With the goal of addressing the high cost of connectivity and bandwidth limitations to stream high-quality content to a planeload of passengers, IdeaNova Technologies, a leader in IFE software and secure video streaming, today announced the launch of Inplay Edge.

Inplay Edge allows efficient use of existing bandwidth to stream content on the aircraft – just once. Content is cached on the aircraft for subsequent users to use over a local area network–no need for expensive Internet connectivity. For example, passengers can watch their favorite streaming platform on their flight just like at home, while the airline pays just once for the streamed content no matter how many passengers watch it.

“Inplay Edge operates under constrained network and hardware resource conditions,” said CEO Juraj Siska. “While traditional CDNs operate with a much larger hardware footprint, as they need to satisfy a large population of users, Inplay Edge is custom-built for aviation.”

An innovative, new solution, Inplay Edge is a nimble software only package that can be deployed on any existing IFE hardware. Custom built for aviation, Inplay Edge allows airlines to control the storage with content that can be either pre-positioned before take-off or cached during flight when the first passenger accesses the content. In either case, the cost of streaming is much more affordable as the airline either preloads the content using the less expensive terrestrial network or loads the content using the onboard network but only once, since subsequent passengers will use the already cached content. 

Inplay Edge provides flexible cache management. Airlines can update cache management policies over the air (OTA), thus allowing content to be adjusted based on current needs of the airline (e.g. season, availability of new content, storage availability, route specific content). Additionally, airlines can understand their passenger tastes based on age, gender, language preference, destinations – allowing more flexible and efficient selection of content for their routes. 

Developed using Streaming Video Technology Alliance’s (SVTA) open caching specification, based on the content delivery network (CDN) interoperability standard, Inplay Edge allows rapid onboarding of participating content providers. Some integration effort is needed for other CDN providers. Airlines can leverage this platform for streaming of their own, curated IFE content, optimizing cost of connectivity while improving onboarding. 

Airlines offering subscription video streaming services can use Inplay Edge and save money on bandwidth and offer access to a larger library of content delivered to passenger devices or even seatback screens without interruptions or limitations caused by substandard Internet bandwidth. Airlines can also use Inplay Edge to preload news, sports, and current event updates before each flight, further reducing cost and improving the customer experience. 

IdeaNova is now working with France24, a French publicly-funded international news television network broadcasting in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic, as its first content provider to share news and up-to-date information with passengers around the world. Typically uploading up-to-date news and current events is difficult for traditional IFEs, whose content upload processes are several days, sometimes even weeks long. With Inplay Edge, this content upload is not only quick but also an economically feasible solution. 

“We’re delighted with this partnership which provides an innovative solution in terms of delivery timing, which is particularly important for news-related content such as ours,” said Serge Schick, Director of International Development and Commercial Resources and Executive Vice-President Member of the Board at France Medias Monde, France 24’s parent group.

In addition, IdeaNova is partnered with Amagi Corporation, a leader in cloud-based FAST content syndication and technology for broadcast and connected TV (cTV). “We are excited to partner with IdeaNova to explore how we can bring a rich set of cTV FAST content from our Publisher partners to the aviation sector for new monetization opportunities,” said Paul Finster, Head of Business Development at Amagi.

According to Siska, “With France24 and Amagi, the content is free, which offers airlines an opportunity to further reduce the cost of IFE—and in the case of Amagi ad sponsored TV—to turn IFE from a cost center to a revenue generator.”

Visit IdeaNova at AIX 2024

From May 28 – May 30, IdeaNova will be exhibiting at Stand 2D55 at AIX 2024 held at the Hamburg Messe und Congress. In addition to Inplay Edge, IdeaNova will be demonstrating its line of award-winning Inplay products at the show. 

About IdeaNova Technologies, Inc.

IdeaNova Technologies, Inc., based in Naperville, IL, is a software company with more than a decade of experience in IT security and secure video streaming. The company pioneered the distribution and integration of secure streaming technologies in aviation, media, and entertainment industries.

Featured image credited to IdeaNova