SolaCom Nominated for Prestigious Industry Award
ATCA nominates SolaCom for the Charles E. Varnell Memorial award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GATINEAU, QC, Canada – October 8, 2008 - SolaCom Technologies, a communications solution company that enables interoperability over any network infrastructure, announces that it has been nominated for the Air Traffic Control Association’s (ATCA) Charles E. Varnell Memorial award.
The award is presented to a small business whose outstanding achievement or contribution has added to the quality, safety or efficiency of the air traffic control industry.
“We are extremely honored to have been nominated for this prestigious ATCA award”, said Franz Plangger, President and CEO. “To be recognized for such an award by your industry peers is a great accomplishment and confirms that we are on the right track and that all of our hard work is not going unnoticed”.
SolaCom and its CEO Franz Plangger have been recognized for their contribution to one of the most significant advances in aviation technology in the past quarter-century. The Flight Services for the 21st Century (FS21) program, which was the first nationwide, networked communications system in the US National Airspace System (NAS).
An engineer by training, Mr. Plangger has dedicated more than 30 years to advancing communications technology for emergency and critical communications. As the President of CML Emergency Services, which he founded in 1982, he helped pioneer many of the ideas used in today’s digital voice switch. In 1998 SolaCom was spun off from CML and Mr. Plangger and his team applied their knowledge to build the first digital voice switch for air traffic control to be used in North America.
Winner of this year’s Charles E. Varnell Memorial Award will be announced at the 53rd Annual ATCA Conference taking place November 2nd-5th in Washington D.C.
About the FS21 project
The Government Electronics and Information Technology Association published a study in 2003 whereby they envisioned a FS21-like system being deployed in the NAS by 2010.
In February 2005, following a 14-month study to compare the cost of providing flight services by the FAA versus the cost of contracting services to commercial organizations, the FAA awarded Lockheed Martin the FS21 project. It was estimated that the FS21 program would allow the FAA to save approximately $2.2 billion in operating costs over the next decade.
In November 2006, SolaCom and its voice communication technology were invited to participate in the project. The decision was based on SolaCom’s switching technology—a revolutionary hybrid architecture that made the best use of cutting-edge technology for safety, reliability, and cost management. The project was driven by the FAA which imposed a critical schedule, budget and strict operating constraints. Design and implementation of the system would prove to be major challenges since the system could not be shut down during transition. As well, the concept had to be proven before implementation with safety and reliability being the top priorities.
Incredibly, the FS21 digital VCS platform designed by SolaCom was engineered, tested and installed in less than a year and fully operational by mid-2007. Today, as many as 13,700 calls are being handled by the system every day.
About Charles E. Varnell
Charles E. Varnell was born in Dallas, Texas on March 11, 1931 and served in the United States Air Force as a Radio/Radar Operator. After military service he worked for North American Aviation, the Whittaker Corporation and Litton Industries before opening his own consulting business in 1972. Mr. Varnell became a member of ATCA in 1969 and over the years was a diligent worker and supporter of ATCA and its objectives. His many contributions to ATCA and accomplishments in support of the National Airspace System are legendary. As a member Mr. Varnell was always active in ATCA sponsored symposia, meetings/convention activities and willingly supported personally and financially any activity which contributed to the benefit of ATCA and its members. Mr. Varnell was awarded an ATCA Honorary Membership in 1999. Charles E. Varnell died on August 2nd, 2000.
About the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA)
ATCA has been one of the premier organizations dedicated to the advancement of the science and profession of air traffic control for over 50 years. Members are drawn to ATCA because of its national and global influence, its dedication to the progression of ATC, ATM, aviation and aeronautical sciences, and further industry policy developments. To learn more visit www.atca.org.
About SolaCom
A privately held corporation headquartered in Canada's national capital region, SolaCom Technologies, Inc. has acquired more than 25 years of knowledge and experience engineering some of the world's most reliable critical communication systems. With the structure and broad expertise to execute customized solutions into a powerful set of communication tools, SolaCom enables interoperability over any network infrastructure in air traffic control, homeland security, public networks, military C4I, marine communication, emergency response, and other mission-critical applications.
For further information
Antonio Cassandra
(613) 693-0641 x297
acassandra@solacom.com
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