Zodiac Inflight Innovations at AIX was all smiles this year, and why not? Rod Farley’s team of Larry Girard and Harry Gray has chalked up some 26 new airlines for RAVE the past couple years by offering a product with one of the best screen image qualities we have ever seen on a seatback unit. We are sure price is also another feature and that makes airlines say “yes” to RAVE. The Zodiac Inflight Innovations Team has brought Mr. RAVE along for a few years now and they now have stand alone and integrated hardware such as those with the TriaGnoSys products like RAVE Wireless. But lets start at the beginning: firstly we should point out that RAVE comes in 3 flavors – RAVE CENTRIC (the seatback version), RAVE WIRELESS (the service for your portable entertainment device), and RAVE CELLULAR (the service for your phone). Secondly, and before we forget, RAVE came about as a business strategy – Reliable, Affordable, and Very Easy. From what we have heard from airlines, the products are working in aircraft “as advertised.”
Harry Gray told us that, “Our customers are consistently very happy with RAVE CENTRIC. Not only are we signing up more new airline customers, but existing customers want to extend our IFEC solutions across their fleets.”
Let’s look at all three in a little more detail. The data sheets from the Zodiac Inflight Innovations folks state: “Now airlines can choose from multiple features and capabilities to keep their passengers entertained and engaged during flight. Our product line provides our customers with a modular concept that can be tailored to each airlines needs, making it “very easy” for them to pick and choose which features are most important to them and their passengers.” The 3 product lines can be used on aircraft singularly or in a “mix & match” approach. This makes the IFEC solution flexible and allows for a solution on an airline with one-hour flights to differ from an International flight that could include all three.
RAVE CENTRIC is the headliner that provides inseat/overhead entertainment screens all connected via Ethernet throughout the cabin. This includes crew panel screens, which are interchangeable with the passenger screens of the same size. The entertainment content can be updated daily via an SD Card or USB drive by the crew while the built-in cell modem handles airline operational data offloads from the IFE system. Theatrical content loads are delivered to each seat via their content loader (System Control Unit) and can take place on the ground and even in the background during flight. Both Airbus and Boeing aircraft are flying with RAVE CENTRIC and airlines like the simple addition of one LRU in each seat for both installation ease and testing and replacement ease. Reliability is enhanced in the stand-alone in-seat units by the use of solid state memory and this is one of the reasons over 100 planes now are flying with this system and is a past Crystal Cabin Award winner. And yes, RAVE is now line fit offerable as well.
Two things stood out in the seatback system for us: USB charging available in each of the seatback displays and the INCREDIBLE quality of the screen displays. The in-seat HD displays, available in 17”, 15”, 12” and 9”, all have SD memory cards. Larry Girard told IFExpess, “We built in new intuitive screen controls that are more “swipe driven” and with our slide-up panel, pull down menus, and slide button controls, we mimic mainstream devices, which is one of our goals.” Aside from the new intuitive touch screen interface there’s a wireless option that we will talk about later.
The System Control Unit has a lot going for it, just look at some of the features:
- A single major LRU in the head-end
- Under 50 watts and 3.5kg weight
- 12 Terabyte capacity with built-in “load & go” content loading, even during flight
- Wireless data transfers at the gate
- Broadcast Moving Map (option)
- Supports all aircraft standard interfaces for PSS, PA, VA, Connecting Gate, etc.
- Qualified to DO-160 requirements
Let’s now move on to RAVE WIRELESS, available today. An airline that features short / medium haul operations or has customers who demand personal device entertainment will find RAVE WIRELESS a solution looking for users. This would be a good place to mention that this RAVE solution has a bit of development history combined in its background, as TriaGnoSys brought a lot of connectivity history to the party when Zodiac Aerospace purchased the company in September 2013. From an operational point of view, no app is required so users don’t have to download any application before the flight – Wi-Fi is streamed via an open network. This can also be pass-code protected for a pay per access or pay per view option. As a browser based connectivity device, the system allows any PED with Safari, Chrome, Opera, Firefox, (and so on) to be up and running with one URL entry. We asked about equipment requirements for a 200-passenger plane and 3 WAPS will fill the bill. The system shuts down automatically when wheels touch the ground. We understand that RAVE WIRELESS has a couple customers already and a fleet of aircraft goes into service this month.
