In-flight Internet for 200,000 Siemens employees

NEW YORK -- With 200,000 employees who travel on business, the electronics and engineering firm Siemens AG has signed on as the first global customer of Connexion by Boeing for real-time high-speed in-flight Internet. the new service is being marketed for its cost-saving benefits and for enabling business travelers to use flight time as if they were in the office.

"Say you're an executive who makes six business trips per year, with an average round-trip travel time of four hours," says Connexion by Boeing. "For three of those in-flight hours, you're able to log on with high-speed connectivity to work on issues that are important to you. If your hourly rate is $100, that's a soft cost savings of $300 per flight or a savings of $1,800 per year."

Connexion by Boeing is telling large companies that the more employees who travel, the more a company stands to gain by using the in-flight Internet connection. Connexion offers an example of a company with 10 business travelers who average six trips a year. These 10 employees, gaining just three productive hours on a 12 hour round-trip flight, would save the equivalent of one man-month per year.

Productive travel time

"Siemens is a global company with more than half of its 417,000 employees traveling throughout the world each year. We are always looking for ways to enhance their experience on the road and the Connexion by Boeing service is going to be a great benefit that makes their travel time more productive and more enjoyable," said Lutz Stammnitz, head of corporate mobility services for Siemens.

"As we continue to make the Connexion by Boeing service available on more airlines and routes, Siemens employees will be able to stay connected to what's important to them and to what's needed do their job while traversing North America, the Atlantic Ocean, Europe and across Asia all the way to the Far East," said Boeing's David Friedman, vice president of marketing and direct sales. "We are delighted that Siemens is joining the ranks of our existing corporate customers and we look forward to enabling them to use their travel time more effectively. Siemens is joining our service at a time when corporations can still benefit from securing special promotions for their employees."

By using the Connexion by Boeing service on board the already-equipped Lufthansa aircraft, Siemens employees are now able to connect real-time to their corporate virtual private network, send and receive emails with attachments, surf the entire Internet and entertain themselves while in the air. As other Connexion by Boeing airline customers roll the service out on their long-haul fleets, more routes and flights will be available to Siemens' employees worldwide, the companies said.

One of largest companies

Siemens AG is one of the world's largest global electronics and engineering company with reported worldwide sales of $80.5 billion in fiscal 2003. Founded more than 150 years ago, the company is a leader in the areas of information and communications, automation and control, power, transportation, medical, and lighting. The global headquarters in Munich.

Connexion by Boeing, a division of the Boeing Company, was recipient of the 2003 World Travel Award for World's Leading High-Speed In-flight Internet Services Provider. Connexion reports definitive agreements with Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines System, Japan Airlines, ANA and Kingdom Holding Co. to equip their long-haul aircraft with the service. In addition, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Korean Air have announced their intent to install the Connexion by Boeing system on their long-range aircraft.