From 23 to 24 June, a delegation of international air navigation service providers (ANSP) operating a COMSOFT system followed the annual call of the German ATM supplier to participate in its user group benefiting from the mutual exchange of experiences.

This time, the leading theme was titled “AMHS in 2010 – the Year of Change.” Contentwise the focus of this year’s meeting was set on AMHS’ role in the context of upcoming System Wide Information Management (SWIM) and the pan-European network service (PENS).

Renowned EUROCONTROL speakers gave an insight on these key topics including, e.g., live demonstrations of CFMU’s current preparatory AMHS scenario and procedures for PENS applicants. Yvan Fischer, PENS development manager, is confident of the effect the network will have, saying, “PENS will definitely be a key enabler for AMHS in Europe.”

Marian Malis, member of the PENS Services Steering Group, confirmed that so far 14 European ANSPs are scheduled to migrate to PENS by October this year.

Under the umbrella of AMHS, new products and features of COMSOFT’s portfolio were demonstrated meeting the demands of the changing communication environments. For example, COMSOFT presented their new products for the automated conversion of OLDI/FMTP messages and flight plans to adopt legacy systems to latest European regulations, which will become mandatory in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

As an integral part of CAUG events several participants form various ANSPs seized the opportunity to depict their progresses made in the past and their readiness for further AMHS connections. In this context some CAUG members took the chance to initiate common activities in the near future.

CAUG was first brought to life in 2008 providing the increasing number of AIDA users a platform to exchange views and pass on experiences made with their own implementations.