development allows AERO-SATCOM to work alongside local partners to offer Inmarsat’s high performance Ka-band services. AERO-SATCOM’s first provisioning of aeronautical GX services will be through a local government-focused Inmarsat Service Provider for a fleet of Europe-based head of state aircraft.

The head of state aircraft retrofit begins in December with the service expected to be fully operational from February 2017. AERO-SATCOM will add value to the core GX service by supporting the delivery of onboard solutions developed by Eclipse that provide on-board bandwidth management, bandwidth optimisation and credit card payments for passenger internet access.

Shaun Flanagan, Sales Director, AERO-SATCOM said: “By using its globally available high throughput end-to-end satellite network, Inmarsat’s aeronautical GX Ka-band service brings higher levels of connectivity to aircraft, enabling video conferencing, seamless web browsing, live video streaming and file downloads. However, the aero global government market rarely wants a ‘standard’ package and values the expertise of AERO-SATCOM to add value through custom technologies that help them get the most from their data. Our ability to access a satcom laboratory installation of the aeronautical satcom system that supports Global Xpress gives AERO-SATCOM a big advantage in terms of better supporting customer demonstrations and developing these kind of custom-specific applications.”

Andy Start, President, Inmarsat Global Government, said: “For head of state aviation customers, the aeronautical GX service transforms the in-flight experience by offering a global on-board connectivity service that is secure, reliable and high-speed. AERO-SATCOM, with its perfect blend of experience, expertise and resources, is a key Value Added Retailer for the Inmarsat Global Government team and plays an important role in helping us roll out GX to this highly-specialised market.”

AERO-SATCOM meets the market need for an all-round aeronautical satellite communications company that bridges the gap between two complex industries; the Governmental Aircraft industry and government sector Mobile Satellite Services (MSS). The AERO-SATCOM team has the specialist skills required to meet all the technical, regulatory and commercial aspects of projects when customer requirements develop where these two industries overlap. AERO-SATCOM’s business model is based on creating strong partnerships with companies that can leverage its technical and regulatory skills with exposure to their local government markets.

Switched On And Connected, Sky High

Las Vegas, Paris, Geneva | October 10, 2011 — OnAir and Eclipse announced at NBAA today that Eclipse has been appointed as a reseller of OnAir’s new light-weight airborne connectivity solution. Mobile OnAir provides passengers with inflight mobile phone connectivity, as well as mobile data facilitating “office-in-the-sky” applications, via laptops and smart phones.

OnAir provides global coverage, based on a very wide network of regulatory authorisations and roaming agreements, combined with consistent global satellite coverage, thanks to Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband. The onboard hardware for OnAir’s solution consists of only two line replaceable units (LRUs) and provides the levels of connectivity that the business aviation and government sectors need. Eclipse will add the OnAir solution to their current portfolio of solutions for these markets.

Industry leader OnAir selected Eclipse as a partner because of Eclipse’s extensive provisioning of satellite hardware and services to the aviation market for the past 15 years.

Ian Dawkins, CEO of OnAir explained, “Eclipse’s strong standing in the business jet and government markets will allow OnAir to reach out to those sectors, and provide the level of service our customers demand”.

Marc Pinault, Eclipse General Manager commented, “We are proud to be working with OnAir to offer our customers the most up to date airborne connectivity options available today. Heads of State and VVIP passengers cannot afford to be out of contact during flights and the OnAir services allow the customer to maintain the level of connectivity they require using their mobile phone and data devices.”

In addition to providing equipment and airtime, OnAir and Eclipse are working with industry partners to develop and deliver additional Supplemental Type Certificates (STC) packages for a wide range of aircraft, covering hardware installations and electromagnetic transmission. Working closely with industry partners allows modification and completion centers to provide the cutting edge technology their customers demand while de-risking the projects by working with the leaders in this field.