RAVE CENTRIC and RAVE WIRELESS can also work together to enable passengers to use dual screens. Most obviously, they can have both a film showing on one screen and the Internet – social media, for example – running on the other. But what Zodiac Inflight Innovations has done in addition is to incorporate pairing, so both screens work together. That means passengers can swipe content from one screen to the other, and back again. It is just like having two linked screens on your desk.
Lastly we should mention a bit about RAVE CELLULAR, the international voice, SMS, and Data services provided through connectivity service providers, with billing, as with international roaming, coming though each passenger’s home mobile network operator. From a hardware perspective:
- CCU (Communication Control Unit) hardware is integrated with RAVE Cellular, RAVE Broadband, and RAVE Wireless in one cost effective LRU weighing approximately 5kg
- Antenna – leaky line or dipole antennas are required in-plane
- NCU (Network Control Unit) creates a usable airborne environment for GSM voice and data services
- CCP (Cabin Crew Panel) provides cabin crew and maintenance control functions as well as system and BIT status
This solution pretty much fits the bill for any airline in the world wishing IFE and/or connectivity and the Zodiac Inflight Innovations RAVE family boasts enough aircraft installations to call them one of the IFE contenders in the race to fill space with IFEC!
In case you slept thru the holidays you might be the last one in IFE to hear about the news: Zodiac has issued a letter of intent (LOI) to purchase seat-centric IFE system manufacturer, IMS. The deal should conclude by year-end, and from what we hear, Joe Renton is thrilled about the company and the agreement (Note: No purchase price was announced). The large French aerospace conglomerate has had a busy year and a financially rewarding one to boot. They recently purchased Heath Tecna and Contour (seating), and IFE is even more clearly in their sight as they have already put a system forward with Sicma, a previous acquisition. We understand that IMS will stay in Brea, California and present-day thinking is to keep the 250-person company intact. Further, we believe that the leadership team will remain unchanged. No doubt, naming and branding will come to the table as soon as the deal is done. We should also note that all IMS products and services (including the Northwest service operations) are included in the deal. IFExpress understands that the sales and marketing organizations will be the first to increase headcount (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). In these kinds of deals, a careful look is usually taken at the two products currently in production (RAVE & SiT) to determine a way forward and, as one insider told IFExpress, product manufacturing locations will be based upon what makes the most sense. We like the potential of a closer proximity and business relationship to Airbus too as the possibility of line-fit operations might be in the offing, not to mention early retrofit requirement knowledge.
While the IMS company spokesman was hesitant to provide much in the way of market detail, we see great value for existing and new customers based on the successful Zodiac history of acquisition and their strong balance sheet. This fiscal year, Zodiac increased sales revenue by almost 26% (Tot: 3.4 B Euros) while current operating income was also up 26.4%. If you think that growth might be an anomaly, Zodiac has had 9 straight quarters of double-digit growth! Can your IFE company say the same? It looks to us like Zodiac is majoring in single-aisle retrofit capability and may see a spurt coming in that business market. With airline employees spread thin, a package retrofit turnaround deal could be a winner for the airlines, especially with increased passenger traffic returning to the travel market.
On another note:
In case you got wind of a good size Lumexis headcount reduction… forget it! We called CEO Doug Cline and he vigorously rejected the rumor. “In fact, if anything, we have more going on today with new content services, Wi-Fi sales and marketing, new hardware installations, and ramped-up marketing efforts around the globe. Of course,” he noted, “with our founding strategy of outsourcing most engineering and manufacturing, it may look like reductions to some in the industry as we realign to current needs. But we have continuously maintained and grown our core of talented management since opening our doors.” Doug also told us to tell our readers that there may be a few announcements soon that will nail the door shut on these rumors. Nuff Sed!
News from Burbank and the APEX TC has been trickling in and we have a few inputs that are a result of the two-day work there. The meeting was hosted by Technicolor in its on-site theater, and the topics and speakers were great – here’s a sampling, and you can see most of the presentations posted online:
· The keynote was presented by Vince Pizzica, Technicolor’s Head of Corporate Parternships and Ventures. Among other things, he highlighted the increasing usage of “second screens” (using Internet while watching TV, etc.), especially among the younger generation.
