• New Application Allows Passengers to Leverage Gogo’s In-Flight Wi-Fi to Enable Text & Voice Features on Passengers’ Own Smartphones

Itasca, IL | November 8, 2013– Gogo (NASDAQ: GOGO), the world leader of in-flight connectivity and a pioneer in wireless in-flight digital entertainment solutions, unveiled its new Text & Talk technology today. The new technology leverages Gogo’s in-flight Wi-Fi system to allow passengers to send text messages and make phone calls using their own smartphone much like they do on the ground.

To utilize Gogo Text & Talk, passengers will be required to download an App from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Once passengers have the App, they will be able to send and receive text messages in real time from 30,000 feet traveling in excess of 500 miles-per-hour.

“Gogo Text & Talk is just one more way Gogo is keeping airline passengers connected to their lives on the ground,” said Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo’s chief marketing officer. “While we see this as more of a text messaging product for commercial airlines in the United States, the phone functionality is something that some international air carriers and our business aviation customers are asking for.”

Gogo’s Text & Talk application serves as an extension of a GSM or CDMA cellular network, without the need to install picocells, which is a small cellular station that is often installed on planes to deliver similar services. This enables any smart phone user to roam onto Gogo’s in-flight Wi-Fi system as if they were roaming onto a land-based cellular network where they can continue to access their messaging and phone services anywhere a Gogo equipped aircraft flies.

“The great part about this technology is that it doesn’t require us to install anything new to an aircraft and we can bundle it with or without connectivity,” added ElDifrawi. “We have already launched the service with some of our business aviation customers and we are talking with our commercial airline partners about launching the service for their passengers.”

London, UK | November 1, 2013– The number of commercial aircraft providing either Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity will reach 4,048 by the end of 2013, representing 21 percent of the global fleet, according to the latest research published by IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS).

The penetration of wireless is up from 15 percent in 2012 and 12 percent in 2011, as presented in the attached figure. By 2022, wireless connectivity penetration in commercial aircraft is set to reach 50 percent.

Of the 4,000 aircraft estimated to offer at least one of the two forms of connectivity in 2013, approximately 75 percent offer Wi-Fi-only. Wi-Fi connectivity is particularly widespread among North American airlines.

“The rising availability of in-flight wireless connectivity comes at a time when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) moves to loosen its rules for the usage of electronic devices on flights,” said Heath Lockett, senior analyst for aerospace at IHS. “The proportion of passengers actually connecting to wireless services on board is still very low, average in the single-digit percentages. The great challenge for airlines now is to inform passengers of the services they offer and to get them to pay for access. With the change in FAA rules garnering major attention in the media, the airlines now have a chance to get their message out to U.S. air travelers.”

The rise in connectivity is not confined to the United States, however. Airlines around the world have rolled out a variety of connectivity options, utilizing a range of technology types and service providers. Although banned over North American airspace, cellular connectivity has grown across the rest of the world, with almost 600 aircraft projected to feature the technology by the end of 2013. Most passengers are using their cellphones for data services and text messaging as opposed to phone calls.

Several airlines—including Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines—have opted to provide both Wi-Fi and cellular services, which combined represent the fastest-growing category of in-flight connectivity. Of the 14,000 aircraft forecast to provide some form of connectivity by 2022, approximately 5,000 are projected to offer both Wi-Fi and cellular options.

The two-tiered system, popular in an array of other industries, is one in which users can opt either for a free or low-cost bandwidth-limited connection, or pay a premium for a guaranteed high-speed experience. When ViaSat launches its Exede service on JetBlue’s fleet later this year, it may well provide such a facility, allowing free access at a controlled bandwidth to all passengers, while providing its promised 12 megabits-per-second service for every passenger to those willing to pay a certain price. In theory, this would satisfy both the bulk of fliers who want to connect for free, as well as the few that may desire a high-quality connection.

As more aircraft are equipped with connectivity, and with service providers jostling to provide even greater connection speeds to address passenger demand for bandwidth, the future for in-flight connectivity looks set to soar.

Happy New Year to all our readers and we hope that 2013 will be a little bit better than 2012, actually a lot better.

