So when considering more efficient technology options, the airline IT executive’s first internal question usually is:  How will my airline still be able to transmit all the vital data necessary to keep our aircraft flying?

Xerox (NYSE: XRX) business cloud services are solving this problem by helping airlines share critical information, such as flight plans and passenger details, with aviation agencies and partners domestically and internationally. It achieves this solution by blending its cloud capabilities with the aviation data expertise of AvFinity.  The combination of Xerox and AvFinity allows disparate communications systems to work seamlessly.

Built on Xerox’s on-demand cloud infrastructure (IaaS) and AvFinity’s patent-pending software (SaaS) known as AIRS™, the solution seamlessly shares important data and key transmissions from airlines to other carriers.  It does the same seamless communication with vital flight authorities, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

For airlines, this means critical flight information arrives without interruption at its destination and meets each receiving party’s format and protocol requirements.

“There is no room for error in ensuring safety in the skies,” said Ken Stephens, senior vice president of cloud services, Xerox. “Airlines can now leapfrog to the cloud to expedite their communications and do so at costs much lower than maintaining existing mainframe systems.”

Airlines have long relied on legacy communications systems to transmit information.  Yet the skies are projected to become busier as mainstream, low cost and regional carriers all increase in numbers.   To manage that growth, the aviation industry as a whole desires to upgrade the way key information is shared, said Stephens.

The Xerox and AvFinity agreement facilitates multiple flight-critical services and connects an airline with flight authorities that are continuously updating flight information such as weather and airport conditions.

“Now airlines can draw on the expertise of Xerox and AvFinity to provide seamless transmission of flight-critical communication,” said Doug Perkins, chief executive officer, AvFinity. “Airlines can transition from legacy systems that cost thousands annually to continually patch, and move to lower cost, secure cloud services backed by data communications experts.”

AIRS is the key to rapid implementation for the OPEN Communication Hub. AIRS handles all flight-critical data regardless of format, communications protocol or transport medium. AIRS’ unique ability to link legacy and more modern IT architectures permits all airlines—including those with unsophisticated IT systems—to communicate immediately with all other airlines, government authorities and other required entities.

AIRS revolutionizes messaging in ways that the aviation industry has never before considered. It brings communications management, simplification, knowledge transfer and collaborative capabilities to the control of airlines for the first time in the history of aviation. In this way, AIRS redefines airline communications.

Today, airlines increasingly choose newer, open network technologies like those offered by AvFinity to increase their options. The reward for airlines that choose AvFinity is a flexible, open network that allows carriers control over their messaging for the first time in aviation history.

A recent example is a North American regional airline that needed to send messages in a new address format to its legacy airline partner. With AvFinity’s new technologies, such as AIRS™, the regional airline found a fast and efficient way to make the in-house adjustments automatically without the normal associated costs of legacy networks. The solution required no legacy message providers, no costly development team and provided lower messaging costs.

Airlines also have been migrating much of their network messaging through IBM WebSphere MQ channels. To simplify airline MQ management for airlines, AvFinity incorporated IBM WebSphere MQ, either Client or Server, as part of its embedded services. This feature increases airline flexibility by enabling the management of any number of MQ channels to handle the growth in message flows.

In fact, that’s one of the reasons Trans States Holdings, Inc. recently chose AIRS for its three airlines.

AIRS also provides airlines with vital data communications, plus message formatting, routing and managing, integration into office systems, connectivity to government border and flight authorities, and much more.

AvFinity has a proven track record in improving and modernizing airlines’ data communications systems. For proof look no farther than the fact that more than half of North America’s regional airlines have adopted AvFinity technology in just the first 18 months that AIRS has been on the market. AvFinity has helped these airlines migrate from closed, proprietary systems to the new, open, more flexible communications technology that will identify the aviation industry of this century.

AvFinity can help if your airline hasn’t started the process yet. AvFinity has been qualified by CBSA to be an authorized service provider with direct CBSA connectivity. We put our considerable technical expertise to work for you. We feature high quality MQ connectivity due to its non-repudiation and assured delivery capabilities.

If your airline is required to connect CBSA, AvFinity is your best value service provider.

Contact us today to begin the process of connecting to CBSA. For more information on our APIS services, including connectivity to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and to CARICOM, visit our web site.

Aeroméxico Connect uses AIRS™ for formatting and filing its crew manifests for APIS to USCBP. AIRS™ also helps the airline file flight plans with SENEAM – the Mexican government agency that manages its air space.

Aeroméxico Connect’s AIRS™ connection to SENEAM uses TCP/IP and the FAA’s proprietary Common Message Handling Protocol (CMHP) to connect to the FAA’s NADIN II AFTN gateway. With AIRS™, Aeroméxico Connect now has state-of-the-art technology for 21st century aviation.

AvFinity and AIRS™ now provide the following benefits to Aeroméxico Connect and more than half of North America’s regional carriers:

• Improved messaging and data routing
• Quick reformatting for increased system inter-connectivity
• Connectivity to government border and flight authorities
• Control over their data interfaces
• Multiple additional flight-critical services
• And much more

These benefits have fueled AvFinity’s AIRS™ product to phenomenal growth since it entered the market less than 24 months ago.

If you’re involved in aviation IT, it’s time you visit the AvFinity website at www.avfinity.com to request your web conference on how AIRS™ can revolutionize your aviation communications.

For airlines, AIRS can become a value-added communications tool that generates healthy revenue while still providing a significant return to the airline customers.

For more information on the AIRS pricing model, contact AvFinity.

• Abacus
• Amadeus
• HP/EDS Shares
• SABRE
• TravelPort (Worldspan/Galileo/Apollo)

What limits a GDS is a tendency to provide the messaging bundled as part of its managed services.The Open Communication Hub allows not only airlines to interconnect easily to multiple GDSes, but to develop their own strategy (marketing, technical, etc.).That, in turn, allows their partners, in this case the GDS, to integrate its networks and applications.

IP VPN Networks:

• Enables the customer to connect to multiple IP-based VPN’s via a single connection
• Enables the customer to reduce the number of legacy connections through direct host-to-host communications.

AvFinity AIRSTM:

• Enables the customer to communicate with any device regardless of communication interface, host-to-host (H2H) and host-to-application (H2A) access
• Enables the customer to switch data and application at the hub
• Enables the customer to access airline databases & applications
• Enables the customer to create and deploy applications on open standard platforms using AvFinity supplied ASMSTM software:

• Connectivity communications (Legacy protocol to IP connectivity)
• Business Rules (application logic)
• Parsing (creating data records from legacy applications)
• Scripting (rapid development languages)
• Remote hardware and software management
• Remote software installation and configuration

SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) Applications:

• Enables the customer to create and deploy applications on open standard platforms (Cisco or servers) within the network
• Enables network based Business Rules (application logic)
• Enables peer-to-peer application management e.g. APIS segment conformance

The benefits of this interconnected network among members who share common goals are immense.Here are just a few:

• Flight-critical communications become more efficient.
• Communications are controlled by the airline and its members so that the quality of information is assured without the filter of a third-party vendor.
• Changes, which are a constant in aviation, are performed immediately by AIRS without having to hire a team of developers that will spend six months figuring out a solution.
• New airline partners become communications-ready with established airline members immediately upon installing AIRS regardless of their IT datacenter expertise.
• AIRS integrates into back-end systems so that data are accessed without human intervention.
• AIRS handles all data, regardless of format, and sends and receives them regardless of communications protocol or transport media.