AIRCRAFT COMMERCE ISSUE NO. 74 • FEBRUARY/MARCH 2011 40 I MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING T here remains a wide range of software solutions available to improve commercial aviation MRO efficiency and effectiveness. This is a bi-annual survey that reviews the systems available on the market. The scope of systems is widening as new point-solutions emerge to address niche requirements. Some new companies are offering applications written specifically for the iPhone for example. This follows a growing trend for smaller, simpler solutions available on mobile devices written for open platforms. Whether these types of solutions ever challenge the established software companies is yet to be seen. This survey has been carried out at a time of economic hardship and financial belt-tightening at all the major airlines and related maintenance companies. This is causing increased competition for fewer opportunities, with many of the major airlines having already selected MRO systems over the past five years. Normally there would be a natural shake-out of the MRO software vendor market in this situation, but unusually there are a number of strong new entrants that want to break into this intensely competitive world. 2011 also sees the end of a technology step-change into the full web environment, with the majority of software companies now offering their applications on Java, .NET or both. Vendors that have failed to invest in new technology migration risk being left behind in the race for new contracts. As in previous years, Aircraft Commerce categorises vendors and tries to explain the range and depth of functionality on offer. The survey also looks at company credentials of longevity and customer base. As with other surveys not every single vendor is covered, and omissions are inevitable. Vendors were provided with a questionnaire and asked to respond to the same set of questions for purposes of consistency. Vendors that did not provide responses are marked ‘no data’. The discussion of solutions is in four categories: ‘pure-play MRO solutions’, which are the main vendors in the market; ‘specialist point solutions’, which usually augment pure-play solutions; ‘enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions’, which provide extended capability in finance and human resources; and ‘tier-two MRO solutions’, which typically target smaller organisations. Vendors are surveyed in alphabetical order. Some vendors declined to respond to the survey, or simply did not return a report, so they have been included for completeness but their data are limited. Pure-play solutions This category of solution is a complete offering of functionality to meet most of the needs of an airline or third- party MRO provider seeking to renew or replace its business systems. The majority of the pure-play MRO software companies in this category have the capabilities to respond legitimately to airlines of any size and MRO facilities seeking a new software solution. AD Software AD Software is a company based in France, with offices in South Africa and Thailand serving these regions. It has been in business for 12 years selling its AIRPACK suite of products, and continues to grow: from 17 customers in our last survey in 2009, to 38 as of the end of 2010, with eight of them being signed in the last year alone. This is an impressive achievement for a company that numbers only 14 people. The AIRPACK suite includes a range of discrete solutions called AIRTIME, AIRSTOCK, AIRUSER, AIRDOC and AIRSTAT. Together these offer an integrated capability for managing: maintenance; inventory control; security; electronic documentation; and fleet and equipment reliability. The market for this product appears to be relatively small operators like Air Tahiti Nui, which puts it right at the edge of a tier-one, pure-play MRO company. The company claims an installed base in all types of customers, including airlines, third-party MRO facilities, and component maintenance shops. The AIRPACK suite also claims to have full links to Boeing AHM and Airbus products, along with an electronic flight bag (EFB), which is again very impressive for such a small company. The product technology is .NET which positions it well for the future. Applied Database Technologies One of the recent newcomers to the full pure-play MRO vendor segment, and one of the few growing success stories, this Turkey- and US-based company has grown to 34 people and has a live airline customer base of 25, up from 14 in 2009. During the past 12 months they have secured five new customers. Applied Database Technologies works with Oracle and Turkish-based Formalis to implement its solution. The company’s product, called Wings, has the following modules: Fleet Management; Engineering; Aircraft Maintenance Planning; Aircraft and Component Reliability; Technical Documentation Library; Work Order Management; Heavy Maintenance; Line Maintenance; Shop Management (Component Repair); Tooling The MRO management & flight operations software products of 50 vendors are reviewed in this survey. There are a number of new-entry companies and some long-standing companies have ceased trading or disappeared from most competitions. MRO IT market vendors survey
There remains a wide range ofsoftware solutions available toimprove commercial aviationMRO efficiency and
effectiveness. This is a bi-annual surveythat reviews the systems available on themarket.