As you might guess, this year will undoubtedly bring a lot of changes to this mad world if IFEC. Outside influences will be a big driver and economic conditions will still dictate the rate of change. Personal technology has never had so much influence on our business but this year, we are comfortable in predicting that we will see two major influences – Mobile and Other. Mobile is the eight-hundred-pound-gorilla and Other is just that, other influences like FAA rulings, economic conditions and who knows what else. For our efforts, we requested the thoughts of others in the IFE space and we hope this article gets you thinking.

Mobile

As the trend of mobile connectivity affects all of us, the only place travelers won’t be connected is on the plane!? Proof of this trend is evident in the smartphone world. Shipment revenues for smartphones are expected to reach $37 billion in 2013, with more than 125.8 million units shipping to retailers. This is up 16 percent from 2012. Tablet computers also are expected to see phenomenal growth.This year, unit sales of tablets are projected to surpass 105 million (up 54%), resulting in $35.6 billion in shipment revenue, up 22% year-over-year. And speaking of apps, Apple announced announced that customers have downloaded over 40 billion apps from the iTunes App Store, with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone. Recently it was announced that a record-breaking 17.4 million iOS and Android devices were activated on Christmas Day, leading to equally impressive downloads over the holidays. The week of December 25 through December 31 recorded the highest number of device activations and app downloads of any week in history. Some 50 million iOS and Android devices were activated during the holiday week and 1.76 billion applications were downloaded. The iOS app count is now over 775,000! By the end of next year, mobile internet traffic will surpass fixed and a lot of those users will be using them on planes. And we mean a lot! From a trend perspective, one Astronics sage told IFExpress, “More connectivity and more power!” We assume he means inseat power and he would know.

We also see the coming connectivity revolution with increased bandwidth, increased aircraft retrofits and increased interest by airlines. Gogo, Panasonic, Row 44 and others are rushing to get passengers connected. Liz Young told IFExpress, “I think we will see a gradual shift on many international airlines toward ‘tiered’ services, which means that passengers will have options, e.g., using their own electronic devices at no charge, having access to wireless devices that the airline provides at a modest charge, and having access to ‘fixed’ devices (seat-back, tray table) that are free to use for basic services but require a credit card swipe for premium services.  Virtually all wide body planes will provide satellite linkage for these services, but the Ku-band/Ka-band battle will not be clearly resolved for many years to come.”

Along the same general direction, AirCloud’s Peter Lemme told IFExpress, “Inflight entertainment providers have been dabbling with connected applications for many years: live TV, messaging, browsing. Inmarsat remains a mainstay with L-band services and hopes to hold off market penetration from ViaSat, Panasonic, Row 44, and Gogo. Both Iridium and Inmarsat are held back with new developments more than one year away. With so many service providers in the mix, suppliers of equipment, airframes, and airline operators will need to embrace standardization wherever possible. Broadband technology has fully matured for 2013. The battle at the seat, whether seat-back or BYOD, is much more about monetization. Seat-back deployments have long benefitted from subsidy, whereas BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) seems also BYOB (Build Your Own Business). There really is no reason for differentiating the monetization opportunities. Long-standing desires for targeted marketing and for premium advertising, which have been evident for decades, finally are powered by technology that can shower the cabin with individualized experiences. BYOD and a stand-alone Wi-Fi offers the bare-minimum IFE.  In 2013, not one commercial operator should even question the immediate need to deploy Wi-Fi no matter how small the airplane. Connectivity at the gate is the area that may be the most surprising.  Cellular can now equal WLAN technologies, freeing IFE from the airport wireless tangled-web. I don’t foresee dedicated WiMax satisfying IFE appetite, but I would not ignore it either. The greatest development to come is the most boring – wired Ethernet at the gate.”

