Scalable “Future-Proff” Simphone OpenCabin System Chosen For All Cabin Telecommunications, Including HD Voice, Wi-Fi High-Speed Data And Smartphone Support
Ottowa, Canada | October 10, 2011 — TrueNorth Avionics has announced its selection by Jet Aviation Basel to provide its full cabin telecommunications solutions for the latter’s world-renowned completions and maintenance facility for VIP Aircraft. Airborne telecommunications for these high-level aircraft is being supported by TrueNorth’s Simphon e¯ OpenCabin system, which provides Wi-Fi, high-speed data integration, fax, HD Voice, corded and cordless handsets with credit card readers, along with worldwide Iridium®, Inmarsat, and high-speed Ku Satcom on aircraft types ranging from the Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) and Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) to Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer and Gulfstream aircraft types.
“With their experience in serving some of the world’s most demanding aircraft operators, we’re delighted that Jet Aviation has chosen TrueNorth as their airborne telecom partner,” said Mark van Berkel, TrueNorth’s president and CEO. “And while our systems have demonstrated an industry-leading level of reliability, we’re equally proud that Jet Aviation has recognized that our commitment to performance, product quality and customer satisfaction is as strong as their own,” he added.
A revolutionary software-centric system, the Simphone¯ (pronounced ‘symphony’) OpenCabin system brings an unprecedented degree of reliability, operator control and communications capabilities to business aviation. Since existing airborne telecom systems were heavy, complex, expensive to install and operate, and prone to obsolescence, TrueNorth developed a solution that addressed all those concerns, with benefits that include robust performance; an unlimited lifespan; significant long-term cost savings; and the ability to easily add a wide variety of custom features.
HD capability uses digital audio to improve both voice calls and faxes made over Inmarsat Swift Broadband®
Ottawa, Canada – May 17, 2011 —TrueNorth Avionics, the fast-growing developer of executive airborne telecom solutions, has introduced HD Voice (HDV), an enhancement to its advanced Simphone¯ OpenCabin® system that provides a significant quality improvement over other phone systems on calls made via the Inmarsat Swift Broadband and Swift64 Satcom links. Delivering crystal clear voice fidelity with less delay, TrueNorth’s digital HD Voice — another industry first from TrueNorth — also offers more robust and reliable faxing over Inmarsat Swift Broadband. The Airbus Corporate Jet Centre is the launch customer for HD Voice aboard its series of A319CJ aircraft, followed by a B777 business aircraft installation performed by AMAC. HD Voice can also be retrofitted to existing Simphone¯ OpenCabin systems, with no additional hardware units required.
“We have heard from our customers that high quality voice calls are important to them, so we developed this breakthrough voice application using digital audio to provide them with crystal clear, low-latency calling. We call this ‘HD Voice’ because voice calls are so good they’re virtually the quality of digital broadcast audio,” said Mark van Berkel, TrueNorth’s president.
The Simphone¯ OpenCabin system uses a suite of enterprise-level software applications (‘apps’) to add functionality and growth. Where current hardware-centric systems are heavy, expensive to install, complex and prone to obsolescence, Simphone¯ OpenCabin turns a business aircraft into an extension of a company’s corporate IT and telecom networks. Benefits include robust, ‘office-in-the-sky’ performance; an unlimited lifespan; significant lifecycle cost savings, since hardware needs to be installed only once; and the ability to add a wide variety of custom functions by simply uploading software.
The headset is the most critical part of any IFE system. It defines the quality of audio delivery and its look and feel defines the quality of the Airline. The headset is probably responsible for more passenger complaints, and IFE reliability issues than any other IFE component - so why do most airlines leave its procurement to the catering department?”