The scope of systems is widening asnew point-solutions emerge to addressniche requirements. Some new companiesare offering applications writtenspecifically for the iPhone for example.This follows a growing trend for smaller,simpler solutions available on mobiledevices written for open platforms.Whether these types of solutions everchallenge the established softwarecompanies is yet to be seen.
This survey has been carried out at atime of economic hardship and financialbelt-tightening at all the major airlinesand related maintenance companies. Thisis causing increased competition for feweropportunities, with many of the majorairlines having already selected MROsystems over the past five years. Normallythere would be a natural shake-out of theMRO software vendor market in thissituation, but unusually there are anumber of strong new entrants that wantto break into this intensely competitiveworld.
2011 also sees the end of a technologystep-change into the full webenvironment, with the majority ofsoftware companies now offering theirapplications on Java, .NET or both.Vendors that have failed to invest in newtechnology migration risk being leftbehind in the race for new contracts.
As in previous years, AircraftCommerce categorises vendors and triesto explain the range and depth offunctionality on offer. The survey alsolooks at company credentials of longevityand customer base. As with other surveysnot every single vendor is covered, and
omissions are inevitable. Vendors wereprovided with a questionnaire and askedto respond to the same set of questionsfor purposes of consistency. Vendors thatdid not provide responses are marked ‘nodata’.
The discussion of solutions is in fourcategories: ‘pure-play MRO solutions’,which are the main vendors in themarket; ‘specialist point solutions’, whichusually augment pure-play solutions;‘enterprise resource planning (ERP)solutions’, which provide extendedcapability in finance and humanresources; and ‘tier-two MRO solutions’,which typically target smallerorganisations. Vendors are surveyed inalphabetical order. Some vendors declinedto respond to the survey, or simply didnot return a report, so they have beenincluded for completeness but their dataare limited.
Pure-play solutions This category of solution is a
complete offering of functionality to meetmost of the needs of an airline or third-party MRO provider seeking to renew orreplace its business systems. The majorityof the pure-play MRO softwarecompanies in this category have thecapabilities to respond legitimately toairlines of any size and MRO facilitiesseeking a new software solution.
AD Software AD Software is a company based in
France, with offices in South Africa andThailand serving these regions. It hasbeen in business for 12 years selling itsAIRPACK suite of products, andcontinues to grow: from 17 customers inour last survey in 2009, to 38 as of theend of 2010, with eight of them beingsigned in the last year alone. This is an
impressive achievement for a companythat numbers only 14 people. TheAIRPACK suite includes a range ofdiscrete solutions called AIRTIME,AIRSTOCK, AIRUSER, AIRDOC andAIRSTAT. Together these offer anintegrated capability for managing:maintenance; inventory control; security;electronic documentation; and fleet andequipment reliability. The market for thisproduct appears to be relatively smalloperators like Air Tahiti Nui, which putsit right at the edge of a tier-one, pure-playMRO company. The company claims aninstalled base in all types of customers,including airlines, third-party MROfacilities, and component maintenanceshops. The AIRPACK suite also claims tohave full links to Boeing AHM andAirbus products, along with an electronicflight bag (EFB), which is again veryimpressive for such a small company. Theproduct technology is .NET whichpositions it well for the future.
Applied Database Technologies One of the recent newcomers to the
full pure-play MRO vendor segment, andone of the few growing success stories,this Turkey- and US-based company hasgrown to 34 people and has a live airlinecustomer base of 25, up from 14 in 2009.During the past 12 months they havesecured five new customers. AppliedDatabase Technologies works withOracle and Turkish-based Formalis toimplement its solution.
The company’s product, called Wings,has the following modules: FleetManagement; Engineering; AircraftMaintenance Planning; Aircraft andComponent Reliability; TechnicalDocumentation Library; Work OrderManagement; Heavy Maintenance; LineMaintenance; Shop Management(Component Repair); Tooling
The MRO management & flight operations software products of 50 vendorsare reviewed in this survey. There are a number of new-entry companies andsome long-standing companies have ceased trading or disappeared frommost competitions.
Management; Labor Tracking; Time &Attendance; Invoicing (A/R); Purchasingand Vendor Management; InventoryControl; Receiving and Shipping; QualityAssurance & Audits; Employee MasterDefinitions; Employee Trainings;Employee Certifications; Open Interfaces– Gateways; Bar Code Printing &Technology; Digital Attachments(Archiving); and Wings Mobile Solutions.
