Tenzing showcases first in-flight two-way SMS

SEATTLE -- Tenzing Communications has announced the first successful live demonstration of airborne two-way short messaging service to mobile phones worldwide. Onboard a demonstration flight of a new Airbus 340-600 aircraft from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, David Trowern, engineering vice president of Tenzing, exchanged SMS messages with several friends and colleagues across the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Trowern sent SMS updates on his arrival time to the Los Angeles airport and received back their well wishes, conversing directly with their mobile handsets, while in-flight somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The Tenzing system will assign a temporary ID that will route back the initiating passenger's seat. 

The new service will integrate with the onboard in-flight entertainment system to allow passengers access to the most innovative features to-date, being able to send and reply to SMS messages via their seat back video screen. This marks another major milestone for in-flight connectivity options for airline passengers developed by Tenzing.

Waiting for certification

Currently governing agencies are not allowing the use of handsets on board either domestic and international flights. Tenzing has developed its SMS product to work from the seatback personal video screens as the interface rather than mobile phones. Tenzing is pursuing certification of wireless technology onboard, but it will be a formal certification process.

"Although we have not yet announced our pricing for this service, our pricing will be similar to terrestrial services, where passengers will pay per message sent with reply," said Laura Alikpala, Tenzing's director of marketing. "Passengers will either be able to pay by credit card or bill their mobile phone services as an addon to their existing mobile service. We are currently negotiating with several mobile service providers to allow their customers to use this service as a value add service to their existing subscription."

Like terrestrial SMS, passengers will simply need to know the recipient's mobile phone number. While in-flight, passengers will not need their mobile handset. Access will be provided through in-seat personal video screens, using either a touchscreen keyboard or in-seat game console handsets for message input. Replies from the ground will be directed right back to the passenger's seat. The service will offer seamless network interoperability with TDMA, CDMA, GSM and iDEN networks. Governing aeronautic regulatory agencies do not yet approve use of mobile handsets onboard aircraft.

Passengers want connectivity

"A major request of airline passengers is connectivity while in flight, and we look forward to putting our newest innovation into service," said Edward Nicol, chief executive officer of Tenzing Communications. "By adding short message functionality, we are able to provide passengers with a level of connectivity unavailable elsewhere in the airline industry."

Tenzing is working with several airlines and IFE suppliers to implement this service and expects to have the service available for passenger use later this year. Industry analysts estimate that the total number of SMS messages sent worldwide will rise from 104 billion in Q1 2002 to 329 billion in Q2 2003.

The network utilizes Tenzing's patent pending satellite communications system for air-to-ground communications with an on-board proxy server delivering content to passengers over a cabin local area network (LAN). Tenzing is the only service provider offering both broadband and narrowband solutions to airlines, allowing carriers and their passengers the most choice in technology implementation. Tenzing offers airlines a lower cost entry for in-flight email and web services today and can be upgraded by the airline as their connection needs evolve. 

Tenzing Communications, Inc. is the premier provider of connectivity solutions dedicated to the ease of communication for travelers, allowing them to use their laptops and other devices for accessing existing email addresses for a continual connection to the outside world. The Tenzing system is compatible with PCs, Macs, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Tenzing is negotiating with several U.S. and international carriers regarding implementation of the Tenzing system.