IMS, an in-flight entertainment (IFE) firm that is perhaps best known for its portable devices, is jumping into the embedded IFE space with a brand new product called RAVE.
Revealed for the first at this week's World Airline Entertainment Association (WAEA) conference and exhibition in Palm Springs, California, RAVE - which means "reliable, audio/video entertainment" - will bring additional competition to the world of IFE.
The self-contained system, which is connected to high-speed Ethernet, is being offered at one third of the price of current solutions, has "the highest degree of reliability" and offers full functionality for limitless content, IMS vice-president of sales and marketing Harry Gray told ATI and Flightglobal at the show today.
RAVE can host "whatever your pocketbook can afford" in terms of content, he adds.
IMS currently provides over 17,000 portable IFE players to the airline market. The company's PAV705 portable is being offered in a semi-embedded fashion on British Airways' new transatlantic Airbus A318 service.
The firm also recently developed an IFE display that is intended to solely show passengers' own content on board via their personal electronic devices, such as the Apple iPod. This product is also on display at the WAEA show.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