The product is built on Javatechnology and has integration points toboth Boeing and Airbus suites of tools,such as AHM. The customer base islargely cargo airlines and low-cost orcharter carriers.
Aerosoft Systems Inc Aerosoft continues to sell into the
smaller regional airline market. In 2010 itsigned a marketing deal with Sabre, andlater last year with Hexaware, to assist inimplementations and to provide an ASPoffering to the market. Aerosoft has 22staff, and is based in Toronto Canada,with further offices in Miami, US (the oldRene Perez company) and Austria.
Aerosoft acquired the maintenanceproduct, PMI, in early 2004 from SITA.In fact there are several offers ofoverlapping capabilities, DigiMAINT andWebPMI. The WebPMI product is amodernised version of the original PMIproduct. DigiMAINT is the originalAerosoft product and is now available asa Java application. These products havebeen augmented with a new series ofAeroBUY and AeroREPAIR. Theseelectronically manage requests forQuotations, Purchase/Repair Orders andInvoices for Vendors that participate in e-business logistics. It is designed aroundthe requirements of the ATA standardSpec 2000.
Aerosoft has added two new airlinesto its existing 30 customers in the past 12months. The company still qualifies as atier-one supplier.
CALM C.A.L.M. Systems Inc is a smaller-
scale provider of MRO software. CALM(Computerised Aircraft Log Manager) isfeatured for the first time in this survey.Although it is one of the smallerproviders, with only six staff, it has beenin business for 22 years. Based in the US,CALM is 100% focused on the airlinemarket. It claims customers in all themarket segments, from airlines to MROshops and component shops. In somecases only certain modules are used forspecific purposes, acting almost like alow- cost specialist point solution. Forexample, American Eagle uses its datamanagement module in the technicallibrary. In spite of its small size, CALMhas a wide range of capabilities,
extending to a page for an EFB.
Cambridge Online Cambridge Online (COLS) is a
diversified company providingprofessional information technology (IT)systems and services to a wide range ofcommercial and academic organisations.Based in Cambridge, UK it servescustomers throughout the UK andoverseas. COLS is a Microsoft GOLDCertified Partner and offers the NAVair
product based upon the MicrosoftDynamics technology.
The 50-man company claims BritishAirways, FedEx, Continental Airlines,Japan Air Services, Singapore Airlines,Philippine Airlines, and FLS Aerospaceamong its customers, although thisappears to be an old customer list. It isalso unclear which modules of theproduct capability are being used bycustomers. COLS has been in business formore than 30 years, and is now part ofthe Microsoft reseller network.
COLS’ product is sold either byconcurrent user or by fleet size. Its placein the pure-play solution space isuncertain given the intense competitionthat exists. It continues to evolve newcapabilities, such as the ProductionControl Consoles.
Cimber Air Data Cimber Air Data has released a Java
version of the long standing AMICOSproduct. It was first implemented inCimber Air as a mini computer system in1987. The company claims to have 20airline customers, but does not appear tohave secured contracts with any newcustomers in 2010.
The AMICOS Next Generationproduct is a result of a 10-man companymigrating a successful software productover into a modern technology. Itcomprises a full range of modulesspanning the full scope of normal airlineand MRO requirements. These include:Engineering; Planning; Reliability andQuality Control; Technical Records;Material Planning; Cost Control;Purchasing; 3rd Party Work; Inventory;Sales; Loan Order Management; andMRO which includes project cost controland invoicing.
Cimber Air Data continues to expandits capabilities, and will be including linksto both Boeing AHM and Airbus airN@vnext year. It also has an implementation
partnership with Bayer AviationConsulting in Malaysia.
Commsoft Like many of the smaller software
vendors, Commsoft seems to have madethe successful transition into modern webtechnology. It started as a software house40 years ago in the UK, before winningits first airline contract in 1975. It alsohas a presence in Australia.
OASES has been moved from client-server to Java and is supported by a totalcompany of 29 people. This new producttechnology may be the reason why thecompany has added six new customers inthe past 12 months, which is importantfor its long-term success. It seems thatCommsoft is now targeting its product atsmaller organisations. The largestcustomer has 70 aircraft. OASES’mainstay customer used to be the BMIGroup, but it has now switched to SwissAMOS.
