April 16, 2008 – HANDHELD IFE provider IMS has rewarded itself for its recent surge to the forefront of the market with a change of name and logo. The Anaheim, California-based company, which supplies four US majors and another dozen or more carriers around the world, has also announced a new corporate structure and two senior staff appointments.

“We’re now known as The IMS Company,” says chief executive Joe Renton. “And we have reorganised into two groups - IMS Entertainment and IMS Engineering.” IMS Entertainment is responsible for the company’s portable inflight solutions, wireless communications and content management services for the travel industry. IMS Engineering provides advanced systems and software engineering support for aerospace, military and other clients.

Heading the first as senior VP and general manager is John Sickler, who joins IMS after a seven-year spell with Rockwell Collins in a number of posts, including product management director for Air Transport Products, engineering director for Airshow Products, and engineering director for Passenger Systems.
 
Senior VP and GM of IMS Engineering is Jim Snover, who was most recently employed by Boeing as director of radio products and user programmes on the $2 billion Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Ground Mobile Radios (GMR) development for the US Army and other military services. Before that he was with Rockwell Collins as a director of programme management for the company’s Passenger Systems unit.

Industry veteran Don Sathern has also joined IMS, on the sales side, and the company plans to open an office in Bangkok in the summer.