Swift reaches 500 channel milestone

The milestone has been reached in a little over two years since the service was launched for the air transport, business jet and government markets. Swift enables users to achieve data speeds from 64kbit/s to 256kbit/s, and is supported by a range of equipment manufacturers and service providers, including; ARINC, Chelton, EMS, Honeywell, Rockwell Collins, SITA, Stratos, Telenor, Tenzing, Thales and Thrane & Thrane.

"The Inmarsat Swift family has quickly established itself as one of the most effective ways of offering in-flight connectivity," said Samer Halawi, Regional Director, Inmarsat Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. "Whilst we saw early take up of the service by the government and business jet markets, we are now experiencing increasing interest from airlines. Airlines are looking for a way to offer connectivity that meets their customers' current and future demands that is cost-effective, easy to install, and does not add weight or drag to their aircraft. Swift64 is currently the only solution that meets all of these criteria."

Extending the capabilities of the Swift family of services, SwiftBroadband was recently announced at the Inmarsat aeronautical conference in Montreal, Canada, in June 2004. The service will operate over the Inmarsat I-4 satellites, with the first satellite planned for launch during Q1 2005, and will offer data speeds of up to 432kbit/s per channel. As with Swift64, airlines will be able to use multiple channels into a single aircraft to provide bandwidth at whatever level is required.

Says Halawi: "The extension of the Swift family with SwiftBroadband makes Swift64 the first step in a structured path towards offering data speeds in the megabytes. Swift is a low risk option for in-flight communications; our technology is already installed on over 80 per cent of long haul aircraft, and the upgrade to Swift from existing equipment is simply a matter of switching avionics boxes. Upgrading to SwiftBroadband will either be a minor hardware or software upgrade depending upon the avionics manufacturer. The Swift family provides a step-by-step migration path to in-flight communications that will give our customers confidence and peace of mind."

Swift uses extremely small, low profile antennas, measuring 33.90" L x 11.77" W x 1.88" H (861 x 299 x 48 mm), and a complete Swift installation of antenna and avionics adds only 18kg to the weight of an aircraft. The Swift family of services use the existing antenna deployed for Inmarsat H and H+ services, which have been the dominant force in satellite communications for the aeronautical industry since the 1990s, with approaching 3,700 installations and a forward fitting of nearly 100 per cent on all Airbus and Boeing long-haul aircraft.

"There is a real buzz around inflight connectivity at the moment," adds Halawi, "but airlines have not forgotten the lessons of recent tough economic conditions, and continue to question the level of passenger demand for inflight communications. As a result, the low-risk Swift route is a compelling proposition for airlines the world over who want to benefit from optimal in-flight connectivity."