ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, announced today its high-speed, high-capacity Ka-band in-flight connectivity solution has been selected for the Gulfstream G280™ mid-sized business jet airframe. The Viasat in-flight connectivity system will be a line-fit option, offered directly from the Gulfstream factory for all new aircraft. It will also be available as a retrofit for in-service aircraft.
So What?
More line-fit options is good news for any vendor. In this case getting the Ka-band connectivity solution on board means wifi for more BizAv travelers. The smaller terminal and forward compatibility for eventual global coverage are nice wins, too.
The system also takes advantage of the live television offering Viasat developed for American Airlines, furthering the spread of that option in the sky and lowering the overall cost per aircraft to deliver it.
The Viasat Ka-band in-flight connectivity service is proven to support more passengers and more devices simultaneously through all phases of flight, when performing bandwidth-intensive applications, including accessing virtual private networks, or streaming high-definition video calls, cloud content or live TV entertainment.
“G280 owners want their internet experience to mimic what they have on the ground,” said Rick Trusis, vice president, Mid-Cabin Programs, Gulfstream. “Viasat’s Ka-band connectivity system will meet those needs by delivering the connection speed, performance and reliability our mid-sized business jet customers expect.”
New G280 aircraft can be equipped with Viasat’s Ka-band connectivity system during production. Initial speeds offered are expected to be 16 Mbps, and Viasat expects those speeds to increase as it brings more capacity online. In addition, Viasat will offer a live TV streaming feature, which will give passengers the ability to watch live TV, content and entertainment on their portable electronic devices—without affecting their data plan.
Jerry Goodwin, vice president, Network Services, Viasat commented, “Being named Gulfstream’s connectivity provider on the G280 airframe is a great milestone for our Company, and a true testament to the strength of our technology and service offering. We’re proud to have been selected to provide Gulfstream mid-cabin business jet owners an unparalleled connectivity experience. We have full confidence that our high-capacity satellites—available both today and those that are planned for future launches—will ensure business jet owners can meet their connectivity expectations anywhere they fly, globally.”
New G280 aircraft equipped with Viasat’s Global Aero Terminal 5510 will tap into the ViaSat-1, ViaSat-2 and European Ka-band satellite platforms today, and will be forward-compatible with Viasat’s future-generation satellite constellation, ViaSat-3—enabling use of the ViaSat-3 capacity with no additional hardware upgrades. ViaSat-3 is an ultra-high capacity satellite platform, which will be comprised of three ViaSat-3 class satellites offering global coverage. Each ViaSat-3 satellite is expected to deliver one terabit per second capacity, which is more than the total network capacity of the approximately 400 commercial communications satellites in space today – combined.
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