November 13, 2007 - New System to be Part of AirCell’s System to Deliver Inflight Broadband Connectivity Service Over U.S.
The CWAP provides 802.11a and 802.11b/g radios to be used by passengers with Wi-Fienabled devices such as laptops and smartphones. A typical commercial aircraft configuration would include one ACPU on the external body of the plane and two CWAPs installed in the passenger cabin to provide air-to-ground Internet connectivity to passengers. AirCell will use Formation’s hardware in combination with the company’s own unique air-to-ground technology, which transmits and receives data between the ground and the aircraft at broadband speed, to enable high speed inflight broadband Internet service.
“Our strategy is to work with some of the leading suppliers of mobile communications technology,” said Anand Chari, Vice President, AirCell Broadband System Engineering. “Formation provides the right combination of market knowledge and technological competitiveness to help AirCell reach our goal of providing inflight Internet access to passengers in 2008.”
“Formation has developed more than 1,600 avionics class servers and 110,000 other avionic products for the top OEMs in the aircraft industry. This experience, coupled with our wireless technology innovation, made a partnership with AirCell a natural fit,” said R. Nim Evatt, Formation’s CEO. “To put it mildly, we are thrilled to be a part of this groundbreaking initiative.”
AirCell will begin testing Formation’s components as part of partnerships with American Airlines and Virgin America in early 2008. AirCell’s service will allow passengers to check e-mail, surf the Web, tap into an office network and stay current on the latest news, using either inflight entertainment systems or their own Wi-Fi enabled laptops, smartphones, PDAs, and portable gaming systems - while in flight.
Note to Editors:
• High-resolution, production-ready photographs of Jean-Luc Rosenfeld, Aircell European Sales Manager, and the Aircell Axxess satcom system & accessories are available for download at http://www.aircell.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=308&L3=library
Formation, Inc. of Moorestown, NJ, USA designs and manufactures hardware and software products and provides related engineering services for the defense, aviation, data communications and transportation industries. Products include ToughDisk Rugged Hard Disks, Advanced Integrated Recorders, avionics-class servers, rugged wired and wireless networks. For information visit www.formation.com or call +1 856.234.5020.