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

Hot Topic: What A Show – WAEA ’06!

If there ever was a transition year in in-flight entertainment or passenger connectivity, this was it. The demise of Connexion, the rise of AirCell, OnAir, AeroMobile and ASI will undoubtedly change the way we fly in the next few years. The IFE experience is also in for a few improvements as well. Panasonic and Thales and a whole host of new hardware vendors, specifically in the area of onboard portable entertainment, will deliver new levels of choice and quality. We cannot go into all the stories here: there is not enough room in our Hot Topic so lets see if we can hit the highlights now and cover each individual story in upcoming issues. Here’s a quick peek on what we perceive to be the “hot” trends:

1. Portables, portables and more portables: we saw over eight new portable products and there are probably more in development. Companies like Panasonic, eDigital and IMS showed impressive new hardware.
2. Connectivity is larger than life with AirCell gearing up for cell-based SMS/email offering in the US next year and a similar onboard cell offering from AeroMobile and OnAir soon internationally via Inmarsat/Irridium. Panasonic is on the verge of a worldwide TV and Internet service that promises to fill the Connexion void.
3. Bluetooth is coming of age with the first Bluetooth picocell from ASI.
4. There is a lot of next generation noise canceling hardware with prices and capability varying all over the map. Long Prosper, Sennheiser, and Bose are bringing interesting products to market and the focus is on ear buds and on the ear designs. You need this technology if you travel long distances.
5. At least four new, small foot-print, satcom antennas were displayed with great new technology driving them. EMS, Chelton, ITAN and Starling are names you will hear more about from us.

So much for the big dogs, now what about the buzz? Here are tidbits from the many stories we heard about:

1. Laptop batteries were a big issue and we must have heard from ten sources with differing opinions. The keynote speaker even had an opinion: “There is a 50/50 chance the airlines will ban all carry-on devices”. The latest exploding battery scenario may fuel the discourse. Check this out this web link.
2. Wiring and unwiring the new airplanes from Boeing and Airbus was another topic of great interest. It seems that with all the issues surrounding international governmental frequency approval and the vagaries of the technology, wiring may be a backup proposition
3. It sure is difficult to interview the movie content suppliers (excluding a couple). We tried to get a reading of “Snakes On A Plane”, and they were too busy to see us – sorry.
4. Thanks to Astronics for the best barge party and shoeshine, OnAir for the upscale event of the show, and the WAEA for their hospitality and our new ability to salsa dance.

Hyper buzz - Thales showed a really incredible, small satcom. ITAN had a sweet moving map display. VT Miltope's new Visionary IFE system that uses "lossy coax technology." AeroMobile is testing the slickest, 2-box GSM telephony hardware. Strangely no iPod-based hardware was shown at the conference. The eDigital folks had a nifty new portable player with a built in game controller. We really liked the diagnostic screen that, among other things, tells the interrogator the condition of the battery. Avionica’s simple and small gatelink product was light and sophisticated. Lumexis with their fiber-to-the-seat design offering HDTV and captioning. DTI has signed Electronic Arts, which adds games like The Sims 2 to their huge gaming coffering. IMS has a trendy new colored “skin” to their portable. And last but not least, the incredible technology demonstration room at the Panasonic booth.

Note: WAEA reports that as mid-day on Thursday, there were 220 delegates from 68 airlines and 859 vendor delegates from 177 companies.
 

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Laptop Turns 'Firecracker'
Sydney Morning Herald
 

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59th Annual NBAA Meeting & Convention
10/17/2006 - 10/19/2006
 

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