· A panel for the topic of “Content is Still King” focused on non-traditional audio and video content, such as GeoRadio, MondoWindow, Royal Geographical Society, as well as in-flight gambling. Dan Harris of FlightBet said that losses should be capped at about $350/flight and winnings capped $3500/flight… cha-ching!
· Andy Beer of Inflight Productions gave a very insightful presentation that explained the possible tele-cine artifacts that can get into MPEG movies.
· Eric Diehl of Technicolor gave an excellent overview of the types of security used to secure content: control, protect, trace, and scout.
· Bryan Rusenko led the session on HD Video specs being added to APEX Standard 0403. The TC adopted this spec (version 1.3) and it has now been forwarded to the Board of Directors for adoption consideration. (Editor’s Note: The Board did not approve the spec when we went to press as they wanted to give them sufficient time to review. It will be voted on during the next Board meeting in June (via teleconference) so we are told.)
· Sam Carswelll of IMS gave an excellent presentation on IMS’ RAVE system and its installation status on 10 airlines.
· “How do Satellite Systems Really Work” was presented by Dave Brunnenmeyer of Boeing Space and Defense, and Peter Lemme of Mobile Prime Time.
· Stephan Shulte of LH Technik and Anthony Pilcher of Armstrong Aerospace gave a nice overview of the challenges with integrating and certifying wireless systems onboard.
· “Payment Technologies” continued to present new ways to use smart cards, and Google Wallet and Dynamics Inc. showed the latest and greatest in electronic credit cards.
· The meeting wrapped up with a large panel discussion on “Wireless IFE and Portables” led by Mary Kirby of APEX Media.
One conference-goer wrote IFExpress; “This was another great meeting for educational content, with equally great networking and a most enjoyable setting in the Technicolor theater. The theater was ideal for the playing of movie trailers from the major studios, preceding each of the breaks – making it one of the most memorable TC meetings in recent memory.”
See what you missed!
(Editors Note: On another interesting and somewhat related note that came in from a reader read as follows: “Technicolor, the sponsor of the APEX TC Event is apparently pursuing handheld device patent violators aggressively, according to CNN?”)
Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!
This rumor is so juicy, we had to resurrect our old feature: News from Europe tells IFExpress that IMS has closed a deal for almost 100 wide-body IFE systems. You know how sources exaggerate, however, we think the buy is over 80 planes. Imagine, almost 160 wide body aircraft sales in the last 18 months, and if so, the old IFE paradigm is shifting. Here’s how: If the IMS RAVE product is a considerably less expensive than current inseat video systems (some say up to 50% cheaper) there are two interesting possibilities. One: If IMS has a banner year, those industry total-year- revenue-prognosticators will have to ratchet down their total $ estimates, even though the number of seat IFE sales stays roughly the same. Two: On the other hand, if per seat price for IMS RAVE IFE is lower, bringing new customers (regionals, etc.) into the fray, we might see a jacking-up of the yearly total revenue numbers. If you get hung up on Keneysian economics, this might break the model – lower price competitors and new market entrants could cause the supply and demand equilibrium point to go either way. Having said that, all we know for sure is that a new paradigm shift in IFE is very likely on the way if the IMS troops can deliver what they say. Stay Tuned! “
Brea, CA (November 16, 2009) – For the third consecutive year, The IMS Company, a diverse technology solutions provider focusing on communications and entertainment solutions in the aerospace, government and travel markets, has been named to the list of “100 fastest-growing private companies” in tech-heavy Orange County, California, by the Orange County Business Journal (OCBJ), IMS chairman and CEO Joseph Renton has announced.
“In view of the overall economic downturn, and the severity of the inflight entertainment and communications sector in particular, we are pleased to continue being among Orange County’s fastest-growing,” said Renton.
Earlier this year, IMS expanded its operations with the acquisition of FlightDeck Resources, a leading provider of Electronic Flight Bag solutions to commercial airlines, corporate aviation, air cargo and aircraft fleet operations worldwide. With that acquisition, IMS created “IMS FlightDeck” as an operating division along with IMS Engineering and IMS Entertainment, said Renton.
