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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 2931.PDF
WM*A 'i)V Sony Trans Com sell-off near EMMA KELLY/SALT LAKE CITY AN UNIDENTIFIED avion ics manufacturer, widely believed to be AlliedSignal, is con ducting a due diligence review of Sony Trans Com with a view to buying the in-flight entertainment (IFE) supplier from Sony. Sony Trans Com declines to confirm the identity of the suitor, saying only that the company is operating under "a non-disclosure agreement with an avionics com pany notin IFE". The unidentified avionics manufacturer has only recently started due diligence, the IFE hardware supplier said at the World Airline Entertainment Association show, which took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, from 28 September-1 October. The consumer electronics giant has received "a lot of interest" in its IFE division, says Randall Lincoln, vice-president of sales and market ing, adding that the Irvine, California-based company has grown consistently over die past six years. Sony purchased the Trans Com division from avionics com pany Sundstrand in 1989. Sony Trans Com is the only one of the four major IFE hardware manufacturers not aligned with an avionics manufacturer. Rockwell Collins entered the IFE industry in late 1997 with the purchase of Hughes-Avicom International, while French avionics manufactur er Sextant Avionique purchased a 51 % stake in B/E Aerospace's IFE division in January this year, acquiring the remaining share holding last month. Matsushita, meanwhile, formed a strategic alliance with Honeywell - which is merging with AlliedSignal - at last year's Farnborough air show, with a view to the development of joint Air Canada already has a P@ssportfor two A340s passenger communication and entertainment services. AlliedSignal has long eyed the IFE industry and has conducted extensive studies of the market. The manufacturer was linked with small family-run IFE hardware supplier The Network Connection, but that deal was not concluded. With avionics manufacturers increasingly positioning them selves to offer equipment from the flightdeck through to the passen ger cabin, AlliedSignal is the only major avionics supplier with IFE equipment missing from its prod uct portfolio. The company will acquire passenger satellite com munication activities through its merger with Honeywell. Matsushita in particular is watching developments at Sony Trans Com with interest, as any move into IFE by AlliedSignal would put its own alliance with Honeywell in jeopardy. Sony Trans Corn's interactive P@ssport system is flying with South xAfrican Airways, on a single Boeing 747-400, and Air Canada (two Airbus A340s and, from this month, one A3 30), and will be operational with US Airways next March. The manufacturer's P@ves system, designed for narrowbody types, is operational with 37 air lines, with Sony announcing an order at the show from GB Airways for its new Airbus A320/A32 Is. • NEWS IN BRIEF • SYSTEM 3000 LAUNCH Matsushita is close to finalis ing a 40-aircraft launch order for its new System 3000 interactive in-flight enter tainment (IFE) system. The System 3000, to be available from the second or third quarter of next year, will be an upgraded version of the System 2000E, the leading interactive IFE system in stalled on widebodies. The manufacturer also has two unannounced customers for its System 400N, designed for single-aisle aircraft to fill the gap between interactive video-on-demand-based sys tems and standard overhead video systems. • IN-FLIGHT TV LiveTV, the Sextant In- Flight Systems and Harris joint venture, has signed Alaska Airlines and Legend Airlines for its in-flight tele vision service. Alaska will install the 24-channel satel lite television entertainment system on one Boeing 737- 400 next March, and decide on fleetwide equipage after a 90-day trial. Dallas Love Field-based business-class airline Legend will equip its fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-9s. Programming is sup plied by DirecTV. Rockwell to join audio/video/on-demand club from next year ROCKWELL Collins Pas senger Systems will test audio/video/on-demand (A/VOD) capability on its Total Enter tainment System (TES) with an unidentified airline in the first quarter of next year. Rockwell is the last of the major in-flight entertainment (IFE) hardware suppliers to offer A/VOD functionality, which pro vides passengers with control over their audio and video program ming. Matsushita has A/VOD fly ing on its System 2000E with All Nippon Airways, Malaysia Air lines, Saudi Airlines and Singapore Airlines; Sony Trans Corn's P@ss- port system is providing the sendee to Air Canada and South African Airways; while Sextant's A/VOD is flying on the manufacturer's mSeries hardware on Japan Air lines' new Boeing 747-400s. The six-month, one-aircraft trial will be followed by the launch of A/VOD with a separate airline customer in the middle of next year, says Dave Frankenbach, director of product marketing. TES users include Air France, American Airlines, British Airways and Delta Air Lines. Rockwell concedes that it is offering A/VOD later than it had originally hoped, but Frankenbach says the manufacturer has been focusing on improving the reliabil ity of the basic TES before it adds more functionality. "We recently had fleetwide availability numbers in the 99% region, so we are get ting close to where we want relia bility to be," he says. Recently appointed vice- president and general manager of the Rockwell IFE division, Neal Keating, admits that the manufac turer ran into particular problems with the BA programme. The air line is equipping more than 100 aircraft with the TES, having dropped its previous interactive IFE system supplier, B/E Aero space (now Sextant In-Flight Systems), because of reliability problems. "We ran into several issues with the BA programme - we didn't reach reliability, had trouble isolat ing contributory causes and strug gled with spares," says Keating. He claims the manufacturer has made significant progress with the pro gramme over die past few months. Rockwell will add Intranet ser vices to the TES from the middle of next year. • 24 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 6 - 12 October 1999
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