Exchange to go down while new datalink is sought to replace Connexion by Boeing
The first users of Rockwell Collins Exchange broadband connectivity offerings will probably face a service blackout for a time next year as the company works to replace Connexion by Boeing as the datalink service provider.
Rockwell Collins had been supplying Exchange systems to Bombardier for the Global family of business jets, one of which is already in service, using an exclusive arrangement with Boeing for the Ku-band Connexion service. Boeing decided to terminate Connexion by year's end due to low demand for the services in the commercial airline industry.
The most likely candidate for replacement service is Arinc's SkyLink broadband communications service, a Ku-band service now offered by Gulfstream for its larger business jets and Dassault for the Falcon 7X. Arinc has 41 aircraft flying with Exchange so far and 59 units have been sold. Flight trials for the 7X system are planned for next year. The two companies in October agreed to work to together on how to configure Exchange for use with the Arinc network, although arrangements have not been finalised.
Robert Thompson, Arinc senior director, business aviation services, says Rockwell Collins is working with customers and satellite technology partner ViaSat on how to modify the Exchange systems to work with SkyLink. "Arinc would be the service provider," says Thompson, but details about how the product would be marketed by Rockwell Collins are not yet established. "Everyone's agreed they'll modify the equipment and we'll accept it on our network," he says.
Scott Wight, Bombardier's manager of product planning for the Global and Challenger line, expects the SkyLink analysis work to be completed by the start of the second quarter. One extra unit is being installed in an aircraft at Bombardier's Global completion centre, but other orders are on hold.
Source: Flight International
