Rockwell Collins announced that its eXchange broadband data and live television service will make its debut aboard a pair of Bombardier Global XRSes operated by Samsung Techwin, as well as in a Global 5000 demonstrator. A third undisclosed customer has also selected eXchange for its Global XRS, Rockwell Collins announced.

The eXchange system operates through the Connexion by Boeing satellite link, combining the antenna technology and signal processing capabilities of Rockwell Collins’s Tailwind 500 multi-region direct broadcast satellite (DBS) tv system with the broadband Internet connectivity through the Connexion by Boeing service.

Passengers can use the eXchange system to access the Internet and send e-mail, or view more than 400 channels of live DBS television programming in regions around the world and–in a first for an airborne tv service–while flying over the ocean. Besides receiving tv signals from established satellite tv providers in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, eXchange will also provide a limited number of tv channels over oceanic regions, initially the North Atlantic, Rockwell Collins said.