September 18, 2005 – CALIFORNIA’S IMS Inflight continues its steady advance into the IFE mainstream with the news that a third major carrier has adopted its digital content-loading technology.

Under an agreement with Rockwell Collins, the company is to supply the as yet unnamed airline with a content loading solution based on IMS’ Terminal Data Loader (TDL). The permanently installed TDL, already ordered by American Airlines and Virgin America, loads content directly to the IFE system’s servers. In the Rockwell Collins application it will be designated the In System Loader (ISL) and will feed the avionics giant’s TES and eTES IFE hardware on the aircraft.

“ISL will give our TES and eTES customers a simplified digital content-handling option,” says Tom Martino, Rockwell Collins’ director of TES products and programmes. “It will benefit them by saving recurring data management time and cost.”

Permanently fitted to the aircraft, ISL will eliminate the need for portable data loaders and will reduce the requirement for airline personnel to board the aircraft for loading purposes. While data can be loaded to or offloaded from an aircraft using removable media such as DVD, CD, USB 2.0 memory stick or AIT tape, ISL/TDL can also support automatic wireless transfers via GSM/CDMA cellular and IEEE 802.11. Whatever the delivery method used, once initiated data loading takes place automatically on the ground or in the air.

The wireless capability can also be used at the gate to support encryption key management, remote software updates and IFE system monitoring, passenger usage/BIT reporting, and more.

As specified by Rockwell Collins, ISL supports high-volume loading via 200Gb AIT-4, medium-volume loading with 8.5 GB-capacity DVDs, and low-volume loading via CDs, memory sticks or either of the wireless links.

IMS’ loader products are available in two variants: one based on AIT tape, the other on removable hard drives. Each can be configured with or without 802.11 and GSM/CDMA.

A key strength of IMS’ loaders is their ability to decrypt content in real time, so that it never needs to be transported insecurely in the clear. A pending requirement of WAEA’s Digital Content Management Working Group (DCMWG) is end-to-end encryption. The IMS loaders accomplish this, keeping content encrypted from the time it leaves post-production until it is safely read by the loader on the aircraft.

The loaders can decrypt content protected by the DES, 3DES and AES-128 encryption algorithms, using a physically secure FIPS-140-1 Level 2-compliant hardware device to perform authentication and encryption key storage. IMS describes this solution as the only currently available automated way of updating encryption keys.

This method allows airline IFE managers to initiate key updates from their desktops. “Our combination of end-to-end content encryption, real-time hardware decryption on the aircraft, and automated and secure key management allows IFE managers to conveniently and easily comply with content security guidelines,” comments IMS CEO Alan Pellegrini. “That in turn helps them to qualify for early-window content.”

Another advantage of the IMS solution is its ability to track delivery of content online, allowing IFE managers to use Web-based management tools such as Rockwell Collins’ eOffload to determine the delivery status of each aircraft’s load.

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