Row 44
Row 44 is a Westlake Village, California-based company Providing in-flight broadband connectivity for the passengers, cockpit and crew of commercial aircraft. The company's service includes internet access, live television and other entertainment content, and cell phone services (where permitted) for commercial air passengers, as well as airline operations services for cockpit and crew.
In addition to its Westlake Village, California, corporate headquarters, Row 44 has engineering and development facilities in Illinois and an international business development office in London, United Kingdom.
Corporate history
Row 44 was founded in 2004 by British-born entrepreneur John Guidon and Southern California technology entrepreneur Gregg Fialcowitz, to compete with the in-flight Wi-Fi services of now defunct Connexion by Boeing. The company is funded by private investors.
The company got its start when co-founder Gregg Fialcowitz was building CopperVision, a company attempting to provide satellite television services to the multiple-dwelling-unit market. Working with News Corp and DirecTV, Gregg established a relationship with Hughes Network Systems (HNS), and realized that the same satellite technology could provide in-flight data services to airliners. Gregg approached friend and colleague John Guidon, a technology entrepreneur and pilot who had built the chip-making firm ComCore, which he sold to National Semiconductor for $150 million. John's background also included engineering stints at defense contractors Marconi Space and Defense Systems and Litton, where he designed Inertial Navigation Unit elements still used in aircraft today. Gregg and John worked with executives at Hughes, who were receptive to leveraging their global infrastructure to provide airline Wi-Fi, and secured exclusive North American rights for Row 44 for this application, as well as the rights to leverage Hughes's satellite infrastructure around the world.
The company's name is derived from Guidon's experience as a teenager sitting in row 44 on a DC-10 airplane when traveling the US: “The seats don’t recline [in row 44], you’re right under an engine, the galley’s right behind you and you’re next to the lavatories. If we can make the flight enjoyable for the folks in Row 44, we’ve accomplished our goal.”
Satellite-based uplink
In contrast to other providers that use ground-based antennas to link the aircraft to their networks, Row 44 leases capacity from the existing HughesNet satellite Internet access system enabling them to provide worldwide services even over water. Row 44 and HughesNet entered into a 15-year contract.
According to Row 44, their equipment, including an antenna atop the aircraft, can be installed on an airplane in just two aircraft overnights and weighs merely 150lb compared to Connexion by Boeing's 800lb hardware.
The System
Row 44's in-flight broadband solution consists of the following components:
- Ku-band antenna system -- mounted atop the aircraft fuselage and encased within a fiberglass, RF-transparent radome.
- Four Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) -- mounted inside the aircraft, above the cabin headliner. These LRUs include an Antenna Control Unit (ACU), Modem Data Unit (MDU), Server Management Unit (SMU, and High Power Transceiver (HPT).
- Cabin Wireless LAN Units -- mounted throughout the aircraft cabin as needed to provide consistent Wi-Fi signal for passenger and crew use.
Row 44's top-mounted Ku-band antennas communicate with geostationary satellites within the Hughes Network Systems (HNS) global satellite infrastructure, allowing Row 44 to offer uninterrupted in-flight Wi-Fi service over water and on airlines' routes virtually anywhere in the world.
Testing phase
Southwest Airlines began testing the system aboard several of its planes in February 2009. 1
Alaska Airlines began testing Row 44's system aboard one of its aircraft in February 2009 as well. 2
'Airlines Get Ready to Test Fledging Wi-Fi in Flight'', pcworld.com, July 16 2008
In April 2009, Alaska Airline released the results [http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=109361&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1276153&highlight=]of its own in-flight trials with Row 44's system. The study, which involved 2,100 passengers, found that 96% who used Row 44's Wi-Fi service on an Alaska flight planned to do so again.
Alaska Airlines has stated that, upon successful outcome of the flight trials with Row 44's Wi-Fi service, the airline plans to begin equipping its entire fleet with the system.
Southwest Airlines has also stated that it plans a fleetwide deployment of the Row 44 Wi-Fi solution after a successful completion of the airline's test flights, which will take place on four Southwest planes.
In addition to the company's first commercial airline customers, Row 44 has also been testing its in-flight Wi-Fi system aboard its own test plane, a 1950s Grumman Albatross sea plane. The company purchased and restored the aircraft in mid-2008. The Albatross, originally designed for the US Air Force for search-and-rescue operations (and later used by the Coast Guard for the same purpose), has the same curvature atop its fuselage as a Boeing 737 -- making it an ideal aircraft to test Row 44's satellite antenna and radome.
Row 44 outfitted The Albatross with the identical system it will be installing in commercial aircraft. (One difference in hardware, however, is that only a single wireless LAN unit was installed inside the dozen-seater Albatross cabin, whereas commercial aircraft will require two or more such units to provide consistent signal throughout the cabin.)
Airline Deployment Announcements
Norwegian Air Shuttle, the fifth largest low-cost carrier in Europe, announced on April 27, 2009, that it would begin installing Row 44's in-flight broadband on the airline's entire fleet (including more than 40 on-order new aircraft. 3
See also
- Aircell
- OnAir
- AeroMobile
- Panasonic Avionics
- Connexion by Boeing
- Airfone
- Inmarsat
- LiveTV