AvFinity

AvFinity Can Help Airlines With CBSA March 31, 2012 Deadline

2012-01-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

Airlines that fly into Canada have until March 31, 2012, to transition to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) new API data acquisition solution. CBSA will not allow further extensions and airlines failing to transition by the deadline will suffer penalties.

AvFinity can help if your airline hasn’t started the process yet. AvFinity has been qualified by CBSA to be an authorized service provider with direct CBSA connectivity. We put our considerable technical expertise to work for you. We feature high quality MQ connectivity due to its non-repudiation and assured delivery capabilities.

If your airline is required to connect CBSA, AvFinity is your best value service provider.

Contact us today to begin the process of connecting to CBSA. For more information on our APIS services, including connectivity to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and to CARICOM, visit our web site.

Aeroméxico Connect Joins AIRS’ Growing Network

2012-01-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

AIRS™ - the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution™ - now provides flight-critical messaging for Aeroméxico Connect, a subsidiary of Aeroméxico.

Aeroméxico Connect uses AIRS™ for formatting and filing its crew manifests for APIS to USCBP. AIRS™ also helps the airline file flight plans with SENEAM - the Mexican government agency that manages its air space.

Aeroméxico Connect’s AIRS™ connection to SENEAM uses TCP/IP and the FAA’s proprietary Common Message Handling Protocol (CMHP) to connect to the FAA’s NADIN II AFTN gateway. With AIRS™, Aeroméxico Connect now has state-of-the-art technology for 21st century aviation.

AvFinity and AIRS™ now provide the following benefits to Aeroméxico Connect and more than half of North America’s regional carriers:

Improved messaging and data routing
Quick reformatting for increased system inter-connectivity
Connectivity to government border and flight authorities
Control over their data interfaces
Multiple additional flight-critical services
And much more

These benefits have fueled AvFinity’s AIRS™ product to phenomenal growth since it entered the market less than 24 months ago.

If you’re involved in aviation IT, it’s time you visit the AvFinity website at www.avfinity.com to request your web conference on how AIRS™ can revolutionize your aviation communications.

The ROI of OPEN Communication Hubs

2012-01-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

AIRS is a moderately priced complete data integration/data communications system that provides airlines and their partners with quick paybacks and healthy returns on investment. AvFinity pricing makes the OPEN Communication Hub instantly viable to all participants.

For airlines, AIRS can become a value-added communications tool that generates healthy revenue while still providing a significant return to the airline customers.

For more information on the AIRS pricing model, contact AvFinity.

Why GDSes need OPEN Communication Hubs

2011-12-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

GDSes are an essential connection with the Open Communication Hub. AIRS has established airline connectivity with GDSes such as:

•Abacus

•Amadeus

•HP/EDS Shares

•SABRE

•TravelPort (Worldspan/Galileo/Apollo)

What limits a GDS is a tendency to provide the messaging bundled as part of its managed services. The Open Communication Hub allows not only airlines to interconnect easily to multiple GDSes, but to develop their own strategy (marketing, technical, etc.). That, in turn, allows their partners, in this case the GDS, to integrate its networks and applications.

How airlines take control of their legacy messaging

2011-12-06T08:40:00.000-08:00

Control is a significant airline benefit provided by the OPEN Communication Hub. Communication among all partners provides flight-critical messaging in all departments, from Operations, to MRO, to regulatory, regardless of the level of technology of the remote airports or the format the particular message recipient requires. That’s a major benefit the single appliance AIRS offers to aviation today.

3 Critical elements of an OPEN Communication Hub

2011-11-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

AvFinity’s Open Communication Hub solution set offers airlines these three components that provide them with unprecedented control of their communications:

IP VPN Networks:

· Enables the customer to connect to multiple IP-based VPN’s via a single connection

· Enables the customer to reduce the number of legacy connections through direct host-to-host communications.

