BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : AUGUST 28, 2000 ISSUE
INDUSTRIES Digital Downloads at 27,000 Feet Singapore Airlines Ltd. recently spent $27,500 a seat to install an on-demand audio-video entertainment system built by Matsushita Avionics Corp. on its flights serving New York's John F. Kennedy and Newark (N.J.) International airports. Passengers in first and business classes have access to 25 movies and 50 short films and documentaries, as well as 50 audio CDs. Travelers can start, pause, stop, rewind, and fast-forward movies and CDs just as they do at home--and listen through Dolby Surround Sound headphones that shut out cabin noise. Matsushita's offering is a cross between a digital cable-TV system and a local area network, with individual TV/PCs for each seat. Movies and music are stored on huge disk drives holding hundreds of gigabytes. This ''content'' is relayed through a high-speed fiber optic link to a server that acts like your local cable TV provider. It converts the digital signals to analog, after which they are carried via coaxial cable to each seat. The seat, meanwhile, is equipped with a unit that functions like a TV set-top converter box. The passenger makes selections using a combination game controller/telephone handset or an optional touch screen. SELF-TESTING. Reliability is a big concern, since these systems may be in use for 12 to 16 hours a day, month after month, by thousands of passengers. And there's no repairperson on board. ''The parts you or I touch have to be able to survive everything from spilled soft drinks to being kicked or sat on to deliberate abuse,'' says Kevin Munday, technical marketing manager at Matsushita. Adding to the complexity, maintenance personnel have less than an hour to sweep through the aircraft when it's on the ground and check for glitches. So programs that test the system are built in. And the uploading of new content--up to 100 hours of movies and the equivalent of 50 CDs per month--is done by a portable loader, in no more than an hour. So far, Singapore Air says customers are pleased with the results. ''The system's reliability is now in excess of 99%,'' says Teng Kwong Yeoh, manager of inflight entertainment, referring to the number of seated passengers who can use the system without glitches or delays. If only such claims could be made for the rest of the air-travel experience. By Alan Hall in New York _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Surf the Web in the Air Digital Downloads at 27,000 Feet INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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