While showcasing its RAVE embedded in-flight entertainment system here at the show, IMS is close to unveiling a launch customer for the product introduced at last year's APEX conference.

IMS Vice President sales and marketing Harry Gray says the company expects to start installs for the yet-to-be named launch customer next year.

Currently IMS is targeting the retrofit market with RAVE by touting the ability to fit RAVE's 7-inch screen into an existing economy seat featuring an older 6.4 inch screen.

IMS believes the retrofit market is robust for RAVE's offerings, which also include screen sizes of 9, 10 or 15 inches. "There are a lot of old IFE systems out there that need to be replaced," he says. "We think the retrofit market is a sweet spot for us."

Each RAVE unit is a self-contained system with its own processor eliminating the need for heavy servers weighing down the aircraft, says Gray, and a single box situated on the aircraft handles content loading and aircraft interfaces.

Since RAVE's launch Gray says IMS has refined the product by making the graphical user interface more intuitive.

Source: Flight Daily News