AvFinity AIRS^TM:

· Enables the customer to communicate with any device regardless of communication interface, host-to-host (H2H) and host-to-application (H2A) access

· Enables the customer to switch data and application at the hub

· Enables the customer to access airline databases & applications

· Enables the customer to create and deploy applications on open standard platforms using AvFinity supplied ASMS^TM software:

o Connectivity communications (Legacy protocol to IP connectivity)

o Business Rules (application logic)

o Parsing (creating data records from legacy applications)

o Scripting (rapid development languages)

o Remote hardware and software management

o Remote software installation and configuration

SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) Applications:

· Enables the customer to create and deploy applications on open standard platforms (Cisco or servers) within the network

· Enables network based Business Rules (application logic)

· Enables peer-to-peer application management e.g. APIS segment conformance

OPEN Communication Hub Creates Communities

2011-11-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

With the OPEN Communication Hub, AvFinity creates a communications ecosystem using AIRS where all airlines that must message one another can interact with each other and a central hub.

The benefits of this interconnected network among members who share common goals are immense. Here are just a few:

Flight-critical communications become more efficient.
Communications are controlled by the airline and its members so that the quality of information is assured without the filter of a third-party vendor.
Changes, which are a constant in aviation, are performed immediately by AIRS without having to hire a team of developers that will spend six months figuring out a solution.
New airline partners become communications-ready with established airline members immediately upon installing AIRS regardless of their IT datacenter expertise.
AIRS integrates into back-end systems so that data are accessed without human intervention.
AIRS handles all data, regardless of format, and sends and receives them regardless of communications protocol or transport media.

Why Legacy Messaging Distorts Airline Costs

2011-10-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

From a cost standpoint, airlines today are squeezed three ways.

They have flight-related costs tied to volatile fuel prices, crews and aircraft maintenance.
They have passenger-related costs that vary with the number of passengers—a number that today can drop precipitously through the spread of contagious diseases and the after effects of natural disasters like volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis.
And there are also the fixed implementation costs associated with any business.

Airlines have a desperate need to control costs in every sector of their business. More efficient technology is one way such airlines can realize significant savings in the vital area of communications. This area spans all data transfer requirements from Baggage Sortation Messages (BSM) to flight plan filing and CDM requests to passenger/crew manifests (APIS) submitted to government eBorders systems.

AIRS was created by AvFinity to control messaging and the infrastructure to support messaging.

That’s why roughly 50% of the North American regional air carrier market has chosen the AIRS innovation in just the last year alone.

Solving the Babel of Aviation Communications Issues

2011-10-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

In an effort to gain a cost or efficiency advantage—even for the short-term—different airlines and government agencies continue to adopt different IT solutions. This approach has led to a babel of communication protocols, diverse message formats and disparate network systems. To access this scene of confusion, airlines must rely on a combination of legacy and more modern IT architectures as well as legacy Type B and more modern (TCP/IP) messaging suppliers.

The result is daily challenges to an airline’s IT department in handling communications with needed flight partners under this mongrelized communications industry structure.

Left without a universal solution, conditions won’t improve for aviation. In response to an increasingly tough competitive and economic environment, airlines are merging and consolidating. And many others are forming strategic alliances. Suddenly established airlines must immediately communicate with new partners.

This evolution—operating within an aviation industry backdrop of IT cost-cutting and a desire to outsource—further muddies the communications picture.

Consider an AIRS solution configured in a hub (or star). AvFinity’s OPEN Communication Hub is a quick, convenient and cost-effective way for airlines to link their applications to meet code share and alliance obligations. The OPEN Communication Hub handles the routing, management, protocol and formatting issues on behalf of the airlines. All the solutions needed in a single but powerful appliance.

Airline Alliance OPEN Communications Hubs Implementations

2011-09-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

In today’s climate of airline alliances and mergers, airlines need to make communications changes at a moment’s notice. Achieving that flexibility once meant throwing the problem to a costly team of developers or a legacy provider. Today, airlines can use AIRS’ patent-pending scripting innovation and get instant results on their own.

An example is a North American regional airline that recently needed to send messages in a new address format to its legacy airline partner. With AIRS, the regional found how easily and quickly AvFinity’s patent-pending scripting option provided the solution. AIRS now automatically makes the adjustment with no outsourcing costs, no legacy message providers and no rejected messages.

This same solution is ideal for handling code changes during IT conversions for new partners or alliance members.

AvFinity is connected to Canada Border Services Agency's API PNR PUSH ahead of major airlines!

2011-09-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

AvFinity has completed testing and is now authorized to submit Passenger and Crew manifest data (API and PNR) to the Canada Border Services Agency ahead of the major airlines.

