It’s no secret that AIX is the worlds biggest Aircraft Interiors show (perhaps up to 10,000 visitors this year) and we wanted to give you a quick look at a few show-goers who have contacted us with booth and product information. Of course IFExpress will be there searching for new products and product improvements, new services, and interviews with the folks who bring you IFExpress. You can reach us via email: plwiseman@gmail.com, Mobile/Text: +1 206 229 7899, and we will have the Fire Chat app turned on (TerryW).

Aircraft Cabin Systems:
Booth #: 6C37
ACS will feature IFE Displays (10.4”-65” and 9.7”) as well as their recently patented 12” Retractable monitor at AIX this April. Additionally, ACS is collaborating with TEAC during AIX. TEAC is introducing their new video player at the Expo.
Contact: Charles Reerink
Mobile: + 33 608 907 746
Contact: Rick Routly
Email: rroutly@aircraftcabinsystems.com
Contact:Yukio Sugimoto
Email: sugimotoy@aircraftcabinsystems.com
Contact: Richie Sugimoto
Email: rich@aircraftcabinssytems.com

Armstrong Aerospace
The Armstrong Aerospace PowerBox™ and PowerBar™ are revolutionary off-seat power solutions that are available today. PowerBox™ and PowerBar™ attach to the floor seat tracks and do not touch the seats they are installed to support. This greatly eases the installation and risk for upgrading your cabin, and it ensures no new seat TSO activities or seat recertification efforts are required. PowerBox™ and PowerBar™ are capable of being used with any outlets and electrical distribution on the market today, making them the most flexible for installation. The simplicity of this design ensures they can be installed rapidly, typically in less than one day for a narrow body, and two days for a wide body.

The Armstrong Aerospace BirdStriker™ is the bird deflector device that is available TODAY to meet your bird strike certification needs.
BirdStriker™ ensures operators can benefit by:
• Finding Compliance with 14 CFR 25.571e1
• Improving aerodynamic efficiency of existing radomes by up to 30%
• Maintaining RF integrity of existing radomes
• Avoiding expensive and heavy installations due to the BirdStriker™ lightweight, composite material design
• Installations can be performed in less than 10 hours
Furthermore, Armstrong Aerospace was actively involved in the recent ARC recommendations to the FAA. (Note: Armstrong Aerospace will be walking the 2014 AIX floor.)
Contact: Kevin Weppner
Email: kevin.weppner@armstrongaerospace.com
Mobile: +1.630.280.9295

Astronics Corporation
Booth #: 6B30
Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ: ATRO) is a leader in advanced high-performance lighting, electrical power, specialized avionics products and automated test systems for the global aerospace and defense industries. Astronics Corporation, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, AeroSat*, Astronics Advanced Electronics Systems Corp.*, Ballard Technology, Inc., DME Corporation*, Luminescent Systems Inc.*, Max-Viz, Inc., PECO*, and PGA Electronic*, have a reputation for high-quality designs, exceptional responsiveness, strong brand recognition and best-in-class manufacturing practices. For company news and other important information, visit the website at www.astronics.com. (* – Exhibiting at AIX)
Contact: Dennis Markert
Email: dennis.markert@astronics.com
Mobile: +1.425.442.8195

digEcor
Booth #: 6B11
digEcor provides a low-cost, end-to-end cabin technology and inflight entertainment solution by specializing in personal media and AVOD platforms, mobile cabin crew applications, and being a global content service provider. We’ll be showcasing the GLIDE IFE embedded system, the next generation of digEplayer, Engage mobile cabin crew and passenger experience solution, as well as in seat power and the latest content services. Our focus is on increasing traveler satisfaction while creating easily executed customized solutions and generating ancillary revenue for clients. We are enabling airlines to create extraordinary travel experiences.
Contact: Ben Fuller
Email: Ben.Fuller@digecor.com
Phone: +1-801-691-7225

IFPL
Booth #: 6C10
IFPL will be showcasing their latest designs at AIX 2014 and will be demonstrating how you can BREAK FREE, CHARGE, PAY UP and GO!

IFPL is an established design and manufacturing company well known for its industry standard IFEC products. Their success is built on meeting passenger needs for multi-media connectivity and reliable access to the in-flight entertainment.

BREAK FREE! IFPL’s Breakaway Jack solves the problem of broken headphone plugs. Leading on from the Single Pin Jack, the Breakaway Triple Jack (1272) is an exciting new concept for use with powered noise cancelling headsets. The use of the 1272 Triple Jack requires no physical modification to the seatback.

CHARGE! IFPL have listened to their customers and are pleased to present a Stand-Alone USB outlet that will provide 2A output.

