Press Release:

“On June 22, 2016, due to liquidity constraints, Lumexis Corporation (“Lumexis”) suspended many aspects of its business operations and was forced to terminate the majority of its personnel. Over the past few weeks, the Lumexis Board, Company President (Lou Sharkey) and CFO (Marty Breen) have been actively engaged in a process to find an acquirer for the Company/Assets. Lumexis is currently in discussions with multiple groups regarding a potential transaction. The Company expects to conclude this process in the coming weeks.”

“During this period the Company has been in constant communication with its customers and suppliers. Lumexis management is grateful for all the support received from their customers, supply chain and industry partners during this transition. As more updates and clarification on the future of Lumexis become available, further updates will be openly communicated.”

“Questions to Lumexis may be addressed to ‘lsharkey@lumexis.com’. Please note that due to the volume of inquiries from various interested parties, Lumexis may not be in a position to respond to calls or messages in as timely a manner as we would like.”

Some Relevant History:

If you are new to the IFEC industry you may not know about the elegant fiber optic IFE solution that the Lumexis folks in Irvine developed starting in 2003. We thought you might find some of the highlights from the last decade. Here is a bit of background:

•  March 2009: US Airways trial of the next generation in inflight entertainment system FTTS (Fiber Optic to the Seat) by Lumexis. Link
• November 2009: Lumexis Corporation secures $15 million investment led by Perseus, LLC and wins large airline order. Read the full story.
• June 2010: Their first customer, flydubai… 44 B737-800’s will be post delivery modified in the US and that each seat will have a Lumexis display that acts as an entertainment portal with credit card swipe capability. Read the full story.
• April 2011: TRANSAERO Airlines of Russia, today joined Lumexis CEO Doug Cline in announcing the airline’s selection of Lumexis’s cutting-edge FTTS (Fiber-To-The-Screen[R]) technology, to begin immediately with full-cabin retrofit of four 373-seat Boeing 777-300s this year and three 522-seat B747-400s starting first quarter of 2012. The full story.
• February 2012: Pacific Royale Airways, today joined Lumexis® CEO Doug Cline in announcing the airline’s selection of Lumexis’ cutting‐edge FTTS® (Fiber‐To‐The‐Screen®) technology, to begin building out its fleet of A320 aircraft with five installations in 2012. Read More.
• April 2013: Leading international air carrier Turkish Airlines, winner of the coveted Best European Airline Award from Skytrax for two consecutive years, announced that it has selected Lumexis Corporation’s Fiber-To-The-Screen® (FTTS) fiber optic IFEC system for installation into two of its existing A330 fleet aircraft. The full story.
• April 2013: Lumexis’s Second Screen concept, we contacted Rich Salter and asked about the product, but first, a few words about what it is. The concept is so simple, you are probably using a similar concept at home while watching TV or reading this email. Sitting in front of almost any work or household screen (TV, computer, whatever) you probably have another connectivity device for checking mail, tweets, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. In other words you are multitasking, because you can. The beauty of the Lumexis Second Screen feature is easy to see. The full Hot Topic.
• April 2014: Lumexis has taken a revolutionary step forward in terms of IFE touch screen aesthetics and functionality with the launch of its new Fast Adaptable Swipe and Touch (FAST) graphical user interface (GUI). The full story.
• April 2015: “Lumexis has taken another industry-leading step forward with the launch of its unprecedented new iPAX in-flight entertainment (IFE) product – a wireless-streaming in-seat system at the ultra-low price of $1,495 and weight of only 8.9 ounces per seat.” And lets face it, delivering a wireless connectivity cloud solution to seatback IFE is a lot cheaper than running cable bundles of wires to each seat via routers and division multiplexers. But, the really interesting story here is that Lumexis announced the price up front. We do not remember an IFE hardware provider ad that gave prices in our 22 years of publishing – so this is a first. Let’s read on “Some three-fourths of single-aisle aircraft fly on short-to-medium haul routes that could never before benefit from embedded IFEC,” said Lumexis CEO Doug Cline. “That paradigm is turned upside down with iPAX, truly the first cost-effective HD video tool for earning significant new ancillary revenue from offering a diversity of products and services.” Read the full story.
• May 2015: Lumexis Corporation today announce that their Lumexis Fiber-To-The-Screen® (FTTS®) In-Flight Entertainment system has been made offerable for linefit on both the 737 NG and 737 MAX families of aircraft. Read the full story.
• September 2015: Lumexis Corporation today announced that their Fiber-To-The-Screen® (FTTS®) In-Flight Entertainment system has been selected by Caribbean Airlines for installation on their fleet of B737 aircraft. Read the full story.

Additionally, we should note that the Lumexis Corporation has some of the best employees we have ever worked with. We would like to close this news piece by asking our readers who might have a requirement for some very good technical and business people to consider these folks as potential assets to your companies. If you need more information on how to contact Lumexis see the above press release; however, we will be happy to forward any contact information you require.

Lastly, one of the best parts of working in technology is the association of smart and innovative people who can think how a technology could eventually become a product. In the case of Lumexis, one meeting in the 2004 time-frame clearly remains in our memory. This was a meeting with Doug Cline, Rich Salter and IFExpress. They carried a dissected future IFE computer that interfaced with the fiber optic data network, it had all the participants giddy with a visualized future of inflight entertainment. At the time, this was the newest thing ‘with virtually unlimited’ IFE bandwidth and the discussion and vision of the future could almost be seen as the meeting drifted into the evening. Make no mistake, It is meetings like these in aviation and information technology that are a creative joy to participate in, and events like this that make this industry worthwhile. Stay Tuned!

