Story ID: 307TrueNorthNBAA12.doc
TrueNorth’s Stylus Offers Style and Substance
By: AIN Staff
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Word Count: 492
TrueNorth Avionics is featuring its new Stylus cord-and-reel handset at this year’s NBAA show (Booth No. 1375) and has already begun shipping the first units to partner Flying Colours. The Canadian outfitter is installing the Stylus handsets as part of its range of CRJ200 ExecLiner makeovers and green Challenger 850 completions.

Ottawa-based TrueNorth emphasizes the high-definition calling quality, one-button interface and Corning Gorilla glass display, as well as the multi-color availability and the MyStylus software application that will allow passengers to incorporate the advantages of the Stylus in their own iPhone with cabin WiFi connectivity. The Stylus is enabled by the TrueNorth Symphonē OpenCabin telecommunication system, which also works with the MyStylus app.

Perhaps most remarkable is that Stylus has multilingual capability, including languages with dedicated character sets, such as Russian and Chinese. While the current Stylus is cord-and-reel connected, a spokeswoman said a wireless variant is in the works and may be expected in the near future.

Additional Stylus installation partners specializing in widebody bizliners such as the Airbus A330 and new Boeing 747-8 have also selected the Simphonē OpenCabin system and plan to include the Stylus as standard. Among them is AMAC Aerospace in Basel, Switzerland, where the completion center will install the scalable Simphonē OpenCabin in an Airbus ACJ319. L-3 Platform Integration in Waco, Texas, is also a TrueNorth client and will be installing the system in the executive version of a new head-of-state Boeing 747-8. The Symphonē OpenCabin will support such capabilities as cabin WiFi connectivity, high-speed Internet, high-definition voice and video and cordless handsets with credit card readers.

Most recently, TrueNorth’s Symphonē OpenCabin was selected by Jet Aviation Basel for installation in the completion and refurbishment center’s executive aircraft outfitting projects, from large-cabin business jets to bizliners.

According to TrueNorth CEO Mark van Berkel, the software-centric Simphonē OpenCabin is on 80 percent of the widebody bizliners being outfitted today and the company is working with StandardAero (Booth No. 2000) for certification on the full range of Gulfstream business jets. The software-centric philosophy at TrueNorth is key to the company’s success, he said, allowing a software app adaptation to the latest technology. “We don’t care what the next great thing is, we can adapt.”

Stylus, according to van Berkel, is an example of TrueNorth’s ability to respond to market demand. “We introduced Stylus at NBAA 2011 and the first week of October 2012, less than a year later, we started shipping.”

TrueNorth continues to grow in defiance of the lingering recession. “We were the sixth fastest growing company in Ottawa in 2011,” said van Berkel. “We’ve seen 150-percent growth over the past several years and our fourth quarter is shaping up to be the best quarter of 2012,” he added. “And for a company that’s only a little more than six years old, that’s not bad.”–K.J.H.