N°59December-January 2015

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INTERVIEWANDRE KHURYPRESIDENT AND CEO ACASS

IN-FLIGHTNEXTANT 400 XTFAST, SMOOTH AND QUIET

DESIGNCOMLUX AMERICA’S LATEST BBJ COMPLETION TURNS A HIGH ALTITUDE OFFICEINTO A CALM RETREAT

COMPLETIONFLYING COLOURS’ EXECLINERBRINGS BEAUTY TO THE SKIES

EXPOCEPA 5TH ANNUAL SUMMIT

HISTORY IN THE MAKING ATPRAGUE CASTLE

ALL NEW PRODUCTSFLASH NBAA

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TECHNIQUE

“The world is getting smaller” is an oft-used phrase and modern technology enables theworld to talk to each other face to face through all shapes and sizes of interface platforms. Inaddition the regions stimulating global economic development are becoming increasinglydiversified with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries gaining momentum andthe newly emerging MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) countries are striding forth

onto the international business arena. So the need for face-to-face meetings is stillparamount in the executive, governmental, royal and familial world. Flying is still an integralpart of the routine, but as any busy executive knows time travelling is potentially productive

time, therefore money, lost. Crossing continents on a regular basis means an increasingnumber of business jets are serving as offices in the sky. In many cases they are a second

home for the international entrepreneur.

Connectivity to aircraftTo the Power of Three – Satcom Direct delivers office in the sky functionality

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By Iris Savage

TECHNIQUE

Crossing continents on a regular basis means an increasing number of business

jets are serving as offices in the sky

One company that has been addres-sing the growing requirements for the

executive jet sector is Satcom Direct.

The US-based company is continually

creating solutions aiming to keep peo-

ple connected while they are on the

move. “The company mission state-

ment says it all really” says Chris

Moore, Chief Commercial Officer Inter-

national, “we aim to keep people

connected to their world in the air, on

the ground, or at sea, whilst providing

the best user experience possible, and

that really is what drives the develop-

ment of the business.”

ADVANCING NEW TECHNOLOGIESFounded in 1997 by pilot, inventor, and

entrepreneur, Jim Jensen, the com-

pany’s success has taken off through a

combination of its dedication to the

customer and its industry leadership in

advancing new technologies. It has ra-

pidly become a leading provider of sa-

tellite voice and broadband data

solutions for flight and cabin crew, as

well as for passengers. The business,

which now boasts offices in the United

States, Canada, Brazil, UK, Dubai, UAE,

Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Russia,

provides services to business, military,

government, and heads of state. It pro-

vides connectivity to aircraft through

its own unique set of products from

Satcom Direct, and the value-added

services it brings such as training and

customer events, as well as with strate-

gic partnerships. Bringing together the

products, the pipe for connection and

a clever little black box, Satcom Direct

provides a wide range of solutions for

its customers.

IMPROVE AND INNOVATE“We have become a well respected,

customer focused, business working

with industry leaders including Inmar-

sat, Iridium and ViaSat. Through our

partners we continually try to improve

and innovate our mobile application

services,” says Moore about why Sat-

com Direct has gained traction as a lea-

der in the aeronautical connectivity

sector. “We know our clients are incre-

dibly busy and need to have the same

reliable connectivity in the air, as on the

ground. Only now are we really seeing

that this can become a reality as we de-

velop a growing range of products that

can fulfill most requirements.”

Sitting at the heart of Satcom Direct’s

business is a lightweight black box

known as the Satcom Direct Router,

SDR™. Packed with technology, the

SDR manages all of the cabin and flight

deck communications systems on-

board an aircraft. The router enables

laptops, tablets and smart phones to

function as they would in any office si-

tuation.

The SDR works in conjunction with its

ground support system, TerraCom Di-

rect (Satcom Direct’s data center),

which controls the information pipeline

coming and going from an aircraft. Im-

portantly this means the data never has

to touch the open internet so maintains

consistent security. Combine with this

the third piece of the puzzle, the Satcom

Direct Product range and the cabin

connectivity moves closer to replicating

the office environment. The SDR works

with a number of different Apps and

features to offer a variety of services.

Data can be compressed and cached to

enable the maximum amount of infor-

mation to travel quickly between de-

vices; GlobalVT, which is the next

evolution of Satcom Direct’s Voice Over

Internet Protocol product, extends the

capability of smart phones from the

ground into the airborne environment.

GlobalVT also allows users to send and

receive text messages and phone calls

while on board, using their personal

smartphone numbers; a clever prioriti-

zation system allocates designated

amounts of bandwidth to users to en-

sure those that need more get it; whilst

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TECHNIQUE

SkyTicket allows individual passenger

billing which is a boon for operators who

can often end up with hefty connectivity

charges that haven’t been pre-advised.

The powerful combination of these

three products, the SDR, Satcom Direct

Products and the TerraCom Direct data

center come together to create the clo-

sest reflection to office connectivity.

RELIABILITY AND SECURITY“We are not comfortable just providing

connectivity, we also want to ensure re-

liability and security,” says Moore of the

overall system offering. “Once the sys-

tem is installed it enables users to talk,

text, email and connect to the internet

and stream data safely from the air-

craft. The SDR works to keep the

connectivity whilst TerraCom Direct sa-

feguards transmission of the data. With

the support of TerraCom Direct, infor-

mation generated inflight is also safely

connected to the users main network,

and as the connection to the aircraft is

secure, so is the connection to the

user’s main data center. For Fortune

500 companies this is essential.” It ex-

plains why at this point Satcom Direct

provides connectivity to most of the

global executive jet fleet.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPSStrategic partnerships are also impor-

tant to Satcom Direct with the latest

seeing them bundle up EMTEQ’s

eConnect Suite of Solutions into their

product offering. Now the SDR which

provides connectivity enabling tele-

phone communications, video strea-

ming and internet access will be

complemented by the eConnect Suite

of Solutions which provides cabin

control management and wireless in-

flight entertainment connectivity from

personal electronic devices. With the

integration of the SDR and the eCon-

nect Suite of Solutions passengers can

stream their favorite media, control

their cabin environment and upgrade

their inflight entertainment to a high

definition leisure and productivity sys-

tem all from one integrated platform.

“This makes a really powerful, conve-

nient and efficient solution for the air-

craft and also has much future

potential,” says Moore.

PROSPECTIVE DEVELOPMENT & GROWTHLooking to the future Moore is optimis-

tic about Satcom Direct’s prospective

development and growth. This is pro-

bably best exemplified by Satcom Di-

rect’s involvement with the new

SmartSky 4G LTE-based wireless net-

work. “We announced at this year’s

NBAA that we will be the only organi-

zation approved to provide activation,

customer support and billing for the

new airborne SmartSky Network for

the business aviation community.

Whilst this is still only available in the

USA it anticipates the future of aviation

connectivity,” explains Moore.

SmartSky 4G is being launched by

SmartSky Networks with a predicted

rollout of commercial service in 2016.

Once fully functional SmartSky’s paten-

ted technology will aim to provide real-

time business-grade connectivity with

more than 10 times the typical speed

and capacity of networks currently on

the market by using 60 MHz of spec-

trum for its Air-To-Ground (ATG) data

communications. “This means you can

have a group of executives on board

the aircraft streaming data, looking at

internet sites, chatting on their phones

whilst the cabin crew are managing the

cabin environment, all streamed from

one router. It’s a powerful combination

and one we know will be welcomed,”

concludes Moore. �

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US-based Satcom Direct is continually creating solutions aiming to keep people connected while on the move

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