Honeywell has signed an agreement with satellite-operator Inmarsat to provide equipment for in-flight connectivity for airlines using Inmarsat’s Global Xpress Ka-band satellite broadband service.
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Under the 20 year agreement, Honeywell will develop, produce and distribute onboard gear that will be used to offer wi-fi connectivity on jetliners, business jets and government planes.
Global Xpress network, for which the space infrastructure will be provided by Boeing’s three new Inmarsat-5 satellites, is scheduled for launch next year, while the services will be delivered in 2014.
The agreement is expected to generate $2.8bn for Honeywell in sales of hardware, customer service and maintenance to airlines, government clients and other customers.
Honeywell Aerospace president and CEO, Tim Mahoney, said: "With this new service, the flow of information will no longer stop when the door to the aircraft closes."
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By GlobalData"We believe this new network will significantly expand the connectivity options of consumer, business, and government customers around the world," Mahoney added.
Honeywell said that the launch of in-flight services will allow travellers to do everything from real-time social media, to video conferencing and create multi-media presentations.
The services will further facilitate passengers with fast, reliable in-flight connectivity for their iPads, smartphones, tablet devices, and laptops while on board a plane.
Honeywell expects around 10 billion mobile devices in the world by the next four years, and a global population of about 7.3 billion people, which will result in a rise in demand for data traffic for smartphones and tablets.
Accessed through Global Xpress network, the new service will operate in the Ka-band and also facilitate the government clients to converse mission critical information with ground bases about details of position and status of manned and unmanned aircraft.
The government customers can purchase economical satellite communications, and deploy an existing global consistent network to share data through the new service.
Image: The Inmarsat 5 satellites will structure the Global Xpress network scheduled for launch next year. Photo: Inmarsat.