The company expanded its In Flight Entertainment and Communications (IFEC) product offerings in 2009 with the announcement at the WAEA Conference and Exhibition in Palm Springs, California, of a light-weight, low-cost embedded IFEC system that “leaves the head-end-centric architecture behind” says Renton. Called RAVE™, this system is architected so that all content, applications and playback capabilities reside at each seat rather than at the head-end.
IMS also recently announced a new generation of embedded data loaders utilizing solid state technology that offer significantly faster content load speeds, increased storage capacity, and the ability to interface with multiple IFE systems. “Migration from the Removable Hard Disk Drive (HDD) to Solid State (SD) media is definitely paradigm-changing,” says Renton.
IMS continues to be a key engineering solutions provider on complex programs such as Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS), On Board Network Services program, for 787 and 747-8 aircraft and highly specialized engineering for numerous unmanned vehicle platforms.
Founded in 1996, The IMS Company is an entertainment and communications solutions provider in the travel industry and a systems and software solutions provider to the aerospace industry and the military. Organized into three business units, IMS serves more than twenty commercial airlines with portable entertainment, wireless communications, and content management services via IMS Entertainment. Via IMS Engineering, the company provides advanced systems and software engineering support in the development and deployment of the latest in inflight entertainment, cabin avionics, and media distribution systems, as well as engineering services and software development services to unmanned vehicles and software-defined radios. The recent acquisition of Flight Deck Resources resulted in the creation of a third unit, IMS Flight Deck, which provides Electronic Flight Bag and other solutions for the flight deck. IMS has expanded into the provisioning of content services and hardware solutions for business aviation, rental car, rail passenger, and related markets reaching the traveling public.
For more information see: www.imsco-us.com.
Skip the cheesy byline, RAVE by IMS is the paradigm shifter we referred to last issue. Dubbed “Reliable Audio Video Entertainment,” RAVE is best described as a “seat centric” embedded IFE system that is focused on the seat display unit in front of each passenger—not the plethora of traditional distribution LRU’s through the aircraft or the head end servers interconnected by a miles of wires. The RAVE system is built from only two major LRUs compared to traditional IFE systems that require ten or more major LRUs to deliver the passenger entertainment. The RAVE System, as far as we can see, is a next generation IFE solution targeted to address current embedded IFE system shortcomings (cost, reliability, weight, crew manageability) while providing equal functionality.
IMS has been a solutions provider in the IFE industry for almost 15 years. During this time they have successfully deployed the industry-leading onboard content & data loading solution, as well as becoming the leading provider of portable in-flight entertainment solutions. They have also been providing engineering systems and software support to different OEMs for airborne connectivity and embedded IFE systems.
RAVE is a uniquely architected embedded solution that provides autonomous seat display units, operating with either a wired or wireless communications backbone, with each containing all applications and content. This means that there is no dependency on any other LRUs to deliver a full and rich AVOD experience to the passenger. Traditional IFE system store passenger application, entertainment content and playback capabilities at the head end and depend on the entire distribution chain to deliver the experience to the passenger. If one head end LRU were to fail, or if one distribution LRU were to fail, many seats are rendered inoperative.
The RAVE SDU has an input for power and an input for Gigabit Ethernet. With the wireless communications backbone option, the wired Gigabit Ethernet input is eliminated. Content is loaded to the SDUs via Ethernet from the System Control Unit (SCU). The SCU is the single head-end LRU that provides aircraft interfaces along with content loading features. This LRU is based on the very successful IMS Terminal Data Loader (TDL) with improvements and modification to integrate within RAVE.
IMS has carefully listened to airlines and addressed the inevitable seat failure scenario. They’ve heard more than once that their PMPs are more reliable than embedded solutions. With RAVE, if a SDU were to fail, the airline has the option of allowing crew members to exchange the failed unit with a spare carried onboard the aircraft—just like with PMPs. The replacement SDU will snap right into the seat back and be ready to go, with no delay. This feature alone will have flight crews used to dealing with failed traditional embedded IFE standing to cheer as they now have a remedy for unhappy customers.
