Business & GA

Rockwell Collins Closes SKYLink Purchase

By Tish Drake | December 18, 2007
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Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, completed the purchase of the SKYLink broadband terminal product line from ARINC. Rockwell Collins will sell and support the product line to large business jets under the eXchange brand, and ARINC will continue to provide the SKYLink Ku-band satellite service. ViaSat developed the SKYLink broadband terminal based on its ArcLight spread spectrum technology and will continue to manufacture the broadband terminal hardware and provide gateway and network operations services to ARINC. eXchange, coupled with the SKYLink service, is a real time, two-way connectivity system providing true broadband speeds of up to 3.5Mbps to the aircraft. It will enable customers to access e-mail, corporate intranets and the Internet, with options for global Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone service and videoconferencing. In addition, eXchange supports data connectivity for select Wi-Fi enabled smartphones, such as a RIM’s Blackberry models 8320 and 8820, allowing users to access email and other data services. Coverage for eXchange using the SKYLink service is available in North America, Europe and the North Atlantic, with Caribbean and partial South and Central American coverage to be added in the first quarter of 2008.

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