PARIS, June 10 Bull
PARIS, June 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
- Highdeal Transactive(R) has Been Selected for its Flexibility and
Partner Settlement Capabilities
OnAir has chosen Highdeal, the world's leading provider of Pricing &
Rating (http://www.highdeal.com/product/pricing-rating-EN.shtml) solutions,
to manage Mobile OnAir, its mobile telephony offer aimed at airline
companies. Created in 2005, OnAir is a subsidiary of Airbus and SITA, a
provider of IT solutions for the transportation industry. OnAir's services
enable passengers to use their portable devices (laptops, mobile phones and
PDAs) as well as the airplane's own equipment, to communicate just as easily
in the air as on the ground.
For this project, OnAir also chose Bull to create its information
systems, including billing, reconciliation functions offered by Highdeal
Transactive, support for the company's complex, business-critical processes,
as well as advanced analysis and Business Intelligence functionalities.
In December 2007, Air France and OnAir launched the world's first
in-flight mobile communication service offer. Airbus A318 passengers can now
send and receive text and multimedia messages as well as emails and since
April 2008, they can also make in-flight phone calls.
Highdeal Transactive allows OnAir to manage billing as well as
commissioning of its numerous partners
The Mobile OnAir offer is based on numerous partnerships with satellite
bandwidth providers and business partners such as interconnection operators
and airline companies, who are both OnAir customers and partners. The revenue
generated by in-flight communication is shared between the different
companies involved since passengers are seen as roamers on the OnAir network
and as such, their mobile phone operators must pay a roaming fee to OnAir.
Highdeal Transactive is used to calculate the percentages and manage the
commission owed to airline companies. The commission rules are clearly
defined in the pricing plan, therefore partners can be commissioned according
to usage, percentage, variations in volume or hourly time slots. Highdeal
Transactive is also used for the billing of Internet Service installations,
WebMail and WebChat, that are offered by OnAir for in-flight access. Finally,
the bandwidth service provided by Link OnAir will also be billed using the
Highdeal Transactive software solution. It was Highdeal's proven track record
for managing numerous partners as well as its flexibility in defining offers
in a B2B context (one per client), that convinced OnAir to go ahead with this
partnership.
At the crossroads of the telecommunications and aeronautics industries
OnAir was looking for a flexible pricing and billing solution that would
allow it to manage commissions in an industry beyond the realm of 'classic
telecommunications', given that certain calculations are based on data from
the aeronautics industry. "We are extremely pleased with Bull's services and
Highdeal's ability to adapt to our unique and fast evolving context," said
Jean-Damien Beaud, Director of OnAir's Information Systems. "Our mobile
telephony offer is at the crossroads of the telecomunications and aeronautics
industries. We were quickly convinced by the different features of the
Highdeal Transactive software solution as its functional coverage corresponds
to our needs, particularly when calculating interconnection costs and
bill-cross-referencing which are an essential part of our business," he
concluded.
Bull, a leading integrator of convergence technologies, has delivered a
robust and innovative information system for OnAir
Bull has designed a robust solution capable of evolving alongside OnAir's
activities. Thanks to its sectoral expertise and knowledge of open
technologies, Bull - as systems integrator and IT manufacturer - is able to
bring the flexibility required by telecom operators and to build reliable
'carrier grade' information systems that offer a high level of service in any
condition. The project includes three phases. The first phase allows OnAir to
make use of Call Collect systems, reporting procedures as well as Highdeal
Transactive's billing solution. The second and third phases will provide
OnAir with complementary CRM functions, bill-cross-referencing and advanced
reporting.
"We are very proud to have been selected by OnAir for the integration of
this complex and highly innovative project," said Jean-François
Leprince-Ringuet, General Manager, Bull Telecommunications and Media. "The
telecommunications sector is evolving rapidly and this new service is a
perfect example of new convergence applications for fixed-mobile usage. As a
partner integrator of equipment manufacturers, Bull brings its IT expertise
and industrial know-how to implement flexible, efficient and innovative
solutions throughout the world," he added.
"We are very pleased to have a customer who brings new mobile services to
airplanes. OnAir is a pioneer in this field, so it was quite natural for them
to opt for the highly successful Highdeal Transactive software solution,"
concluded Eric Lavenir, EVP Sales EMEA for Highdeal.
About OnAir
OnAir was incorporated in February 2005 and is owned by Airbus, the
aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on
the market, and SITA, the world's leading provider of air transport focused
applications, communications and IT infrastructure.
OnAir's goal is to give airline passengers the ability to communicate
from the sky. The OnAir service portfolio addresses passenger voice and data
communications needs on both long- and short-haul flights, on commercial
Airbus and Boeing aircraft, while focusing on passengers' needs, offering
choice, and ensuring an economically viable business model for airlines.
OnAir is a member of the GSM Association and an Inmarsat Distribution Partner
for SwiftBroadband services.
About Highdeal
Highdeal is the world's leading provider of Pricing & Rating
(http://www.highdeal.com/product/pricing-rating-EN.shtml) solutions. By
delivering unconstrained usage-based business models coupled with real-time,
multi-party transaction management, Highdeal solves the billing problem for
service providers. Proven by 200 deployments in more than 50 countries, the
Highdeal Transactive(R) (http://www.highdeal.com/product/overview-EN.shtml)
software solution provides greater business agility and lower TCO. From
telecoms, Internet and media sectors, to transportation, logistics, and
financial markets, businesses across the service economy rely on Highdeal to
increase their competitiveness. For more information, visit
http://www.highdeal.com.
About Bull
As one of the leading European IT companies, Bull delivers open, flexible
and secure information systems. The group helps public and private sector
customers transform their information systems, applying its know-how and
expertise in three main areas:
- Capitalizing on its extensive mainframe experience, Bull designs and
produces robust, innovative and open servers, based on industry-standard
technologies;
- Building on its alliances with leading ISVs and long-standing
involvement with Open Source, Bull develops and implements flexible and
interoperable application infrastructures which give business processes the
freedom to evolve;
- Bringing together recognized expertise in end-to-end IT security,
- Bull secures data and exchanges that are so critical in preserving
customers' business integrity.
Bull has a particularly strong presence in the public, healthcare,
finance, telecommunications, manufacturing and defense sectors. Its
distribution network and business partners cover more than 60 countries
worldwide.
For more information visit: http://www.bull.com
Highdeal press contacts:
Emma Keenan / Trista Schneberger,
Open2Europe,
Phone: +33-1-55-02-14-59/ 27-93,
E-mail: e.keenan@open2europe.com / t.schneberger@open2europe.com ;
Bull: Anne Marie Jourdain
Tel: +33(0)1-30-80-32-52,
anne-marie.jourdain@bull.net
Financial Dynamics:
Elodie Marchand / Tiphaine Bannelier,
Tel: +33(0)1-47-03-68-10,
elodie.marchand@fd.com / tiphaine.bannelier@fd.com .
SOURCE Bull