From a future point of view, the FAA and FCC are rethinking connectivity, as innumerable news releases have noted, but we wondered if airplane text messaging was possible today as we had tried it earlier on a domestic flight so we contacted Robbie Hyman, Row 44 PR Guru and asked if that feature was to be found on the sat-based connectivity today and he told us; “Interestingly, with iMessage on the iPhone you can send a text message to another iPhone, using a Wi-Fi signal and not your phone’s cell signal. I just learned that the other day and am now even more impressed with Apple! But as for true text messaging from one of our partner airlines’ planes, no, passengers don’t have that option now. Row 44’s system does have GSM capability, but our airlines have not asked for it. So for now passengers cannot use their cell phone’s cell signal to send texts from our airlines’ planes (either in the US or anywhere else). They’ll have to find web-based alternatives and use the Wi-Fi service.”

OTHER

We also asked some IFEC’ers about the future industry changes and we got a variable buffet of answers. Rich Salter, Lumexis CTO had this to say, ” I want to predict that advances in network technology will be a lot more dramatic than many may think – not to mention the fact that 802.11ac is almost here and will force the WAP suppliers to start building it into their airborne WAPs sooner rather than later – (note that Apple iDevices will likely have “ac” capability in their next generation versions due out in 2013). Next year we will see dramatic advances in the enabling technologies for onboard networks (and this bodes well for higher definition video): For fiber optic networks, a 10 Gbit standard will be considered by aviation standards committees. For wireless systems, a new generation of PEDs will drive IFEC suppliers to consider adding 802.11“ac” capability (for 450Mbps-1.3Gbps) into their airborne WAPs sooner rather than later.”  And lastly, Beth DeYoung, GM Zodiac Lighting Solutions, told IFExpress “The airlines are realizing the benefits of LED interior lighting and we expect the demand for this technology to take-off in 2013.”


The next inputs come from sources who want to remain anonymous… see if you agree, they vary from the sublime to the ridiculous!
• Travel costs will jump … and when first class drinks are not free, a revolt will spread!
• Major switches in IFE suppliers at some of the top airlines in the world but are they making changes for better equipment or service, or are they making changes because they are tired of the games?  What ever happened to the saying ‘…with the devil you know?’
• More Wireless Installations over embedded IFE networks
• Samsung and Boeing part company within 18 months
• Major inroads by the Chinese into OEM aircraft production; announcements of major airline buys from the Chinese vendor this year.
• Could a midwest IFE vendor be sold to a competitor?
• IFE – Network contract assigned to the first tourist space shuttle in private ownership
• Expect the first IFEC Cloud integration.
• New low cost defibrillators will generate more airline interest after an incident!!
• There will soon be more tablets in use on the plane than laptops – watch out IFE!
• IF the FAA permits voice calls on planes, the airlines will divide the plane in half…phone calls and no phone call sections and the only fair way is right-side-left side.
• Panasonic will introduce the first Ultra HD display for planes (biz jets probably).
• The only 3D display to make it on a plane will be the non-glasses type (similar to the ones in past Thales booths).
• Watch for flat fee increases from the airlines… more money to be made than percentage increases, and passengers think they are all being treated equal!
• A new IFE developer will enter the fray in 2013!

Wellingborough, U.K. | September 25, 2012 — Global installations of in-flight Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity grew by 57 percent to nearly 2,000, in 2011, and are set to increase by a further 60 percent in 2012, reaching 3,194 aircraft by the end of the year, according to the latest statistics published by IMS Research (recently acquired by IHS (NYSE: IHS)).

Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly popular onboard the world’s aircraft, with a projected 2,333 installations by the end of 2012, largely as a result of widespread installations across a number of U.S. airlines. For example, Delta and American Airlines alone will account for more than 1,000 Wi-Fi-enabled aircraft at the end of 2012.

Although Wi-Fi has undoubtedly been the most rapidly adopted method of connectivity, the number of cellular-enabled aircraft is expected to increase by 81 percent in 2012, reaching 411 aircraft by the end of the year. More impressive is the growth of the number of aircraft offering both cellular and Wi-Fi options for passengers, which is set to increase from 99 to 450 through 2012 – an increase of 355 percent.

Heath Lockett, aerospace analyst at IMS Research, commented, “U.S. passengers have been getting used to Wi-Fi for several years now, but some of the most aggressive deployments of connectivity have been in the Middle East and Asia where carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific are rapidly rolling out cellular and Wi-Fi services. In Europe, Lufthansa is most definitely flying the connectivity flag, although other airlines such as SAS and Norwegian Air Shuttle are providing a good supporting cast.”