PAY-UP! IFPL’s Contactless Retail System uses NFC technology to allow passengers to pay using their contactless card. This payment system has shown an increase of up to 15% of sales in the vending market.

GO! IFPL’s Self-Testing jack enables quick and easy visual system audio check, verified with just a glance.
Contact: Neil Thomas | Business Development Manager
Email: neil.thomas@ifpl.com
Mobile: +44 (0) 778 698 7454
Contact: Mark Reed | Business Development Engineer
Email: mark.reed@ifpl.com

Inmarsat
Booth #: 6E31
Inmarsat will talk about the developments in its global satellite services, in particular with GX Aviation developments.
Contact: Paula Ferrai
Email: Paula.Ferrai@inmarsat.com
Mobile: +41 79 874 06 08

KID-Systeme
Booth #: B6C40
KID-Systeme will be exhibiting at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, from 8-10 April 2014, to demonstrate its two ground-breaking cabin systems: SKYpower, the internationally trusted seatpower system, and SKYfi, a revolutionary modular onboard connectivity platform. With a new design and an innovative product development, KID is looking forward to welcoming their customers on their booth in hall B6.
Contanct: Maren Müente
Email: maren.muente@kid-systeme.de
Mobile: +49 171 5660630

Lufthansa Systems
Booth #: Hall B6 6B47
Lufthansa Systems will be showcasing additional new products for its award-winning infotainment platform BoardConnect, presenting the solution as a fully-featured integration platform for the first time. Visitors to the company’s booth will be able to experience the user-friendly, versatile and innovative IFE solution using their own tablets, smartphones and laptops – as they would do on board. The appropriate apps for Android, iOS and Windows 8 are available for downloading from the app stores.

New features like chat, an online shop and a moving map with points of interest (POI) on different topics will add even more variety to the passenger’s in-flight experience. Passengers can find out about events taking place at their destination, obtain a restaurant recommendation, and even make a reservation online (via satellite, for instance). The BoardConnect platform’s content caching service maintains popular sites on the server, which not only speeds up access to these pages but also saves the airline expensive satellite bandwidth.

The new, easy-to-use, fast and automated Cabin Data Loader takes care of monthly content updates to the on-board servers and the latest LTE technology ensures speedy daily updates of dynamic content such as news and newspapers at speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
Other new hardware components to be shown by Lufthansa Systems will include the on-board Wireless Access Point developed by Lufthansa Technik, which supports 802.11 ac (the fastest current Wi-Fi standard) as well as delivering high-definition video throughout the cabin.
Contact: Sandra Hammer
Email: publicrelations@lhsystems.com

Lumexis
Booth #: 6E40
LUMEXIS FTTS IFE Systems – Best By Every Measure – Lightest Weight | Greatest Capacity | Highest Reliability. We invite you to visit Stand 6E40 during the 2014 AIX and allow us to demonstrate why FTTS has become the benchmark for the entire IFE industry. Please do not hesitate to contact me to make an appointment or to request further information. Looking forward to seeing you in Hamburg.
Contact: Jon Norris (VP Sales)
Email: jnorris@lumexis.com
Mobile: +1 949 436 1434

OnAir
Booth #:6D38
OnAir will be discussing its latest deals with airlines, as well as looking to the future of inflight connectivity, as it begins to include cabin crew, cockpit and airline operational applications.
Contact: Aurélie Branchereau-Giles
Email: aurelie.branchereau@onair.aero
Mobile: +44 78 676 15 46

Panasonic Avionics Corporation
Booth #: 6C36
At Aircraft Interiors in Hamburg, Panasonic will be showcasing the breadth of its IFE offering on its stand, demonstrating embedded and wireless IFE systems, and its award-winning Global Communications Services inflight connectivity offering.
Panasonic will be making a number of announcements at Aircraft Interiors, with several relating to the breadth and depth of its uniquely global satellite network.
Contact: Brian Bardwell
Email: Brian.Bardwell@panasonic.aero
Mobile: +1 949 573 6833

Stellar Group
Hall B6.1
With 40 years of experience as a Content Service Provider (CSP) Stellar’s focus is to work with Airilnes to understand the myriad of options in IFE, especially in regards to Tablets, streaming and connectivity. Afterall, Stellar Group was the first CSP to secure content onto iPads, as well as, the first CSP to secure content via wireless streaming.
Contact: Joel Joslin
Email: joel.joslin@stellargroup.com
Mobile: +61 414 944 302

