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News
Issue #2003 - 16
(May 2003)
(Updated May
15, 2003)
APPLICATION SOLUTIONS &
APPLICATION
DEVELOPMENT
Air Britannia to Give WiFi PDAs to
Cabin Crew
Source: The Register of UK
The news story in UK paper suggests
that either Air Britannia is utterly reckless with the lives of its employees and its passengers, or the dangers of WiFi have been assessed to be trivial on board a plane.
Sources have told NewsWireless net that all Britannia "Cabin Crew" in-cabin catering staff - have just been issued with Cassiopeia PDA's for on-board duty-free sales.
But within six weeks, the next stage of the project will be under way, when the PDAs get wireless networking.
The value won't initially be gained from in-air sales: crew will be able to collect email, notices, duty rosters and so on automatically when they walk into the crew room.
But when Civil Aviation Authority approval comes through - and Britannia can't see any reason to doubt that it will come through - the third stage will implement an access point in the plane, or at least a wireless peer-to-peer network of PDAs.
Not all staff are enthusiastic about this, but the advantage of using an in-flight wireless network is that they'll be able to do a full stock-control system in flight. So if there is only one pearl necklace on board, then as soon as it is sold, it will vanish from the database accessed by all the other Casio users.
There may even be a satellite Internet connection to the plane, allowing data to be sent back to headquarters for re-stocking.
More importantly, the satellite connection would mean that they could remove the Credit Card floor limit imposed by insurance underwriters. The credit
authorization could be gained immediately, and so over £250 could be rung up on a single credit card.
Source: The Register - http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/30482.html
For more information: http://www.theregister.com
MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: We
are quite certain that no airline will interfere with the safety
requirements while flying. Air Britannia would be wise in testing
interference issues with Wi-Fi in the plane. Real-time credit
authorization through satellite connection is interesting and
innovative.
Note: This news release may contain
forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of Securities Exchange act of
1934 in USA. Similar provisions exist in other countries. There is no
assurance that the stipulated plans of vendors will be implemented.
MobileInfo does not warrant the authenticity of the information.
Readers should take appropriate caution in developing plans utilizing
these products, services and technology architectures. All
trademarks used in this summary are the property of their respective
owners.
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