With more and more passengers getting used to some form of connectivity in the air, the market is set to continue to grow over the next decade as cellular and, particularly, Wi-Fi services become much more common. For many airlines, it will simply not be acceptable to fail to offer in-flight connectivity if rivals operating on the same route do so. As connectivity moves from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘must have’ offering, it is predicted that 15,351 aircraft will be connected by the end of 2021.

Lockett continued, “The future is certainly bright for in-flight connectivity. Consumers have ravenously adopted Wi-Fi and cellular services on the ground, and that looks set to continue above 30,000ft. The big question now is whether airlines can match the speeds that passengers demand – both in terms of the rollout times to fleets, and also the physical speed of the connection to the aircraft. The broadband generation demand a service in the air which is similar to that which they receive on the ground, and that’s the real challenge.”

If you think this week’s SPEAKERS’ CORNER is an IFE history lesson, you might be wrong. The article penned by Dr. Jorg Liebe, Lufthansa Systems CIO, is more about where IFE is going than where it has been. IFExpress asked Dr. Liebe to give us a view from the LHS streaming, Wi-Fi-based IFE perspective and we expect you will get an insight into the next phase of onboard entertainment. And, if you get a chance to meet our “speaker”, be sure to do so, besides being a knowledgeable expert, he is one nice individual!

The Evolution of In-Flight Entertainment – by Dr. Jorg Liebe

While the first in-flight movie was shown in 1921 to passengers onboard Aeromarine Airways, it took almost another 40 years before in-flight movies were offered on a regular basis to passengers on-board an aircraft. The invention of automated 16 mm film projection technology not requiring a projectionist to show movies was the cornerstone technology to enable this development.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, CRT-based projectors distributed throughout the cabin began to appear, offering in-flight movies not only projected on a screen at the front of a cabin, but making in-flight movies reasonably visible to all passengers. The first in-seat system was developed in 1988, using 2.7-inch LCD technology to offer audio / video content to an individual passenger.

At the turn of the century new systems appeared, offering for the first time on-demand content to passengers, thus enabling them to choose from a variety of movies and other content options, including which movie(s) to watch, and when during the flight to watch them.

At the same time live TV content was streamed for the first time to passenger’s individual screens. For the last 40 years, the evolution of in-flight entertainment has been from communal screens to individual seat-back screens, and from linear broadcast of content to audio and video on demand. Screen size has grown, picture quality improved, and as content storage capability increases, airlines race to increase the volume of content stored, often offering hundreds of hours of content to passengers. All this tremendously benefited the passenger who was required to remain more or less fastened to his/her seat, and whose attention was now occupied as time passed on-board an aircraft.

However, the systems airlines installed on-board became more and more complex. Most IFE systems in operation today are hardwired from a so-called head-end system all the way to the in-seat screens or drop-down screens. The system offers audio and video predetermined or on-demand throughout the cabin based on a head-end system storing all content, and distributing the content through wired connections over switches to seat boxes. The seat boxes in turn disperse the content to the individual screens or drop-down screen, with each seat box covering two or three screens. Failures in the distribution of the signal or the head-end system usually affect many if not all passengers. Also, occasional reboots usually affect groups of passengers.

To reduce systemic failures, suppliers are beginning to include content storage/delivery redundancies in their systems. Secondary paths between the head-end and in-seat screens are being built in, along with zone wiring redundancies. Installation is complex and generally requires substantial time during which the aircraft is out of revenue service. In addition, maintenance is complex and time-consuming as well. Due to the various components distributed throughout the cabin for operation the system weight is substantial, reducing the cargo or passenger capacity of an aircraft and adding to the carbon footprint of the airline.