Do you need help connecting to Canada’s new PNR Push program for submitting your APIS manifest data? Cargo and Charter flights are an immediate fit for the AvFinity PNR Push solution. The deadline for moving to the new PNR Push program is December 2011.

Contact AvFinity today for your CBSA PNR Push solution!

http://www.avfinity.com/ContactUs.php

Why use an OPEN Communication Hub

2011-09-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

AIRS is now installed in about 50% of the regional airlines in North America. Many of these airlines are codeshare partners of major airlines.

AvFinity is currently introducing its Open Communication Hub that addresses the need for simplification, knowledge transfer and collaboration within the logical framework of a major airline and its code-share partners.

With the OPEN Communication Hub, AvFinity simplifies host-to-host and outstation-to-host messaging, data and application communications.

The solution is designed to operate flawlessly within an Alliance’s heterogeneous systems and network environments.

3 Key Challenges to ‘Open’ Airline Messaging

2011-08-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

We’re often asked: “What makes AvFinity unique among aviation messaging companies?”

We think three qualities stand out that make us stand out in an industry that has long been offered limited choices.

1. We simplify things: Our communications experts have spent years deconstructing the aviation messaging system in order to better understand its legacy roots and how it functions through today’s cutting edge technologies. As a result of those efforts, we have developed software technology that enables each airline to control its own communications.

2. We transfer knowledge: After deconstructing the legacy messaging system, our communications experts transfer all the know-how on dealing with legacy architectures, disparate systems, multiple protocols and vast arrays of formats into a single box. We call it the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution (AIRS™) and it is a powerful Cisco manufactured router that plugs into a system and goes to work immediately. Its optimal environment is when it communicates between disparate systems. But it handles communications between similar systems with ease.

3. We promote collaboration: Our airline clients are anxious to share their new ideas about how to use AIRS with subsidiaries, code-share partners, GDSs, government agencies and much more. We encourage and assist that collaboration. And we’re proud to say that our clients have developed many really unique concepts like SMS alerts for APIS that were just on wish lists a few years ago.

Breaking the lock-in of legacy airline messaging

2011-08-16T06:15:00.000-07:00

At a recent IT Summit held in Brussels, Jaan Albrecht, CEO of the STAR Alliance, highlighted one of the aviation industry’s major problems: Type B - a legacy messaging protocol. What became obvious from his message is that airlines need to escape from the lock-in to this type of legacy messaging.

Every day, airlines seek to improve and modernize their communications and messaging systems. The most appropriate way forward is to migrate from legacy proprietary systems and toward adoption of open, standard and more flexible technologies.

AvFinity is the first data communications company in aviation history that puts airlines in control of flight-critical and other communications. Our software technology is proven and unique in the industry as a solution that provides airlines with efficient communications that they control.

Instead of sheltering old messaging protocols, we simplify the communications environment by making airlines specialists of their own messaging using standard IP-based systems architectures.

Instead of legacy lock-ins, we promote continuous knowledge transfer, so our technology serves as a platform to provide open messaging systems.

And instead of encouraging ‘silo’ mentalities among airlines about their communications, we promote collaboration around communities.

After all, that’s what successful airline communication will be about in the future. Why not start today?

2011-08-03T12:33:00.001-07:00

AFTN/NADIN X.25 connections are down for maintenance, but AvFinity is still filing flight plans via CMHP for our clients!

2011-08-03T07:23:00.001-07:00

Helping a Canadian helicopter pilot create an APIS Navigator account to file a last minute manifest to USCBP. He self-registered and is ready to file in less than an hour.

AvFinity AIRS Adds Air Wisconsin To List of APIS Customers

2011-07-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

Air Wisconsin, the largest privately held regional airline in the U.S., has joined the growing ranks of carriers that have implemented AIRS™ to manage Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) filings for international flights.

AvFinity is an authorized U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pre-departure message provider. We designed AIRS so that it provides airlines with connectivity to CBP, CARICOM and soon to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to facilitate APIS filings.

AIRS has become wildly popular for APIS because it has a bunch of neat features that allow airlines to check their data before filing (thus, avoiding potential fines). Airlines also can monitor their message flow in real-time via the AIRS built-in browser or receive alerts on successful APIS submissions via SMS and email.

We’re proud to say that more than one-third of North America’s regional air carriers now are using AIRS for APIS, flight plan filing, NOTAMs and Collaborative Decision Making (CDMs). That’s phenomenal growth for this powerful data communications/integration appliance in just its first year of introduction.