OASES modules include: Reliability;Technical Log and Defects; Workcardsand Planning; Line Maintenance Control;Inventory and Purchasing; ElectronicDemand Handling; AD/SB (AirworthinessDirective / Service Bulletin)Evaluation/Analysis; AMP (ApprovedMaintenance Programme) Revision;Technical Records; Shop Floor DataCapture and Work in Progress; RequestFor Quotations; Sales Order Processing;
Invoice Passing; Full Invoicing Module;OASES Job Scheduler; and IntegratedManagement Planning Tool.
IBS IBS Software Services is an Indian
company headquartered in Trivandrum.It has offices around the world, includingAustralia, the UK, United Arab Emirates(UAE) and the USA.
The IBS iFlight MRO is part of aportfolio of IBS products aimed at airlineoperations. The other products are:AvientCrew for airline crew management;AvientFleet for airline fleet management;and TopAir for integrated flightoperations. With a relatively smallnumber of live customers at 14, IBS ismaking progress with iFlight, and addedtwo new customers in 2010. The product,formerly the client-server VISaer, is nowin .NET. China Southern is the largestlive customer with 350 aircraft,indicating the breadth and depth ofiFlight.
The IBS offering is unique among theMRO software marketplace in that itoffers a complete airline solution set.Functionally, the maintenance productcontains a complete range of modulescovering engineering, maintenance andmaterial management. iFlight does nothave an IPC/AMM browsing function,but this is under development, since thereare links to Boeing AHM. There is no
MRO & FLIGHT OPERATIONS SOFTWARE VENDOR COMPANY DETAILS
Company Website Contact Contact Current Production Size Years in No of Newperson details product technology - people business airlines customers
in 2010 in 2010
PPUURREE--PPLLAAYY MMRROO SSOOLLUUTTIIOONNSSAD Software www.adsoftware.fr Frederic Ulrich [email protected] AIR suite no data no data no data no data no data
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes MINT Media Interactive
No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Omega
No No Yes Yes Yes Yes interface Yes interface Servigistics
Yes Yes No No No No Yes Smart4
No Yes Yes Yes Superstructure
No Yes No No No No Yes Yes T&A Systems
no data Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No Yes no data no data AMT Flightman
no data Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No Yes Yes no data Boeing/Jeppesen
Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Osys
no data Yes no data No No No Yes No No No No No No Yes no data no data Skypaq
no data Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No Yes no data no data Teledyne
EERRPP SSOOLLUUTTIIOONNSSYes no data no data no data no data no data Yes Yes Yes no data no data no data no data no data no data no data IFS
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes HCL-Axon
no data No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No 2MoRO
no data no data no data no data no data no data Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Oracle
no data No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes no data no data no data SAP
EFB, but it is available through aninterface.
IFR IFR France has been in business for
over 20 years, and is a EuropeanAeronautic Defence & Space (EADS)company, based in France with otheroffices in Russia and Spain. It providesmaintenance software alongside cateringand flight operations systems. It has 79airline customers, many of them fromformer French colonies, and added threemore in 2010.
The maintenance product is AMASIS,which is sold alongside catering andoperations systems. The solution isoffered as a hosted Application ServiceProvider (ASP) system and is used by 21airlines, which makes it the mostsuccessful ASP provided by any of thevendors.
The technology migration story forIFR France is interesting. In our lastreport it was migrating to .NET, but itnow states that its technology is acombination of IBM iPower for AS400and a Java GUI. This indicates that thecompany seems to have decided to put aweb veneer on an older mainframetechnology.
AMASIS is used mainly by airlinesand some third-party maintenance
providers. Modules include: RoutineMaintenance; Assembly/Sub-assembly;Scheduled Maintenance; SB & ADManagement; Logistics; Finance; e-documentation; Automatic Provisioning;Labour Manhours; Technical Library;Barcode; Data Import-Export; andBusiness Intelligence (new). The systemlinks to the Airbus suite of products andalso has a native link to a projectplanning tool. A link to Boeing’s AHM isunder development.
Infospectrum InfoTrak is the MRO product from
Infospectrum. Headquartered in Indiaand USA, and with an office also in Oslo,Norway, Infospectrum bought the Avexusproduct several years ago. With no dataprovided by the company, there are fewdetails available, and it is hard to clarifythe number of existing or new customersfrom the current website. The companyalso has a SAP practice.