Irvine, CA | March 31, 2014– Lumexis Corporation today announced the promotion of the company’s Director of Program Management, Jack Sunabe, to the role of Vice President of OEM Programs, reporting to Company President Lou Sharkey. Sharkey explained, “we are delighted with Jack’s promotion. He has been a key member of our team for the past seven years and has been instrumental in helping us launch and execute flawlessly on multiple customer programs.”

Sharkey continued, “Jack has over 25 years of Program Management experience with Sony Trans Com, Rockwell Collins and Lumexis, which affords him a wealth of knowledge and expertise. As our company has made terrific progress with the two major OEM’s, the time was right to promote Jack to this new leadership role. We are confident that under Jack’s stewardship, Lumexis will continue its strong progress in achieving line-fit offerability with both Boeing and Airbus”.

Over the holidays, IFExpress heard about the promotion of Lou Sharkey to President of Lumexis Corporation and the news release noted: “Lumexis Corporation today announced the promotion of the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Lou Sharkey, to the additional role of President, continuing to report to Doug Cline, Chief Executive Officer. Chairman of the Lumexis Board of Directors, Ed Shapiro, explained that, “Lou has more than twenty years of operations and engineering management experience, including a key managerial role with Doug at Sony Trans Com. He has maintained that close collaboration with Doug at Lumexis and has been a central figure in the growth and success of the company.” While this statement covers it pretty well, we wanted to hear from Lou so we called him and his first comment was really typical of him: “I want to make it clear that this interview, while about my promotion, is really an affirmation of our (the whole Lumexis team’s) focus on our products and our customers. I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to continue to relay the message that Lumexis’ remains dedicated to bringing the best, World-class products to the aviation industry.” Obviously, their other goal is to continue to grow the business. In fact, their first 44 installations of the fiber optic IFE system for flydubai are on-going and IFExpress went to ATS in Everett, WA to see the 3 day process for ourselves. Boeing delivers the aircraft after the first check flight and the B737’s are pulled into a hangar where the Lumexis installation turns around an empty aircraft to a passenger friendly solution for the airline… ready for service.

With regard to “line-fit” approval at Boeing and Airbus, we should note that Mr. Sharkey told us that Lumexis is working closely with Boeing under a Technical Services Agreement to be offerable on the B737 with first delivery target around the middle of next year. From what we can tell, they are on track to do so. “Additionally,” he noted, “we are similarly pursuing Airbus for line fit on its single- and twin-aisle models because our customers have asked for delivery of their new planes with Lumexis systems installed by the factory and we really dislike having to say ‘not yet!’ ”

A little background might be in order here. First off, Lumexis is the “Little Engine That Could”! Aside from the literary reference, Lumexis has a secret sauce – a small cadre of highly experienced dedicated individuals (around 50), plus partnerships and relationships with developers and vendors who are considered part of the team from kickoff to delivery. And, yes, it works. By controlling costs, building teamwork, outsourcing almost everything, they avoid the “overhead blues” of other suppliers. IFExpress asked about how these relationships are set up and Lou told us, “We have a handful of first tier partners and less that 10 in the second tier – a manageable group, for sure, but this way we can offload hardware manufacturing and testing so that we can focus on software development and system integration internally. Also we have integration partners that we manage during airplane installations. The key here is to get it right the first time and do a first class job of design, documentation and communication. In one sense, our partners are quite a bit like us but they are in a different building and have a different corporate name. The key is good teamwork and our people excel at it. We are not in the business of building infrastructure, just great products! From a personal perspective,” noted Mr. Sharkey, “I am a ‘business guy’, thru and thru, having previously worked in the industry for Sony and Rockwell Collins for some 15 years and spent quite a bit of time in other diverse organizations and industries. I would have to say that I have had the most experience – and certainly the most fun – in IFE. The business model that Doug Cline set up is a new industry paradigm and I have been fortunate to work for him for nearly fifteen years.”

The horizon looks bright for the only Fiber-To-The-Screen ® system out there and Lumexis can claim deals with flydubai, Transaero, and Turkish. Further, we understand on the rumor hotline that there is one highly significant, unannounced customer in the wings but we don’t have a name yet. Fiber optic connectivity to the seat is here to stay.

Lastly, we have in two releases in from OnAir – “Saudia’s free inflight Wi-Fi promotion” and “FCC launches public consultation into rule change on inflight cell phone usage” – click on the links for the story.

Irvine, CA | December 18, 2013– Lumexis Corporation today announced the promotion of the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Lou Sharkey, to the additional role of President, continuing to report to Doug Cline, Chief Executive Officer. Chairman of the Lumexis Board of Directors, Ed Shapiro, explained that “Lou has more than twenty years of operations and engineering management experience, including a key managerial role with Doug at Sony Trans Com. He has maintained that close collaboration with Doug at Lumexis and has been a central figure in the growth and success of the company.”

Cline added that “I am immensely pleased by Lou’s stellar progress. Under his direction, the exceptional Lumexis team developed and delivered a disruptive fiber optic technology to the airline industry with unprecedented success. Now, as President, he will continue to guide its major growth into commencement of line-fit at the major aircraft OEMs.”