AvFinity’s AIRS APIS Solution Helps a Regional Airline Avoid Costly Fines

2011-07-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

Recently a regional airline was faced with numerous USCBP (United States Customs and Border Protection) fines because of their legacy email method for filing APIS manifests. The airline’s email filing method did not have sufficient checks and balances on the manifests, which caused around three million dollars in USCBP fines to accumulate against the airline.

Fortunately the airline was aware of the issues with the current APIS manifest submission method and had been in contact with AvFinity about our AIRS APIS Navigator solution before the meeting with USCBP. USCBP agents, being aware of the AvFinity APIS solution, waived the fines as long as the regional airline pursued a satisfactory solution soon. AIRS will be installed in the regional’s datacenter and will retrieve manifests from their application servers. AIRS routes those manifests to AvFinity based on the routing configured. Once the manifest lands at the AvFinity Datacenter some basic data verification is performed using AvFinity’s APIS Navigator software. APIS Navigator scans for required USCPB data like:

Missing or Invalid travel document
Missing or Invalid DOB
Missing or Invalid Departure or Arrival time
Fields too long
Invalid characters in fields
Required data field is missing
Incorrectly formatted UN/EDIFACT message
Etc.

If APIS Navigator finds errors with the manifest, it is rejected before reaching the USCBP production queue and an alert is sent to the regional airline. This saves the airline from having to pay USCBP fines. If the manifest passes the basic data checks it is forwarded to USCBP via a secure channel.

The regional airline is also able to login to the AvFinity Registered User site and monitor their APIS traffic. Both sent and failed messages are available for review.

If your airline or aviation company has communications items on its wish list, we encourage you to consider AIRS. It not only provides more messaging features for today’s needs than you ever envisioned, it also is easily adapted to future or unanticipated issues.

For more information, we encourage you to visit our website on the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution or to sign up for a Webinar to discuss your airline’s needs and how AvFinity can provide the answer.

Don’t Have Your APIS Sender ID?

2011-05-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

AvFinity recently provided timely assistance to a charter jet company that needed to file on the eAPIS website but had not yet received an APIS ID.

This charter operator planned to fly from an airport in Florida to a Caribbean destination and back but didn’t realize it takes 5-8 days for CBP to issue an ID after initial registration. As the charter’s clients were flying in the next morning to immediately take the charter to the Caribbean, the operator needed a fast solution. CBP agents could only advise him to call a vendor. AvFinity is among the handful of authorized vendors listed on CBP’s site.

One after business hours call to AvFinity’s APIS specialists, and the charter company found its solution. AvFinity’s team directed the charter operator to the AvFinity APIS web site page that allows qualified companies and individuals to self-register for an APIS Private Aircraft account.

Within an hour, the charter operator completed his registration by entering contact and billing information; received an auto-generated confirmation email advising him that his APIS Navigator account was operational; and logged into the secure site to enter the required APIS information including aircraft, passenger and crew data on the user-friendly APIS Navigator web pages.

After verifying a test manifest, AvFinity notified the customer that his account was enabled to permit APIS filings to CBP. The charter operator returned to the secure AvFinity Registered User site, logged in, and selected the aircraft, emergency contact, itinerary, crew and passengers for the flight. Within seconds the charter operator had securely met CBP’s APIS requirements for the planned flight into and out of the Caribbean islands. Even better, he was able to meet his obligations to his charter passengers on time and as promised.

Repeat filings became even easier for the charter operator as he can replicate all of his secure, private information for the next trip, cutting down on data entry time and reducing chances of data errors for re-entering info.

Contact AvFinity today if you too would like to enjoy the quick, easy, secure and cost-effective APIS filings for your next international flight.

The FAA's CMHP

2011-05-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

AvFinity recently implemented CMHP (Common Message Handling Protocol) as a replacement for the common legacy X.25 synchronous connection for connectivity to NADIN II. CMHP offers many advantages not previously offered by X.25. Leading the list is the massive throughput advantage in the range of four to six flight filing strips per second.

In addition because CMHP utilizes IP versus the analog X.25 synchronous connection, high availability is enhanced significantly. CMHP allows you to retire the dedicated Telco circuit and CSU/DSU synchronous modem, which inherently provided a major fail point should the dedicated circuit become interrupted. Previously with X.25, AvFinity achieved redundancy through a back-up CSU/DSU and the Telco. Now, with TCP/IP-based CMHP redundancy, high availability is achieved through well known techniques.