The design and development of seat centric IFE system that meets all regulatory requirements is not a trivial task. Many IFE ventures in the past have tried this approach and have failed. Why will IMS succeed where others have failed? Joe Renton, IMS Founder & CEO noted, “IMS has leveraged new technology, ten-plus years of IFE experience, and years of airline feedback to design and develop an extremely reliable IFE solution. Airlines now have the choice to install a lighter, more reliable, and more cost effective IFE solution.”
The IFExpress take on RAVE is that it is targeted for that portion of the market that is not served, or has been poorly served, by the “big dogs” in the industry—that is, those airlines who can’t afford traditional embedded IFE or those who have had less than favorable experiences with traditional embedded IFE. IMS has focused on creating a highly reliable IFE system that is available at a disruptive price and from what we can tell, they have hit their mark.
RAVE Block Diagrams (Adobe PDF - Click to View)
IMS rolled out RAVE for this past WAEA and but didn’t have time to develop brochures, however we talked them into providing system level block diagrams and you can find them here.
Brea, CA (September 29, 2009)— British Airways recently announced that its new Club World London City service to New York’s JFK beginning today will be equipped with portable media players from The IMS Company, providing inflight entertainment to the all 32 of the Business Class-only passengers onboard two A318 aircraft. IMS continues to be the premier provider of portable IFE solutions to the world’s major airlines, says Harry Gray, vice president sales and marketing for IMS.
The IMS portable media players are integrated into a brand new business class seat. This type of seat installation allows the passenger a hands-free operation and full use of the tray table for meal and beverage services. The PAV705’s sleek styling, small and compact size, as well as low weight allows for a simple, cost effective and elegant semi-embedded seat installation benefiting the airline and their passengers.
Several airlines are now using IMS portable media players in a semi-embedded configuration, allowing for the PMPs to be installed in a seat arm or seatback installation. IMS has worked with airlines and various seat manufactures providing a variety of innovative and effective designs to incorporate our players into the seats in both single and twin aisle aircraft, as well as economy class seats.
At WAEA, IMS will have examples of its semi-embedded installations for our portable media players, as well as some new concepts. Gray invites airlines to visit booth 1325 at WAEA for a closer look.
Founded in 1996, The IMS Company is an entertainment and communications solutions provider in the travel industry and a systems and software solutions provider to the aerospace industry and the military. Organized into three business units, IMS serves more than twenty commercial airlines with portable entertainment, wireless communications, and content management services via IMS Entertainment. Via IMS Engineering, the company provides advanced systems and software engineering support in the development and deployment of the latest in inflight entertainment, cabin avionics, and media distribution systems, as well as engineering services and software development services to unmanned vehicles and software-defined radios. The recent acquisition of Flight Deck Resources resulted in the creation of a third unit, IMS Flight Deck, which provides Electronic Flight Bag and other solutions for the flight deck. IMS has expanded into the provisioning of content services and hardware solutions for business aviation, rental car, rail passenger, and related markets reaching the traveling public. In 2008, IMS was named the 14th fastest-growing privately-held company in technology-heavy Orange County, California by the Orange County Business Journal, up from the 24th fastest-growing in the 2007 survey.
For more information see: www.imsco-us.com.
About The IMS Company:
Founded in 1996, The IMS Company is an entertainment and communications solutions provider in the travel industry serving planes, trains and automobiles. The Entertainment Group has a focus on portable entertainment, wireless communications, and content management services, while the Engineering Group focuses on systems and software development. Historically, the company’s core business is the provision of advanced systems and software engineering support to aerospace companies in the development and deployment of the latest in inflight entertainment, cabin avionics, and media distribution systems. IMS has expanded into the provisioning of content services and hardware solutions for business aviation, rental car, rail passenger, and related markets reaching the traveling public. In 2007, IMS was named the 24th fastest-growing privately-held company in technology-heavy Orange County, California by the Orange County Business Journal. See: www.imsco-us.com.
To be known as “IMS Flight Deck”, the new division provides Electronic Flight Bag solutions
Brea, CA (April 22, 2009)—The IMS Company, an entertainment and communications solutions provider to inflight entertainment , aerospace and travel industry markets, has announced the acquisition of Flight Deck Resources (FDR), a leading provider of Electronic Flight Bag solutions to commercial airlines, corporate aviation, air cargo, general aviation and aircraft fleet operators worldwide.