MIRO Technologies Miro has been supplying aviation
MRO systems for almost 30 years.Headquartered in California, USA thecompany also opened a large office inSaudi Arabia in 2009. Miro has 90employees and has a fast-growing client
list that includes major originalequipment manufacturers (OEMs) anddefence contractors such as AAR, BAESystems, Boeing, Honeywell, ITT,Lockheed Martin, L-3, NorthropGrumman, Pratt & Whitney (P&W) andRolls Royce (RR). In addition, militaryorganisations on four continents rely onMiro’s technology as a key element intheir defence system sustainment strategy.
Miro also currently has five airlinecustomers, including SAS and ExpressJetAirlines.
GOLDesp is Miro’s flagship COTSproduct for Aerospace & Defense, withthe AuRA application serving the needsof the commercial MRO industry. Inrecent years, Miro has focused itsresearch and development (R&D) andproduct marketing efforts on themigration of the GOLD product line toan SOA and Java (Web 2.0) platform.
Reports from Miro indicate thatAuRA airline functionality will beintegrated into a future version ofGOLDesp. AuRA functional modulesinclude: Enterprise/OrganisationalModelling; Engineering;Materials/Warehouse; Procurement;Planning and Scheduling; LineMaintenance; Maintenance Operations –Hangar Maintenance; Shop Maintenance;Quality Control/Quality Assurance;Training; Licenses and Certifications;
AMOSA STORY OF SUCCESS–“THE BEST FIT IN TERMS OF FUNCTIONALITY, PRICE AND MARKET STANDING,” STATES EASYJET
READ MORE ABOUT THE WORLD-CLASS M&E SOFTWARE SYSTEM AT
SWISS-AS.COM
Financial Interface; and Tools & GroundSupport Equipment Management.
IBM No information was received from
IBM, so this entry is gathered from publicsources. Operating in several marketsegments, IBM’s Maximo product is soldto support everything from computerassets to facilities, power stations andaircraft. The range of customers using theapplication in a live environment today isbelieved to be wide, and includes airlinesas well as component maintenanceproviders.
MXi MXi is one of the larger, tier-one
pure-play MRO software providers withover 250 employees (although this isdown from 306 in 2009). Founded in1996, the company is based in Ottawa,Canada, but it also has offices elsewherein the world: Washington and Seattle,USA; Amsterdam, Netherlands; andSydney, Australia. More than 70% ofMXi’s business involves airline and third-party commercial MRO. The companyworks with implementation partnersworldwide including Pythian, Envision,TATA Consulting, Hexaware and MilconGulf Group.
MXi continues to make progress,with sales in 2010 to at least two carriers,including Ethiopian Airlines. This ispresumably as part of the 787 DreamlinerGOLDCare deal that Mxi has signedwith Boeing. The Maintenix customerbase includes 22 live airlines. Like manyof the larger MRO software companies,MXi’s product runs on Java technology.
The Maintenix modules include:Maintenance Program Management;AD/SB Management; ConfigurationManagement; Records Management;Diagnostics & Repair Modelling; Long-Range Planning; Asset MaintenancePlanning; Maintenance Control; LineMaintenance; Maintenance Operations;Production Planning & Control; HangarMaintenance; Engineering Support; ShopScheduling & Repair Routing; ShopProductions Control; Shop MaintenanceExecution; Material Planning; MaterialProcurement; Warehouse Management;Warranty Management; Material Receipt;Demand Management; Tool Control &Ground Support Equipment (GSE);Compliance Reporting; QualityAssurance; Reliability Analysis;Maintenance Cost Tracking; FinancialReporting; and Human Resources (HR).
The Maintenix product has thecapability to integrate with EFBs, theAirbus Airman product and BoeingAHM.
Pentagon 2000SQLThe company is still active on the
web, but no responses were returned byPentagon 2000. Little is known about thecompany or their product.
Rusada Rusada is headquartered in
Switzerland, with offices in the UK andIndia. The company started in business in1987, and now has 95 staff. Rusada’sEnvision product is built upon .NET andFoxPro technologies, and now has a liveinstalled base of 55 airlines, four of whichwere added in 2010. Rusada’s customersare regional or low-cost airlines, and usea combination of its full range of airlineMRO modules. Its largest airlinecustomer operates a fleet of 75 aircraft.
