Aggregate and accelerate your SBB with Satcom1 solution!

Before I start getting accused of having some sort of an\nagenda - does that girl never stop singing the praises of in-flight high-speed\nInternet, (ahem)? - I want to tell you about technology that makes Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband\n(SBB) service faster.

The solution comes from Satcom1, a small firm headquartered on\nthe grounds of Le Bourget airport in France. During the Paris air show,\nI visited with Satcom1, which demonstrated how its AvioIP software can\naggregate two channels of Inmarsat's X-Stream streaming class of service (which\ndelivers quality-of-service speeds of up to 280 kbps) to offer average speeds\nof 550 kbps, ensuring that video on the web, for instance, can load faster than the reading to\nprovide a better fluidity of service.

Coupled with acceleration technology that can further improve\nthe perception of the speed by using low-level caching and compression, the\nAvioIP solution is poised to be a hit in the business aviation community.

But what about airlines? Many carriers have fitted their\naircraft - either through linefit or retrofit - with Inmarsat's regular SBB service,\nwhich does a good job supporting in-flight voice, texting and email everywhere except the poles. SBB also\nsupports in-flight Wi-Fi, but is not a truly broadband solution (as perceived\nby the regular user), as its max speed is 432 kbps/channel. Aggregating four channels of up to 432kbps (allowed as of October this year) to the aircraft through one antenna can glean more bandwidth (click on the chart to see how Inmarsat is able to share the love right now).

Well, ultimately Satcom1 envisions tailoring its solution for such airlines to\nimprove the speed of SBB service. Meanwhile, the company is already conducting testing for Vision's connected in-flight entertainment system, which will\nbe installed on ATR Series 600 aircraft, and is poised to be brought to the\nSukhoi SuperJet.

Below is my interview with Satcom1 CTO - consultancy and\nsupport manager Jean-Francois Gault, followed by a video showing the\naggregation of 2 x X-Stream using the AvioIP software.