FDR, which will now be known as IMS Flight Deck, will join IMS Entertainment and IMS Engineering as a division within The IMS Company, according to IMS chairman and CEO Joseph Renton.
“As a result of the acquisition, we have synergistically expanded our product reach and will now have the ability sell products and services to our customers not only in the cabin of the aircraft but also in the flight deck,” said Renton. “It is our ongoing strategy to find ways to prudently grow our business and we see the FDR acquisition as one of those ways.”
A number of FDR’s executives and employees joined IMS Flight Deck and have moved into IMS’ facilities in Brea, California, thus ensuring a smooth and efficient transition for current customers. “As a turnkey Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) solutions provider, FDR—now IMS Flight Deck—is a single source for EFB hardware, software, mounting, and certification,” said Renton. The acquisition is part of a strategic initiative to provide an integrated package of products and services that are comprehensive and complementary, Renton commented.
IMS provides portable entertainment solutions, applications, wireless communications, cabin avionics, media distribution systems, content delivery network services, content and data-loading solutions, and advanced systems and software engineering services, according to Renton. “The ability to provide a comprehensive solution set for the flight crew and the flight deck of the aircraft further demonstrates our commitment to a robust and compelling set of aircraft solutions,” he said.
IMS Flight Deck offers the SkyTab Electronic Flight Bag product line in addition to its proprietary EFB software applications. These Flight Deck Management Systems (all single piece Class 1 and Class 2 portable EFBs under FAA AC-120-76A) are capable of hosting and displaying navigational charts, digital terminal procedures charts, GPS data, company policies, documents, aircraft manuals, and preflight planning applications. They also perform exceedingly complex functions such as performance calculations, satellite communications, display of real-time weather information, and airport moving map applications, said Renton.
Despite the current economic environment, The IMS Company, the leading provider of inflight portable entertainment solutions, has continued to operate on sound footing, according to Renton. Earlier this month IMS announced a large portables sale and three year support agreement to supply portable media players (PMPs), ground-based delivery infrastructure, and recurring content management services for Kuwait Airways, and another sale for PMPs and content management services to Air Gabon.
About The IMS Company: Founded in 1996, The IMS Company is an entertainment and communications solutions provider in the travel industry and a systems and software solutions provider to the aerospace industry and the military. IMS serves more than twenty commercial airlines with portable entertainment, wireless communications, and content management services, as well as the provision of advanced systems and software engineering support in the development and deployment of the latest in inflight entertainment, cabin avionics, and media distribution systems. IMS also provides engineering services and software development services to unmanned vehicles and software-defined radios. IMS has expanded into the provisioning of content services and hardware solutions for business aviation, rental car, rail passenger, and related markets reaching the traveling public. In 2008, IMS was named the 14th fastest-growing privately-held company in technology-heavy Orange County, California by the Orange County Business Journal, moving up from 24th fastest-growing in the 2007 survey.
For more information see: www.imsco-us.com.
Despite the economic downturn, The IMS Company is continuing a pattern of strategic growth initiatives with this week’s announcement that IMS has acquired Flight Deck Resources, a leading provider of turnkey Electronic Flight Bag solutions. As IMS chairman Joe Renton points out, this strategic acquisition enables IMS to “sell products and services to our customers not only in the back of the aircraft but also in the front of the aircraft.” This extends IMS’ product reach from passenger services to flight crew services, an area in which IMS has previously offered only applications and not a full suite of solutions, and increases IMS’ presence in the business aviation and air cargo markets.
Upon absorption into the IMS infrastructure, Flight Deck Resources becomes “IMS Flight Deck”, an operating division of The IMS Company alongside IMS Entertainment and IMS Engineering. “The acquisition is part of a strategic initiative to provide an integrated package of products and services that are synergistic and complementary,” Joe Renton told IFEXpress.
IMS Flightdeck will now offer the SkyTab Electronic Flight Bag product line. These FlightDeck Management Systems are all single piece Class 1 and Class 2 portable EFBs under FAA-AC-120-76A, and are capable of hosting and displaying digital terminal procedural charts, GPS data, company policies, and preflight planning applications, as well as exceedingly complex functions such as performance calculations and display of real-time weather info.
