Civil Aviation

Boldon James introduces the first truly Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) AMHS solution that conforms to both the letter and the spirit of the ATS AMHS specifications.

The Aviation messaging industry is now facing the exact same challenge that the Defence or Military sector faced 10 years ago as they planned their move from legacy text based messaging systems to modern commercial messaging systems. The core of the challenge is a balance of functionality versus price and availability.

Is it better to compromise functionality in order to reduce costs, or is there another way to approach the issue? In Defence, like Aviation, a decision was made that the ITU-T defined X.400 was the standard of choice for international interoperability between different organisations or domains. Within a domain however the Defence sector has decided that X.400 does not necessarily need to be delivered to the end user desktop. As long as the functionality of X.400 is supported then Defence Forces can choose to install genuine commercial COTS messaging solutions (Microsoft or Lotus) in order to reduce costs and improve functionality.

The Boldon James Packaged AMHS solution is a parallel of High Grade Defence Systems installed operationally throughout the US DoD, the UK MoD, France, Australia and many other countries around the world.

Benefits

The adoption of a Microsoft packaged solution has a number of compelling benefits for potential users and managers:

Value for money: The incorporation of COTS products rather than expensive 'ground-up' development keeps product and support costs very low.
Reliability: Microsoft Exchange server is probably the most widely deployed messaging server in the world today. It is truly tested in the harsh commercial environment for reliability, security and performance.
Functionality: The additional 'no charge' extra features, such as Archive, Sorting, Journal, Calendar, Workflow, Processing Rules all serve to make this a unique and powerful offering
Flexibility: Interfaces to AFTN and AMHS, via TCP/IP, OSI and X.25 network protocols all add to the power of the product.
Extensibility: The 'Plug and Play' design of Exchange server combined with the power of the Boldon James XML conformant gateway interface mean that extensions and connections to other legacy systems such as AFTN and CIDIN are easily incorporated.

The Microsoft Exchange AMHS Solution

This solution is based upon the architecture used in many High Grade messaging solutions in the defence industry today but modified to meet the requirements of the aviation industry.

This complete solution comprises:

Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server: More messages go through Microsoft Exchange servers today than any other message switch. They are the world's most reliable message switch. Exchange server offers much more than message switching as a standard service. Archive and Journal, Automated storage, forwarding and referral, Address Book, Calendaring and Scheduling are all included in the suite.
AFTN/AMHS Gateway: A gateway into Microsoft Exchange from the AFTN comprising an XML like interface that can be simply connected to existing AFTN solutions such as those from Copperchase or Sitti.
X.400 Connectivity: The Microsoft Exchange 2003 server contains a SARPs Conformant X.400 MTA. There is no need for separate X.400 servers.
Boldon James ATN/OSI Transport: The fully ATN SARPs- compliant Boldon James Impart OSI Transport is integrated with the Exchange Server.
Web Based ATS Forms: Custom designed Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) forms offering access from any web browser with all the associated benefits of reduced costs of support and installation.

Further Information

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