Collins Has 'Eyes On' Your Data

Collins Aerospace (Booth X53) created a strategic business unit late last year to develop new products that leverage the company’s wide experience in connectivity, analytics, and planning tools.

Known as Connected Aviation Solutions (CAS), the new unit is a products-based entity that draws on technologies from across the Collins enterprise, including such well-known offerings as the ArincDirect flight planning tool. It also integrates the flight-tracking capabilities added with the recent acquisition of FlightAware.

Launched at EBACE is the first new offering from CAS: the Izon (pronounced “eyes-on”) platform for business aviation. This web-based platform is compatible with smartphones, tablets, and laptops that can host and connect numerous apps with a user-friendly interface and easy sign-in. Several apps are available, including those for flight planning, flight tracking, and scheduling, and more will be added in the future. The Izon platform is a downloadable portal, with apps available by various forms of subscription.

Izon is applicable to a wide range of business aviation operators, regardless of fleet size. The platform provides real-world information that can be tailored to meet the needs of the individual users within a company or organization, be they schedulers, dispatchers, fleet managers, or aircrew. All can access the data they need from the various apps in real-time and through one portal. Partner companies can also be added when appropriate.

Information about crew rosters, aircraft location, and availability is available at a glance in real-time. Changes such as an alteration in travel plans by a customer or adverse weather delays can be relayed across the whole company through Izon, immediately alerting all those who are affected by the changes.

Izon does not take up drive space as much of the data is cloud-based. It can be easily and rapidly updated, and its modular nature means that only the relevant apps are updated rather than the whole platform. It is also agnostic and can host apps from other suppliers.