Coming in the same month as its announcements of a large portables sale to Kuwait Airways, that included a three-year support deal and recurring content management services, as well as a portables sale to Air Gabon, IMS still maintains it primacy in the portables space, and is demonstrating an aggressive and strategic approach to the business, even while the broader market feels the downward pressure. “It is our perpetual intention to continue to find strategically sound and prudent ways to grow our business and extend our product reach,” Renton told IFEXpress. “This acquisition is one of them.”
March 24, 2009 (Brea, CA)—Gabon Airlines, based in Libreville, Gabon, will launch portable media players from The IMS Company in the second quarter of 2009 on routes from Libreville to France, the Congo, and South Africa in Business and Economy classes in an agreement made by IMS with Paris-based Groupe Nesse on behalf of Gabon Airlines, according to Harry Gray, IMS’ vice president sales and marketing.
The PAV-705 seven-inch touchscreen players will be utilized on B767 aircraft and will provide seven feature-length movies and video programming totaling 18 and a half hours, as well as audio content and games. The privately-owned airline began in November 2006.The IMS Company is providing the portable media players and accessories, the ground-based infrastructure, and turnkey content management services.
The IMS Company, the leading provider of portable entertainment solutions in the inflight entertainment industry, will be exhibiting their products in Hall B6, space #6B10 at the Aircraft Interiors Expo, March 31 to April 2 in Hamburg, Germany.
About The IMS Company:
Founded in 1996, The IMS Company is an entertainment and communications solutions provider in the travel industry and a systems and software solutions provider to the aerospace industry and the military. IMS serves more than twenty commercial airlines with portable entertainment, wireless communications, and content management services, as well as the provision of advanced systems and software engineering support in the development and deployment of the latest in inflight entertainment, cabin avionics, and media distribution systems. IMS also provides engineering services and software development services to unmanned vehicles and software-defined radios. IMS has expanded into the provisioning of content services and hardware solutions for business aviation, rental car, rail passenger, and related markets reaching the traveling public. In 2008, IMS was named the 14th fastest-growing privately-held company in technology-heavy Orange County, California by the Orange County Business Journal, up from the 24th fastest-growing in the 2007 survey.
For more information see: www.imsco-us.com.
March 23, 2009 (Brea, CA)—Kuwait Airways, the national airline of Kuwait, will begin using 7-inch touchscreen PAV705 portable media players from The IMS Company on May 1 on European and United States routes in First and Business Class cabins, according to IMS president, Rod Farley.
The players will be used on two B777, four A340, and five A300 aircraft. Over the three-year agreement, The IMS Company will provide several hundred media players and accessories, ground support equipment and recurring content management services.
“Kuwait Airways has selected the IMS PAV705 Portable Media Player as part of enhancing our First and Business Class Inflight Entertainment Service,” said Waleed Al Hooty, Assistant Director Onboard Services, Ground Handling Department, for Kuwait Airways Corporation. “IMS has been the only company to have a complete range of portable media players along with an extensive clientele. In this short period of time, IMS has proved their genuine commitment to providing excellent services to Kuwait Airways.”
Each portable device has a 160GB storage capacity and will contain over 284 hours of video content—including 72 movies—along with a large offering of audio content and games. A generous variety of Hollywood movies, Arabic movies, and Arabic and Hindi classic movies, along with news and current affairs, comedies, documentaries and sports programs, and Kuwaiti television are included as a part of the entertainment package provided to Kuwait Airways’ premium class passengers.
The PAV705 is the lightest weight, most compact and best value portable media player on the market today, according to Harry Gray, IMS vice president sales and marketing. These attributes along with its stylish ergonomic design and ease of use make it the most popular device in the airline market.
The leading provider of portable entertainment solution in inflight entertainment, The IMS Company will be exhibiting its products in Hall B6, space #6B10, at the Aircraft Interiors Expo on March 31 to April 2, 2009, in Hamburg, Germany.