For instance, with CMHP, AvFinity is capable of connecting reliably to both Atlanta and Salt Lake City centers and can switch between the two centers within 3 seconds should one of the connectivity points fail. In addition due to the high bandwidth AvFinity now enjoys with CMHP, flight plan filings occur in a fraction of a second while AvFinity also will be able to offer additional products from the FAA such as one-minute weather observations. These services are available through AvFinity via direct server-to-server connectivity using the AvFinity network as well as through AIRS (AvFinity Integrated Router Solution), which is an appliance that handles communications and integrates with backend operational systems.

With CMHP and AvFinity's non-repudiation protocols, AvFinity has significantly enhanced connectivity capability to airlines and flight departments desiring connectivity to the FAA. At our customers' request, AvFinity can provide many products such as weather and NOTAMs in addition to flight plan filing quickly and seamlessly. Give us a call to discuss how your operations can benefit from the efficiency that this exciting technological advancement offers the aviation industry.

Aviation SMS Alert Feature Jumps from Wish to Reality Because of AIRS

2011-02-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

At AvFinity, we understand the value our customers derive from integration of aviation communications across multiple platforms. We built AIRS—the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution—specifically to create that value whenever the need arises. And although nothing can manage all unanticipated events, AIRS has a better chance of succeeding than anything else on the market.

For example, we recently received an inquiry from one of our airline customers asking if AIRS had monitoring capabilities. What they specifically wanted was to receive SMS alerts whenever the communications link from their Internet Service Provider went down between the AIRS appliance, which resides in the airline’s datacenter, and the AvFinity datacenter, which provides the direct connections to government border and flight authorities.

This airline has already been using AIRS for about a year to file flight plans and crew manifests to the FAA and USCBP, respectively. It has been pleased with AIRS’ reliability and integration capabilities. But after a few too many untimely Internet outages in their area, the airline’s operations and IT personnel wanted to monitor whenever their ISP dropped the link and delayed AIRS’ timely delivery of their flight plans and crew manifests.

During their year with AIRS, the IT manager became familiar with the versatility of this unique messaging appliance. He asked if AIRS offered a solution. After minimal configuration of the airline's AIRS appliance and AvFinity’s alerting system, his airline was receiving custom test alerts across five smartphones within an hour. The airline liked what they saw, and, shortly thereafter, AvFinity enabled this airline’s customized production alerting system. It was a case of “from wish to reality” in a matter of hours.

If your airline or aviation company has communications items on its wish list, we encourage you to consider AIRS. It not only provides more messaging features for today’s needs than you ever envisioned, it also is easily adapted to future or unanticipated issues.

For more information, we encourage you to visit our website on the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution or to sign up for a Webinar to discuss your airline’s needs and how AvFinity can provide the answer.

Pinnacle Uses the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution For Efficient APIS Filings of Flight Crew Manifests

2011-02-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

Pinnacle Airlines and its subsidiary Colgan Air recently announced it has selected AIRS as its messaging solution for Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) crew manifest filings. And along the way, Pinnacle also discovered the individual messaging power and freedom that AIRS brings to aviation.

AIRS is the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution. AIRS comprises AvFinity software technology operating on an industry-standard Cisco router.

With AIRS, message transmission is secure and reliable. Airlines and other aviation companies find that AIRS’ multiple interfaces simplify connections into any infrastructure (Websphere MQ, SFTP, SCP, HTTP) so that secure and reliable messaging occurs quickly with no hardware changes or additional development time. AIRS’ high efficiency allows key airline IT personnel time to think of multiple other uses for this unique solution. And that’s just what we’re finding with airline after airline.

Today, in addition to APIS transmissions, Pinnacle also uses AIRS to exchange data with other airlines regarding flight delays, cancellations and substitutions as well as send and receive the aviation flight-phase communications known as OOOI messages. And there are more new uses in the works. AIRS’ built-in flexibility and unique approach to messaging inspires innovative approaches that bring messaging under control of the individual airline.

We at AvFinity welcome any inquiries on solutions that will improve aviation messaging to the benefit of airlines, corporate flight departments and service companies. Contact us with your communications issue and find out how AIRS can help you.

