Hours before its Monday morning press briefing, EMS Satcom received word from Inmarsat headquarters in London that its eNfusion HSD-400 high-speed airborne data terminal has been approved as the first commercially available product for use with Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband network.

The message from Michael Butler, Inmarsat president and COO, stated, “Inmarsat is very pleased that the first approved terminal for SwiftBroadband is available and has been delivered by EMS Satcom. With the launch of SwiftBroadband and our launch of the third I-4 satellite next year, Inmarsat is in a strong position to capitalize on the need for in-flight connectivity.”

Originally introduced as a Swift64 terminal in 2004, the HSD-400 terminal is software upgradeable to support SwiftBroadband. It will offer background and streaming class services with circuit mode operation when Inmarsat introduces SwiftBroadband commercially later this year.

The HSD-400 terminal gained Inmarsat approval for SwiftBroadband use following more than 400 hours of operation aboard two of a Fortune 100 company’s Boeing Business Jets in test flights over North America, Europe and the North Atlantic. Tests that the terminal successfully passed included uninterrupted operation during takeoff and landing, in banked turns up to 40 degrees and at low elevation angles of less than 10 degrees to the satellite. The terminal was linked to an EMS Satcom CNX cabin gateway networking device using both wireless and Ethernet connections. The test team observed average throughputs of 300 kbps with performance reaching as high as 475 kbps per channel.

Complete information is being offered at EMS Satcom’s booth (No. 5211).