Telefonix, Inc.
Booth #: 6C43
During AIX 2014 Telefonix will showcase products in 3 primary categories: 1)Passenger experience products, such as Passenger Control Units, Entertainment and Connectivity Hardware, which includes media loading devices, aircraft servers, etc. 2) Their CWAP design 3) And finally, in conjunction with their partner company Product Development Technologies (PDT), custom product design services.
Contact: Allison Burke
Email: aburke@telefonixinc.com

VT Miltope
Booth #: 6.1B17
Miltope’s family of network products offer the required functionality necessary to create custom airborne networks similar to how office networks are created. Our products optimize the combination of interfaces and computing resources to meet operational, spatial, and functional requirements of simple to complex airborne systems at minimum cost. Products include servers, Ethernet switches, wireless access points, TWLU aircraft to ground wireless link, control panels, and data storage devices. This year we will be featuring our latest wireless products, nMAP2 (wireless access point) and cTWLU (cellular ground link).
Contact: Markus Gilges | Director, Business Development
Email: mgilges@miltope.com
Mobile: +44 7793 758 755

Zodiac Inflight Innovations
Booth #: 6B20
Zodiac Inflight Innovations (formerly The IMS Company and TriaGnoSys) has been providing innovative solutions for the aviation industry for decades. Our business strategy can best be described as RAVE (Reliable, Affordable, and Very Easy). Already famous for our reliable passenger-centric embedded AVOD system (RAVE), we have recently expanded our product line to include connectivity features. Zii offers RAVE Wireless, a streaming IFE solution that lets passengers enjoy entertainment streamed directly to their personal devices. RAVE Cellular allows passengers to use voice, SMS and data services on their phones, which are billed directly to the passenger’s own mobile carrier. With RAVE Broadband, passengers can stay connected in the sky with unprecedented Ka-Band connection speeds. With this full line of IFEC product offerings, Zii uses a modular concept allowing customers to pick and choose which of these features are most important to them and their passengers. RAVE has had much success in the retrofit market and is currently making great progress toward line fit offerability at both Airbus and Boeing.
Contact: Harry Gray
Email: hgray@imsco-us.com
Mobile: +1 714 854 8633

Editors Note: We caught up with Mr. McLaughlin at an airport in the US recently and asked a few question about his company and the state of the IFE services industry.

Forty years ago, (1974) Rob and Helen Lynch started an inflight entertainment service provision service in Sydney Australia by answering an advert in a Sydney newspaper. They then competed for tailored passenger audio programming and won the Qantas Airways contract, one which they still provide today. Over the years they turned the small Stellar Entertainment business into one of the world’s premier shops for all types of entertainment services. They are now a full-service content provider, offering world-class IFE, video and audio production and post-production, music composition, content acquisition and much, more. With five offices around the world (including the US and Canada) and over 65 employees, they are truly a world-class programming provider. Their head office is located in Glebe, Sydney and specializes in inflight entertainment, including programming and management of Hollywood and international films, TV, music, games, digital books and magazines. Further, they provide encoding, metadata management, video and audio duplication and consulting services. From a IFE perspective, they provide audio and video entertainment, content acquisition and media sales. Having watched Stellar grow over the last 40 years one new product developments piqued our interest at a recent conference, particularly in the area of media sales. IFExpress talked to their new CEO/Managing Director, Peter McLaughlin about the new personal device-directed product, H2H Connect. Peter noted that Stellar’s media sales division is definitely one of the industry leaders in terms of experience and global reach. Further, they manage multiple Asia Pacific airline accounts for some 12 Asia Pacific airlines, and representing them around the world. Stellar has a significant presence in China as well. Stellar operate as ‘Sky Victory Technology’ a joint venture based in Beijing. It’s a CSP set up specifically to service China’s airlines exclusively. Currently, Sky Victory supplies content licensing and/or technical services to China Southern and China Eastern. Stellar also develops and supplies print advertisements, in magazines and television commercials, on traditional inflight screens and for the latest range of portable media players.” He went on to note that one of the airlines concerns is about their relationship with their guests/passengers is the ability to connect with their clients, not only on the plane, but over the entire travel experience. Their new service product Home2Hotel Connect is a Stellar in-house development that gives the airline a tool to keep their passengers engaged via PED content before, during, and after their trip. The app-based service, as Peter noted, “Puts the inflight entertainment choice on the device because, in the end, the control will always ends up where it should, in the passengers hands.”

IFExpress: If a passenger loads the H2H Connect App, what can it do?

Peter: “There is a bit about the service on our website but it essentially increases a way to connect to and engage passengers from the time they buy their ticket to when they arrive in their hotel – concierge service, video programming, audio programming, over 2000 digital publications that they can download and take with them, surveys, bookings, destination info, and shopping… H2H is a flexible tailored solution they can use throughout their journey, and it’s available for both iOS and Android devices.”