In order to circumvent some of the issues of wired IFE systems, especially high total cost of ownership and system weight, handheld IFE solutions have sometimes been implemented. Initially flight crews distributed handheld DVD players and content DVDs. In later offerings digital players–purpose-built or consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware repurposed for IFE–with internally stored content were used. Most recently, with the advent of tablet PCs those devices have been hardened and are now offered as handheld IFE devices. One of the biggest shortcomings of handheld solutions is the high logistics and maintenance effort. Especially, recharging of the handheld devices and content updates seem to prevent high implementation rates. Part of this limitation is being mitigated by expansion of in-seat power. Most airlines view handheld solutions especially valuable in cases where remaining aircraft utilization is limited and in turn render other IFE solutions commercially unfeasible. Still, the effort to (re-)charge the devices and update the content needs to be taken into account.

Seat-centric systems are an evolutionary step, being developed primarily based on the experience and feedback of handheld solutions. The idea behind seat-centric systems is to install a handheld device in the seat. Due to the standalone capability of the handheld device, almost no interdependency between individual screens exists. Therefore, only a passenger with a malfunctioning screen is affected—and spares can be made available.

Typically, a seat-centric screen will contain content storage such as one SD card with current content available for passenger screening, and a second SD card to which next month’s content is being loaded in the background over the wired or wireless system from a head-end. In turn, seat-centric systems do not require recharging nor manual content update, thus overcoming the predominant shortcomings of handheld devices. Installation is less complex and maintenance requires less effort due to fewer system components. Also, system weight is drastically reduced, seemingly making seat-centric solutions the new winner.

However, while content is usually updated via wireless LAN, current seat-centric systems are missing live video streaming capabilities. With the advent of live TV, broadcasting current news updates into an aircraft, as well as live streaming of camera views–e.g. cockpit view, tail mount and/or bottom view–such streaming capabilities are becoming increasingly important. To circumvent that issue and adding such capability, installations may add wired connection (screen to screen) to accomplish streaming capabilities as well as content update, however again adding weight and complexity to the setup.

At the time of the development of seat-centric systems, two other trends spurred the development of yet another system idea. On the one hand, passengers often brought their own electronic devices on board. Those devices had initially been primarily notebooks. But with the proliferation of smart phones and tablets, more and more these types of devices are seen in aircraft cabins. As market research shows, nowadays more than 80 % of passengers bring their own screens on board.

On the other hand, those devices are wireless LAN-enabled. And most often not just any wireless LAN, but increasingly a kind of wireless LAN that enables high quality video broadcast. Current wireless LAN systems still supporting previous installations in devices are capable of delivering high quality video content to tens of individual devices from one access point and–adding access points throughout the cabin–to literally hundreds of devices.

Both technology trends enabled a new kind of in-flight entertainment, getting rid of almost all wires altogether and at the same time not requiring in-seat screens. In-flight entertainment is, thus, a matter of providing appropriate software on passenger’s devices to ensure integrity and security of the entertainment content. Now this seemingly addresses all issues previously faced with installing in-flight entertainment systems on board aircraft. The systems contain only a few components, namely a content server ensuring delivery of encrypted content over a couple of wireless LAN access points to devices the passenger brings on board the aircraft.

Obviously installation time is drastically reduced as is maintenance and operational effort. In addition, the system weight is drastically reduced from almost a ton to less than 200 pounds. Also, utilizing passenger devices even enables higher innovation cycles, participating in new, ever-developing, fascinating device capabilities to enable things such as gaming functions based on accelerometers.

In addition to utilizing passenger’s personal electronic devices, developments are underway to develop wireless based in-seat screens. Losing some of the weight reduction – still based on fully functional tablet-type devices such as in-seat screens – enabling a seat-centric approach to in-flight entertainment while maintaining the streaming capability of the system, without adding wires and complex distribution of content, seems to be the logical step forward in in-flight entertainment.

Airlines deploying such a system can rely on every passenger having access to the system while still maintaining fast installation and ease of operation and maintenance. At the same time, new so-called second screen capabilities, to ancillary revenue generation, are available as passengers are still able to utilize their own personal electronic devices.

So what’s next in in-flight entertainment? Well, in-flight Internet is here already. With wireless entertainment and Internet capabilities, new passenger services are just around the corner. The seemingly unreachable passenger “strapped to their set” is suddenly well in reach…

Row 44 Brings NFL Network Including Thursday Night Football Games to Passengers’ Wi-Fi Devices In-Flight

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.| January 30, 2012/PRNewswire/– Row 44, Inc., provider of the world’s leading In-Flight Broadband Entertainment Platform, is partnering with the NFL Network to deliver live and on-demand NFL Network programming, including Thursday Night Football NFL games, in-flight to passengers’ Wi-Fi enabled devices.

