Inmarsat Makes Rockwell Collins a Value Added Reseller of GX Aviation

Inmarsat has signed an agreement to make Rockwell Collins a Value Added Reseller (VAR) of GX Aviation to the commercial air transport market.

GX Aviation, a service which will provide connectivity speeds of up to 50Mbps virtually everywhere in the world, is currently scheduled to be globally available for the commercial air transport market by the end of H2 2015.

GX Aviation allows airlines to add innovative services to the cabin, such as enabling inflight entertainment to add real-time TV, video-on-demand, and allowing standard email and web browsing at much faster speeds.

“This service brings new possibilities for our ARINC Cabin Connect offering that go far beyond what’s available today, including expandable bandwidth that will give passengers the same connectivity experience they have in their home and office, and the capability to accommodate future devices and applications,” said Jeff Standerski, senior vice president, Information Management Services (IMS) for Rockwell Collins. “By combining GX with our current L-Band services, we’ll also be able to provide our airline customers with a complete portfolio of connectivity options for a full range of applications from the cockpit to the cabin.”

The first of the three initial GX Aviation satellites is already in orbit and began delivering commercial services on 1 July 2014. Inmarsat currently expects to complete the next two launches in a timeframe to permit the introduction of GX services on a global basis by the end of H2 2015. The airborne hardware, developed by Honeywell Aerospace, is now in the certification phase and is on track to support the launch of GX Aviation in 2015.

Leo Mondale, President, Aviation at Inmarsat, said, “This agreement builds on and extends our working relationship with Rockwell Collins - in both avionics and services - that started more than 20 years ago. Our Ka-band solution enables us to meet the rapidly growing demand for passenger connectivity. Rockwell Collins is a key partner for the full portfolio of existing Inmarsat Aviation services, and will be one of the first to bring the new, exciting GX Aviation service to its large airline customer base. We have built the very best team of aviation companies to ensure airlines have excellent access to GX Aviation.”