Aircell Announces Inflight Broadband Partnership



Aircell, the leading provider of inflight communication services for commercial and business air travelers, today announced it has selected generationE Technologies as the service management solution integrator to implement the company's network performance management system.

generationE is a premier IBM Tivoli partner with extensive experience in architecting service performance management solutions like the Tivoli Netcool solution. Aircell has developed inflight broadband services to allow passengers to use existing Wi-Fi enabled PDAs and laptops while airborne. American Airlines and Virgin America have both signed deals to deliver high-speed broadband connectivity on their domestic flights beginning in 2008.

Together with generationE, Aircell will supplement its current network monitoring and management capabilities on the company's cutting-edge satellite and air-to-ground broadband cellular networks. Trending and demand forecasting of its cellular network will be further optimized with new capabilities provided by generationE, as well as enhancements to its data center monitoring.

"At Aircell, we measure success on both the reliability of our systems and cost of services," explained Mark Malosh, Vice President of Operations at Aircell. "We are confident that our partnership with generationE will help achieve both of these goals by helping us manage and monitor the performance of our expanding network environment."

The software, IBM Tivoli Netcool Performance Manager, will be used to manage Aircell's terrestrial network of cell sites and its data centers, which provide fault tolerance and load-balancing capabilities to the Aircell network infrastructure. The software will report critical metrics such as latency measurements, and allow Aircell to conduct root cause analysis to quickly isolate, analyze and resolve network problems.

"We are excited about this partnership and look forward to leveraging the IBM software to help optimize our network," explained Mark Malosh.

About Aircell            

Aircell LLC is the leader in global airborne telecommunications for the Commercial and Business Aviation markets. The winner of the FCC's exclusive broadband frequency license in 2006, Aircell is pioneering a revolutionary new wireless broadband system for North America. Aircell broadband system will include robust Wi-Fi hotspots that enable airline passengers to surf the Internet, use e-mail and log on to their corporate VPNs using their personal Wi-Fi equipped devices. The system will also offer airline operational-communications capabilities and provide a path to a wealth of future cabin services. Set for introduction in 2008, the new broadband service will also be available to business aircraft operators, offering a similar set of features. Aircell (



Aircell Announces Inflight Broadband Partnership