NFL Network is the destination for all that happens around the sport of football. NFL Network airs seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and provides viewers with nearly 2,000 hours a year of original programming, including: NFL Total Access, NFL GameDay, Top 10, Playbook, NFL Replay, NFL Classic Games plus the Emmy award-winning Sound FX and America’s Game series.

NFL Network is also the home of Thursday Night Football NFL regular season games, every NFL preseason game, AFL games, the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine game, plus more coverage of the NFL Draft, Hall of Fame ceremony, NFL Scouting Combine and Super Bowl than any other network.

Passengers will also have access to NFL RedZone, the channel that every Sunday afternoon covers the most exciting moments of every game around the league. NFL RedZone, produced by NFL Network, whips around every NFL game on Sunday afternoons, delivering the touchdowns and most exciting moments as they happen. When a team goes inside the 20-yard line, fans see the crucial plays live. The channel keeps fans up-to-date in real time, switching from game to game with live look-ins, highlights and a chance to see every important play.

The new Row 44 service will also give passengers in-flight access to NFL Network’s video-on-demand library. This extensive library of exclusive NFL Network shows and NFL Films produced programming includes classic games, Super Bowls, documentaries and more.

Commercial airlines that select Row 44’s In-Flight Broadband Entertainment Platform will be able to offer their customers the service streamed to their own Wi-Fi enabled devices.

“NFL Network is a football fan’s fantasy, generously opening up the network’s suite of great football programming to air travelers – from exciting live games, to highlights, analysis, classic games and the world-renowned library of NFL Films,” said Row 44 Chief Commercial Officer Howard Lefkowitz.

Lefkowitz added: “We are thrilled that NFL Network and NFL RedZone will further differentiate Row 44’s In-Flight Broadband Entertainment Platform as the world’s most extensive broadband experience for passengers today.”

July 28, 2011 | Singapore — ARINC Incorporated today announced that Taiwan-based international carrier EVA Airways, a unit of the Evergreen Group, has contracted for ARINC’s GLOBALinkSM Satellite Communications (SATCOM) services to enhance its passenger and flight deck communications.

The new satellite connectivity will offer higher bandwidth for improved access to vital flight information by EVA flight crews, as well as seamless in-flight connectivity for EVA passengers, who will be able to stay in touch via e-mail, instant messaging channels, or short message service (SMS).

The 20-year-old carrier selected ARINC GLOBALink as the Air/Ground Data Link communications provider for its entire fleet. The ARINC solution provides near-instantaneous delivery of vital operational and control information such as weather, diversions, and emergencies between EVA Airways air and ground crews. The result is greater accuracy and faster turnaround times, which ultimately enhance the airline’s flight operations and safety.

Besides delivering a robust Air/Ground Data Link solution, ARINC collaborated with Panasonic Avionics to enhance EVA Airways’ In Flight Entertainment (IFE) offering with Seatback Messaging, a versatile and convenient application that lets passengers send e-mails and SMS communications throughout their flights. It utilizes the airline’s existing IFE infrastructure to provide full e-mail and SMS capabilities, providing the airline with an inexpensive connectivity suite.

“We are impressed with the results produced by ARINC’s technologies,” said Mr. Lee Kang, Junior Vice President, EVA Airways. “The benefits that their GLOBALink solutions can offer are in line with our requirements and expectations—seamless connectivity, operational flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.”

“ARINC is gratified that EVA Airways has selected us for their SATCOM requirements,” commented Jim L. Martin, Managing Director of ARINC’s Asia Pacific Division. “We will continue supporting them with our technologies and look forward to building a long and mutually beneficial partnership with EVA Airways.”

GLOBALink is a seamless, end-to-end data link system that enables air crews to communicate and exchange information with ground crews and airline host systems anywhere in the world, without interruption. Data link provides clear, accurate, unambiguous data communications directly to the crew, either via the multifunctional control display unit or via a cockpit printer. Compared with voice communications, data link improves flight deck processes and increases efficiency.

