September 6, 2005 – AS predicted in earlier Inflight Online stories, IMS Inflight has released details of two companion products for its original PEA handheld IFE system.

To be unveiled at the WAEA show in Hamburg on September 20, the P70 and P100 – together forming the new P-Series – will feature a 7in and 10.6in screen respectively and will complement PEA with its 8.9in touchscreen. Examples will be available from the first quarter of next year, according to IMS chief executive Alan Pellegrini, and a launch customer has been secured and will be announced shortly. The P-Series design accommodates the possible implementation of a semi-embedded in-seat version in the future.

P-Series features include a tablet PC-style form factor - a significant departure from the laptop/notebook style favoured so far - plus a touchscreen, longer-life batteries offering up to 10hr of operation, a larger (80Gb) hard drive, a credit-card reader, and a blind-mate connector to facilitate connection of the device to its docking station for battery charging, content load and data offload.

The new devices will continue to use Windows Media software and an IMS/Microsoft-developed digital rights management (DRM) system, securing their eligibility for early-window content support from every major studio and major independent. “The content delivery infrastructure is also the same,” says Pellegrini. “IMS will continue to use its proven Content Integration Station, Content Load Station, Ground Pod and client software applications to securely aggregate, distribute and display content.”

The IMS infrastructure also includes a content-delivery virtual private network, a network operations centre (NOC) and a complete range of content management services: acquisition and licensing, encoding, integration, encryption, key management and administration.

As well as its range of handheld hardware, IMS offers CabinTrends data capture and management software, the new Blast! daily Web-based content service, the SkyStand inflight electronic newspaper application, and the Terminal Data Loader (TDL), chosen by American Airlines and Virgin America.

To date, IMS numbers UK charter carriers Excel Airlines and Travel Cities, low-costs Air Sahara, Jet Airways and Harmony Airways, transatlantic premium carrier Eos and full-service operator Varig in its handheld customer list.