New ARINC Common-Use Solution—vMUSETM Supports Airlines’ Native Check-In ApplicationsNovember 6, 2007Singapore—In a breakthrough for the aviation industry, ARINC Incorporated today unveiled a new passenger check-in platform that significantly reduces costs and will permit unprecedented widespread adoption of common-use operations at more airport terminals of all sizes worldwide. ARINC’s new vMUSE platform directly supports airlines’ native check-in applications without requiring software modifications. vMUSE can run these airline native applications alongside today’s CUTE applications and tomorrow’s CUPPS technology all on the same workstation. “With vMUSE, airports can finally introduce common-use operations as they want to, without waiting for their airlines to re-write applications and without putting them under pressure,” stated Keith Margerison, ARINC Senior Director of Airport Systems. Mr. Margerison introduced vMUSE this week to an international audience of airport and airline IT managers and directors at the company’s Airport Systems Action Planning (ASAP) Customer Meeting in Singapore. He said vMUSE will see its first deployment in early 2008. An easy upgrade path is planned for ARINC customers running the i MUSE Version 2 solution. vMUSE also lowers airport costs by eliminating the need for costly custom printers and special paper stock for boarding passes. It allows use of inexpensive plain paper printers to produce accurate bar-coded boarding passes. Customers will realize significant cost benefits from using standard WindowsTM print devices. “The total life-cycle cost advantage of standard printers suitable for airport use varies between 4:1 and 2:1, depending on volume,” Margerison said. Adding to flexibility and ease of use, vMUSE also supports passenger check-ins by cell phone, an increasingly popular option today. The vMUSE architecture consists of two layers: device and platform abstraction. The purpose of platform abstraction is to enable hosting of any application type regardless of its platform dependencies. The purpose of device abstraction is to promote the use of standard, lower-cost peripheral devices. “Airline Departure Control System applications will work without being modified to fit either the vMUSE platform or the common-use printers,” added Margerison. “vMUSE will enable airlines to focus on just one suite of check-in applications, instead of developing common-use applications separately from their own native applications.” ARINC Airport Systems is recognized as a leading innovator in air travel passenger technologies. Its MUSETM family of passenger systems is found at more than 75 airports worldwide, and used by 260 airlines carrying more than 300 million passengers a year. ARINC Incorporated, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, provides communications, engineering and integration solutions for commercial, defense and government customers worldwide. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland with regional offices in London and Singapore, ARINC is ISO 9001:2000 certified. Release: 07-197 Brand Management & Communications |
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