IFExpress: We gather, then, that you see IFE a bit differently. How do you help airlines get this “connection” with passengers?

Peter: ”We act as a consultancy to carriers in technology – one carrier wanted to connect streaming to passengers tablets and our folks came up with a solution. Another problem dealt with server software – we have another team of approximately 10 software experts that we use to help solve almost any software problem… apps, streaming, server issues, whatever. If airlines want to do something technically in the cabin, we can help… portable devices, social media, we help engage with the airline… If someone has a technical issue we can find a solution.”

IFExpress: Do airlines see IFE the way Stellar does?

Peter: “IFE is about engaging… look at the way TV stations use Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. They are trying to capture an audience. Airlines just don’t have a lot of experience with that. When I was with Qantas we had a problem when they became a “business” and we had to refocus and re-drive the brand as an “airline”. The airlines have traditionally seen the IFE as a service, not as an integral part of the marketing mix.”

IFExpress: We gather that Stellar is pretty sold on this “engagement” software solution?

Peter: “Yes, we even have turned our interactive software capability into entertainment and communication for hospitals. In many ways the problem is similar to fliers, patients/guests are just tied to the hospital for a longer period of time.”

IFExpress: For readers that don’t know much about Stellar, can you tell us a bit more?

Peter: “We are based in Australia, but Stellar is a global company. We have dealt a lot in Asia, and the Pacific, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur; we even have facilities in Los Angeles that I visit as well. We have relationships with all the movie distributors in the world and almost 500 of the worldwide wholesalers. Further, Stellar has a significant presence in China as well. We operate as ‘Sky Victory Technology’ a joint venture based in Beijing. It’s a CSP set up specifically to service China’s airlines exclusively. Currently, Sky Victory supplies content licensing and technical services to China Southern and China Eastern. Since we do have international airline commitments, Stellar is so committed to the industry that we have a 24/7 technical service center hotline to help our customers anytime… I would also note that our Kuala Lumpur office is a significant Technical and Production facility servicing our Asian clients. We employee 20 Malaysians in that office and contribute significantly to the Malaysian economy.”

IFExpress: Does the fact that you are in the US visiting mean you are looking at this market?

Peter: “We are definitely looking at the US market as a future growth potential since we create a lot of our own content, we feel that Stellar has a bit of different spin on content production. We have a base in Los Angeles, as I mentioned, today and with the addition of US customers we would probably increase that office.”

IFExpress: What about all the competition out there, will that affect your business model?

Peter: There’s a lot of competition going on and a lot of consolidation in this industry… we don’t plan on going anywhere. Stellar Entertainment is in the business for the long haul.”

IFExpress: Doesn’t that mean that Stellar will have a lot of market challenges in the future?

Peter: “With respect to market challenges, we are experiencing a lot of competition and facing competitive consolidation. But in truth there are always market challenges. We have to adjust our model to ensure we remain competitive – we have come from a background of service but we are continually refining our product. We believe in providing service and value to airlines rather than using a cookie cutter approach. We are looking at ways to reduce costs for airlines and stay on top of passenger trends… we talk to passengers all the time. Connectivity is a good example: the financial hole all the connectivity has gone into is a lot bigger than the pile of money from it – those seatback phones are a good example.”

IFExpress: We keep hearing that the IFE content industry is changing, care to comment on it?

Peter: “There is a lot of change going on in the industry. There appears to be a drive by a certain group to control the content and it is not good for the airlines, or for other competitors. It will stifle creativity because they are beholding to a stockholder and the stock price, not the airline. If airlines are not careful they will find that they could end up being dictated to in the IFE space. Along with that there is a lot of technology happening… take connectivity, it has not taken a hold as much as they would have hoped. Two reasons – reliability and price. Further, on long haul flights, the demand doesn’t seem to be there. I note that in America there might be a law banning inflight telephone calls and America is a leader… it’s one we are all watching. Wireless streaming is what is getting traction at the moment and we have seen it succeed for a number of our clients and for Low cost carriers or new entrants with narrow-bodied aircraft or airlines with no imbedded IFE system it is gaining interest over connectivity. One thing is clear in the airline industry, airlines need/want to reduce cost and eliminating weight off an aircraft is a very attractive option.”

IFExpress: If you are talking about a content monopoly do you have any final thoughts?

Peter: “I have never met anyone that thinks monopolies are good, except of course, the monopoly themselves.”

You can reach Peter at peter.mcaughlin@stellargroup.com and you can check their website at www.stellargroup.com