ARINC’s New Oi (Onboard Internet)—New, Affordable Connectivity for Laptops In Flight

Hamburg, Germany—ARINC Incorporated is showcasing its newly developed onboard Internet service for passenger laptops—known as Oi—this week at Aircraft Interiors 2008. Available to airlines this year, Oi is the newest addition to the ARINC portfolio of Satellite Communications applications.

ARINC’s Oi connectivity enables passengers to surf the Internet (by the hour, day, or flight leg), access e-mail during flight, chat over Instant Messenger, watch real-time news and sports flashes, hear bulletins—all on their own personal laptops. They can even watch and download the latest Podcasts. ARINC’s Oi technology makes optimum use of Inmarsat Swift satellite communication services.

Passengers merely switch on their PCs and can connect instantly via a wired or wireless cabin backbone to the Oi Web Portal. The Portal is fully customized to each airline’s requirements, supporting a combination of free view or paid applications. Oi will feature a range of price points to suit most budgets, and ARINC expects webmail prices will be under US$10 a flight, with larger attachments requiring an extra charge. A number of payment methods will be offered, including credit cards or pre-paid cards with special access codes, or passengers can use pre-existing mobile or Internet service provider accounts.

Frequently used and favorite websites can be cached on board the aircraft server while the aircraft is at the gate through a wireless connection (i.e., Gatelink). Content can also be loaded on board the aircraft via a portable dataloader. Smaller content updates and refreshing of content will be done during flight over the satellite connection. This enables ARINC to maximize the Internet content offering and keep passenger pricing affordable.

ARINC is launching Oi this week during the Aircraft Interiors Show at The Messe, Hamburg, Germany, at Stand 4D15. With the addition of Oi, ARINC is now able to offer airlines a complete choice of passenger cabin connectivity solutions—via the In-flight Entertainment System, and also through passengers’ own personal devices, mobile phones, BlackBerry devices, and PDAs through its joint venture with AeroMobile^SM.   

“The core focus in developing Oi has been based on passenger experience. Our aim is to ensure a high quality of service and easy usability, offering both business and leisure passengers increased connectivity, especially on long-haul flights when they want to keep in touch at 35,000 feet,” said Dave Poltorak, ARINC EMEA Managing Director.

“In developing this creative solution we have spent time getting to know the technicalities of Inmarsat Swift64 and SwiftBroadband,” added Andy Hubbard, Director Aviation Solution EMEA.  ”We have also used this time to work with leading industry content providers and graphic designers to ensure our laptop product not only has excellent content, but is very easy to use. ”

ARINC first demonstrated Oi at the September 2007 World Airline Entertainment Association congress. As the solution is software-based, it can be easily installed on most of the higher specification IFE servers already on many of the world’s leading airlines, several of whom are now talking with ARINC about the system.

ARINC has capitalized on the investment it has made already in the IFE communication application arena and used both the experiences and infrastructure which already serve many leading airlines today. ARINC’s in-flight passenger services offer the broadest spectrum of interest for leisure and business travelers.

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: 08-08

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