About The IMS Company:
Founded in 1996, The IMS Company is an entertainment and communications solutions provider in the travel industry and a systems and software solutions provider to the aerospace industry and the military. IMS serves more than twenty commercial airlines with portable entertainment, wireless communications, and content management services, as well as the provision of advanced systems and software engineering support in the development and deployment of the latest in inflight entertainment, cabin avionics, and media distribution systems. IMS also provides engineering services and software development services to unmanned vehicles and software-defined radios. IMS has expanded into the provisioning of content services and hardware solutions for business aviation, rental car, rail passenger, and related markets reaching the traveling public. In 2008, IMS was named the 14th fastest-growing privately-held company in technology-heavy Orange County, California by the Orange County Business Journal, up from the 24th fastest-growing in the 2007 survey.
For more information see: www.imsco-us.com.
With tough IFE times ahead, we have been asking industry experts for their view on what is happening and going to happen in out corner of the aviation business. This week, we were looking for some input from an expert who has been there — been there by way of product development, engineering services, system development and content distribution. We found that person in Joe Renton.
IFEXpress: How can IFE companies remain viable at times of significant downturn — such as now? IFEXpress put this question to Joseph Renton, chairman and CEO of The IMS Company, an IFE solutions provider and the leading provider of IFE portables.
Renton: “Many successful companies have been created, and many have thrived in challenging economic times. Economic adversity often inspires us to be more innovative — to take chances, to look at problems and solutions differently, and try new ways of doing things. As a solutions provider, IMS is accustomed to innovating and trying new things, during both good and bad times.”
IFEXpress: An example?
Renton: “American Airlines showed unique vision in utilizing an embedded portable solution in a premium class cabin, after Alaska Airlines had demonstrated similar vision in opting for the very first portables solution in IFE. These are only two of many decisions that do, and will, shape tomorrow’s IFE solutions, not just the portables business. Our decision to leverage COTS (consumer off-the-shelf) technologies while everyone else was making big investments in proprietary products is yet another is approach to finding unique and compelling ways to apply portable technologies to the cabin, including semi-embedded approaches with portable products.”
IFEXpress: So, these are challenging times, what new ideas are you trying?
Renton: “First, we will always maintain our fiscal responsibility and innovate within our means. Having said that, everyone on our team is looking at ways to apply current and leading edge technologies in more cost effective ways. For instance, how do we apply our core technologies in ways that airlines can more cost effectively deliver passenger entertainment. How do we deliver feature rich entertainment for less. In that same spirit, how can we create more cost effective and reliable content delivery mechanisms in support of airlines’ and content providers’ requirements. Finally, and this isn’t new, we are proceeding through some significant self evaluation and identifying ways to reassert our corporate basics so that we can be assured that our own house is in order. In times such as these, so long as we continue to nurture a collaborative environment, our staff has always provided us with the innovations that we need to continue our success.”
IFEXpress: OK, that’s how you may behave in this environment — what advice do you have for buyers?
Renton: “The IFE industry at times resembles the fashion industry — buyers fall in love with the latest trends, new ideas that catch their eye, but some of which tend to not hold up very well over the passing of time — interesting solutions that just don’t include a viable business model. Do you remember when everyone was in love with the idea that onboard gaming was going to generate enough revenues to pay for all IFE and turn a big profit? Over the years we’ve heard expectations that telephone usage, advertising, device rentals, duty free sales, and onboard sale of entertainment would fully amortize IFE, or that onboard delivery of satellite television would completely replace all other IFE. It’s particularly easy to fall in love with new ideas that come with the promise that someone else will pay for them or that they will pay for themselves. But such expectations have yet to be fulfilled. As sellers we have to be innovative and imaginative while keeping our heads — and that’s good advice for buyers as well. Those who buy and sell solutions that are both innovative, cost effective and based in fiscal sanity will be those who likely survive in this environment.”
Power, Power, Power... it used to be location, location, location, but with the recent airline announcements to expand off-aircraft data services (internet, mobile phone, SMS, etc), Astronics is excited about the complementary nature of these systems with our world leading EmPower® in-seat PED power systems. Most airlines installing new data services on their aircraft are also expanding EmPower® into all seats on their fleet because they realize depleted passenger batteries do not make money.”