(repost)

The recent acquisition of IMS Inflight by Wencor may just change the IFE landscape forever (strangely, there was no common news release). When Wencor agreed to purchase the portable Digeplayer product in late 2004, many industry observers thought that the acquisition would strengthen the product and establish the validity of a real portable IFE market…and that’s that. Obviously, Wencor’s Brent Wood has bigger ambitions.

The Utah-based company was challenged by location, lack of IFE industry experience, but most importantly, they purchased a great product that had little organization wrapped around it – a good and bad thing. Perhaps the lack of depth in their IFE team was one of the driving factors that brought the IMS deal together.

Look at the facts: IMS is strong in system development and has worked with almost all IFE/aircraft product lines; IMS has a lot going on with wireless networks and content uploading and downloading -- not to mention a great data loader; and we were told that they have a combined customer list somewhere “north of 20”.

Even more importantly, IMS has a strong management team in place with the likes of Joe Renton, Alan Peligrini, and Michael Childers (Mr. Content); a great product line now with a 7” unit (Digeplayer), 8.9” touchscreen Mini PEA, and a 10.4” PEA; rights to virtually all content (so they say), and a gaggle of engineers and sales pro’s that have great industry contacts and skill. No doubt, this team could even bring live video to the party! Hands down this move was a very strategic one for Wencor and we doubt that the IMS management team will be disturbed for all the above reasons.

We now see Wencor becoming a real powerhouse in IFE and with the trends toward smaller aircraft IFE systems, lighter and lower power IFE demands, portable IFE installation interest, and content updating and concerns about battery handling. All that is left is for the Utah techies to buy an in-seat power source supplier. Stay Tuned!