AvFinity Announces Preferred Partner Agreement with SITA

2011-01-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

AvFinity is privileged to be selected as a preferred partner of SITA’s operation-critical communications solutions to the air transport community in the U.S. and Canada. We at AvFinity believe the combination of our AvFinity Integrated Router Solution (AIRS) with SITA’s comprehensive messaging services instantly extends unprecedented communications efficiencies to North American air carriers.

SITA’s offerings available to AvFinity as a preferred partner include Type B, Type X, and EDI messaging; SITATEX; and SITATEX software development kit.

This is one scenario of how the partnership benefits air carriers. The AvFinity Integrated Router Solution (AIRS) and its patent pending software technology link disparate communications environments, integrate into backend systems and provide seamless connectivity for message transfer—all without any impact on existing IT infrastructure. These benefits combined with the worldwide network and messaging capability of SITA provides a robust cost-effective and efficient aviation communications solution that can be implemented immediately.

As Sandra Girona, SITA’s Regional Vice President, North America Sales and Relationship Management., said: “We are very pleased to begin a new partnership with AvFinity. The worldwide network and messaging capability of SITA combined with the problem-solving capabilities of AvFinity will offer an efficient communications team for the benefit of the North American air transport industry community.”

Mesa uses AIRS to Update Flight-Critical Communications

2010-12-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

Regional air carrier Mesa Airlines has joined the growing number of aviation companies deploying the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution (AIRS) for flight-critical messaging.

With AIRS, Mesa now enjoys a robust, secure and efficient aviation messaging system that:

Offers resiliency with assured message delivery so that flight-critical messages are filed despite unexpected external communications problems.
Maintains vital communications, handles message formatting and conversion, and reduces database issues with message recipients.
Eliminates pesky network issues that arise when legacy and more modern systems must communicate.
Provides comprehensive flight-critical communications through direct connections.
With AIRS, Mesa can now file flight plans, Advance Passenger Information Service (APIS) manifests and participate in Collaborative Decision Making (CDMs) directly.

For more information on how Mesa uses AIRS, see the case study entitled: “Mesa Resolves Multiple Comms Issues with AvFinity’s AIRS™ Solution”.

AIRS Helps Airlines Cope with NADIN II Changes

2010-11-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

AvFinity offers a unique, proven solution to scheduled air carriers responding to last year’s FAA communications decision to decommission its internal NADIN X.25 Packet Switched Network (PSN) during 2011 and transition U.S. users to a private Internet Protocol (IP) network.

The AvFinity Integrated Router Solution (AIRS) provides connectivity software that permits scheduled air carriers to make the transition in hours with minimal impact to budget and operations.

For airlines without their own connection to the FAA, AvFinity also provides FlightPlan Direct™ as a reliable and efficient way to submit ICAO flight plans. FlightPlan Direct™ heightens filing efficiency through AvFinity’s direct connection to FAA’s NADIN II, which interfaces with the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network (AFTN). This connection permits FlightPlan Direct™ users to file directly with ATC agencies like the FAA, NAV CANADA as well as all other government flight authorities. AIRS, AvFinity's platinum product offering, offers reliable, secure, and cost-effective machine-to-machine connectivity and is well-suited for high volume filings. Integration into the backend flight plan dispatch system is easy with the patent-pending scripting technology built into AIRS.

AvFinity’s web interface serves as a backup solution in a DR situation, as one recent customer discovered after a hardware failure temporarily prevented machine-to-machine filings. Backed up banks of aircraft were avoided because this tool was available.

2010-09-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Direct Connect Benefits

AvFinity is privileged to win recognition as the first aviation communication provider in the world authorized to connect to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for both commercial and private Advance Passenger Information Services (APIS) using a direct connection via IBM WebSphere MQ.

If you’re in aviation IT, you understand the value of connecting WebSphere MQ. This middleware ensures non-repudiation of the transmitted data meaning your message always arrives. That’s important to aviation since an international flight cannot leave the ground unless the APIS manifest has been received and acknowledged by CBP. In other words, assured delivery means less valuable time on the ground or fewer fines simply because the manifest got lost in e-mail.