GLOBALink Cabin Applications enable airline passengers to stay connected in the air just as they can on the ground. Whether it’s chatting on-line via Instant Messenger, checking their sports team’s latest scores, or obtaining the most up-to-date weather report for their destination, airlines can rest assured they are offering passengers the best in-flight experience possible.

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. — April 21, 2010 — iPass® Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAS), a leader in enterprise mobility services, today announced the immediate availability of a new premium inflight Wi-Fi subscription service for its iPass Mobile Network customers. The new service will enable mobile employees to capture lost productivity when they travel via commercial airlines. As part of the new service, mobile employees at iPass customers will be able to use Gogo® Inflight Internet on more than 825 commercial aircraft with their iPass service. Gogo is currently available on all AirTran Airways and Virgin America flights and on select American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, United Airlines and Air Canada flights. iPass expects to add additional inflight Wi-Fi services to its network offering throughout 2010.

Mobile employees can access the new premium inflight connectivity service simply, securely and seamlessly in the same way that they access the iPass Mobile Network today – without setting-up an additional account, entering credit card information or filling out an expense report. Enterprises are able to enforce VPN and endpoint security policies, generate detailed reports on mobile usage, and receive one consolidated bill for all services used.

“For Sabre it is important for us to ensure that our employees have access, when and where they need it, whether at home, in the office or at 30,000 feet,” said Michal Stewart, corporate travel manager at Sabre. “As exciting as inflight Wi-Fi is, it can frequently become an administrative burden for managing a mobile workforce. By bringing Gogo Inflight Internet to the iPass Mobile Network, we can keep tabs on inflight mobility costs and maintain real-time security and policy enforcement at the point of connection.”

As part of the roll-out of the new service, iPass surveyed mobile employees who rely on the iPass Mobile Network service for their connectivity needs, and received more than 2,400 responses. The survey uncovered a resounding demand for inflight Wi-Fi with 63 percent saying it was critical for meeting business needs, especially on flights over one hour. A whopping 87 percent said they would use it if it was part of the iPass Mobile Network service. The full survey results are available here.

“The age of inflight Internet connectivity is here and is a huge productivity win for business travelers who need to stay connected and work securely online while in the air,” said Evan Kaplan, president and CEO of iPass. “Airplanes have been the last bastion of mobile worker downtime and iPass and Gogo Inflight Internet provider Aircell are here to close this gap in a way that meets the simplicity, visibility and control requirements of the enterprise.”

“With Gogo being offered on more than 3,000 daily flights, we continue to see an overwhelmingly positive response from frequent business travelers,” said Michael Small, Aircell’s president and CEO. “By partnering with iPass, we can now bring inflight connectivity to more than 3,500 enterprise customers without requiring the enterprises to change their infrastructure or disrupting the mobile worker’s connectivity experience.”

Pricing and Availability
Gogo Inflight Internet is available immediately to iPass Mobile Network customers choosing to subscribe to the new premium inflight Wi-Fi service. Customers will be charged on a flat rate basis per user, per flight. This price varies based on the length of the flight. There are currently three tiers of flight length: $4.95 for less than 1.5 hours, $9.95 for 1.5 to three hours; and $12.95 for more than three hours. Additional information on the new premium services is available on this link.

Westlake Village, CA (March 9, 2010)—Row 44, Inc., the leading provider of satellite-based in-flight Wi-Fi, announced today that Larry Kellner, former Chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines, has joined the company’s Board of Directors.

“It would be difficult to find a more respected, trusted and knowledgeable executive in the airline industry than Larry Kellner,” said John Guidon, Row 44’s CEO. “We are delighted to welcome him to our Board.”

During Kellner’s 15-year tenure at Continental he was first CFO, then President and ultimately CEO for his final five years at the airline. Kellner also sits on the board of Marriott International.

“Row 44’s broadband solution is the most robust and forward-looking of its kind I’ve seen,” Kellner said. “My experience tells me this company is on its way to becoming a major global provider of in-flight broadband, and I’m excited about being a part of that success.”