In the last few weeks the industry has been a-buzz with Panasonic’s announcement of a handheld IFE system with a wireless head-end, and Wencor/APS’ announcement of an embedded digEplayer system. What does IMS chairman Joe Renton, developer of Pea, think about these developments? We asked him.

“I’m glad to hear that everyone likes our ideas,” Renton told IFExpress with a laugh. “But these aren’t new ideas. Pea was equipped with 802.11b/g from the outset, and we’ve always cited its migration path to a wireless network and head-end server once everyone was comfortable with Wi-Fi. That was a logical path. It was inevitable that others would catch on. We welcome them in and look forward to setting the next suite of industry innovations.”

So the Panasonic and Wencor/APS systems are just like yours, we asked?

“No,” Renton told IFExpress. “You’ve got to add more than WAPs and servers to duplicate our service…you’ve got to back them up with a bi-directional Content Delivery Network. But we still go further…to accommodate not only airline-owned handhelds, but pax-owned devices as well on the same network. Entertainment and information is becoming increasingly mobile…you [Terry Wiseman] have been talking about it at WAEA and Aircraft Interiors. Passenger-owned devices are being carried into the public performance space. It is logical for airlines to want to give passengers the choice of using the airline’s device or their own without losing the benefit of an onboard wireless network.

“Unlike other handheld products, IMS began with a comprehensive Content Delivery Network (CDN)…a digital content/data supply chain, managing entertainment content, interactive advertising content, merchandising content, financial transactions, passenger usage statistics and some innovative and unique revenue generation content,” says Renton. “Pea was merely a client on a network, a content and data receptacle. Essentially we began with a WAN to deliver content, and then added Peas as terminals. We knew we would eventually add WAPs and servers on the aircraft to create LANs for greater flexibility. The network itself – and the content— is of greater importance than the receiving device or who owns it.”

So if airlines eventually got out of the handheld device business and left it to pax to bring their own devices onboard…

“…we’re still performing our core business – that of a Content Management, data management network service provider managing content and data on a bi-direction digital network – a fully integrated digital supply chain that supports a large variety of content types, pushed as well as pulled to and from the passenger.”

Want to know more, visit IMS Inflight.

http://www.airfax.com/airfax/ifexpress/ifexpress04262005.htm