AvFinity makes it easy to utilize WebSphere MQ for your messaging including APIS. We offer it as both a server and a client at your option through the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution (AIRS). Once you use AIRS’ APIS Navigator to file manifests via the WebSphere MQ direct connection you also benefit from:

• Encryption of the sensitive manifest data
• End-to-end security between your airline or corporate flight department and CBP
• Use of a network with a better than 99.999% uptime
• Access to TSA’s Secure Flight program through the same APIS datastream

AvFinity’s experts have developed the most efficient system for filing APIS yet seen by aviation. You can read about it in our recent news release.

2010-08-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

Linking Aviation’s Legacy and Modern IT

Today’s airlines must communicate effectively with multiple partners using technologies ranging from the ancient to the most advanced. The interaction of these disparate systems can lead to minor or even more severe problems that result in delayed flights that cost airlines money.

The Air Transport Association estimates airlines incur an average of $61 per minute in direct operating costs per delayed aircraft. The total cost to aviation from these delays in 2009, according to ATA, was $6.1 billion. Those statistics further burden an already cash-strapped aviation industry that is simultaneously battling recessionary forces and higher fuel costs.

At AvFinity, we’re working with multiple issues in linking legacy and more modern IT architectures that span the whole range of aviation communications and data integration services. Our approach to solving these issues is revolutionary for its simplicity, cost-effectiveness and immediate results.

Recently, AvFinity was privileged to be part of the solution chosen by Canadian North Airlines for its legacy software issues. The Canadian North team was great to work with and you can read about how it all came about in our case study or our news release.

Three Reasons for Direct Connections

2010-08-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

Aviation communications historically have revolved around legacy Type B formatted messages sent over a shared network using legacy communications technology. TCP/IP technology disrupts this legacy approach by facilitating direct connections.

Direct connections are one of TCP/IP’s most important features because they put aviation messaging control into the hands of the user not the provider.

Here’re three reasons why direct connections make sense:

1. Direct connections are the optimum way to message with frequent recipients like government flight and border authorities. Direct connections mean your flight plans and APIS submissions come out of the legacy messaging mix and instead travel through the time and cost efficiencies of the Internet. In other words, these messages travel the most direct means at the lowest cost.

2. Any aviation company can switch almost overnight to the efficiency of direct connections by using AvFinity, an authorized third party provider, to send your messages. AvFinity enables aviation companies to connect quickly through AvFinity’s patent-pending software technology on the plug-and-play AvFinity Integrated Services Router™ (AIRS™). AIRS™, based on the Cisco ISR/AXP platform, contains connectivity software to all agencies to which AvFinity has access authorization. The list includes:

AFTN (Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network) through the Federal Aviation Administration’s NADIN II
NAV CANADA
EUROCONTROL
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Transportation Security Agency
FAA’s Enhanced Traffic Management System for CDM participants
CARICOM (Caribbean APIS)
Canadian Border Services Agency (pending)
SENEAM (pending)
UK eBorders (pending)
Additional connections will be added in the Americas, Europe, Asia and emerging markets in coming months

Some aviation companies may choose to establish their own connections. To do that, you must hire developers to write connectivity software, and/or application software, and undergo testing—all of which will take several months and, perhaps, years. We suggest you try AIRS first and see if it doesn’t meet your needs at a low price.

3. Finally, if you’re accustomed to legacy technology, you know that character costs and monthly connection fees are standard metrics for establishing pricing. Direct connections using TCP/IP don’t concern themselves with characters. So you should pay less. AvFinity offers flat pricing for its direct connection services so you know exactly what you pay every month.

Changes on the Fly

2010-07-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

It’s a great month when a customer dealing with a problem can choose between tossing $50,000 to a team of developers to write software or solving it themselves for free.

But who has that choice?

Users of the AvFinity Integrated Router Solution (AIRS) do.

Here’s an example:

A recent AIRS user needed to solve a recurring format issue in their messaging system. Their messaging partner told them it would take $50,000 for developers to write a software alternative. Plus they’d have to wait several weeks.

AvFinity pointed them to the patent-pending scripting engine that comes with AIRS. It solved the issue in just minutes…at no cost. It also ended up saving them untold amounts in prevented fines.

AIRS integrates seamlessly with the client’s back-end system, and its proprietary scripting engine permits messaging conversion and much more to enhance that integration whenever needed. Sure, you have to know JavaScript, but even if you don’t AvFinity can write the script for you at a tiny fraction of any other option.