Modules include: Configuration;System and Resource Manager;Engineering Manager; Document andRecords Manager; Quality Manager,Materials Manager; MaintenanceManager; Operations Manager; FinanceManager; Training Manager; AnalyticalManager; and Safety Manager.
Envision links to Boeing AHM andAirbus airN@v and with a partner EFB.Unlike some of the other MRO softwarevendors, Envision includes a nativefinance and accounting capability and job
AMOSA STORY OF SUCCESS–“AMOS HAS CLEARLY MET THE EXPECTATIONS AS A FULL SYSTEM FOR MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS,” SAYS FINNISH AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE
READ MORE ABOUT THE WORLD-CLASS M&E SOFTWARE
SYSTEM AT SWISS-AS.COM
card authoring.
Ramco Systems After a strong growth phase in 2009,
Ramco has had a slower rate of newcustomer uptake compared with themarket leaders like TRAX andSwissAMOS, although it still managed tosecure five new customers, including AirIndia, during 2010.
It continues to offer a wide range ofsolutions on a technology-agnosticplatform, which includes Java or .NET.
The Group headquarters is in India,with the aviation division based inLawrenceville, New Jersey. Ramco hasmore than 250 staff, with the main groupselling ERP solutions into the finance andmanufacturing sectors as well as aviation.RAMCO is offered as an ASP with twosmall airlines live on the system.
Ramco implements its solutions itself,rather than through partners. It has livecustomers in all the aviation marketsegments, including engine andcomponent overhaul. RAMCO continuesto have a marketing relationship withSabre Airline Solutions to sell the Ramcoapplication as part of its own portfolio ofsolutions.
Functionally, the modules on offerinclude: Customer Management;Quoting; Part Sales Management;Customer Order Management;Engineering; Materials Procurement;Maintenance Projection; Planning &Scheduling; Maintenance Operations –Hangar Maintenance; Engine/ShopMaintenance & Line Maintenance;Quality Control/Quality Assurance;Maintenance Human Resources; Licences& Certifications; Maintenance Financials;Tools & Special Equipment Management;and EFB.
SaSiM With no data returned this year from
SaSiM, it is hard to comment on whetherit remains a true tier-one pure-playsolution provider. It is believed that thecompany offers: Maintenance andEngineering; Aircraft Configuration;Component Maintenance; InventoryModule; Component Control; SB/ADControl; Tool Management;Publication/Library Control; StaffRecording; and The Log Book. There isno recent news on their website.
Swiss AviationSoftware With 86 live airlines (and nine more
in the process of implementation), SwissAviationSoftware is hot on the heels ofTRAX as having the largest installed livecustomer base with true fully integratedMRO software. Significant successes in2010 include: the BMI Group, where it isreplacing Commsoft; and Royal Brunei,where it is replacing AMICOS.
In 2010 AMOS added 13 newcustomers and expanded its functionalfootprint. The company works onimplementation with Lufthansa SystemsAmericas, Singapore TechnologyAerospace and CrossConsense.
Available modules include: MaterialManagement; Engineering; Planning;Production; Maintenance Control;Component Maintenance; QualityControl; Human Resources; FinancialManagement; and Interfaces to numerousoutside systems.
AMOS offers a FinancialManagement & Billing Module,including Contract Management andFinancial Reports, but it does not replacea proper general ledger system. AMOSinterfaces to other financial accountingsystems, for example SAP Finance.
The technology underpinning AMOSis Java, and the product has evolved over21 years from an initial internal Swiss AirLines project. The AMOS product is usedright across the spectrum of commercialaviation, from airlines to third-party
MROs and engine shops. Swiss-AS sellsexclusively in the commercial aviationmarket and has no military customers.The largest airline using the product isRyanair, which has a fleet of more than250 aircraft.
TracWare No data are available from the
company directly as part of this survey.Based in the UK, the company still has aninternet presence and seems to begrowing.
TRAX In 2010, TRAX was one airline away
from having 100 customers. In the pastyear, 11 new customers have selected thenew TRAX offering, which is nowavailable on Java and .NET technology.The company is leading the market withSwiss AviationSoftware, and continues tobattle in a hard-fought market segment.The significant move into web technologyfor TRAX was crucial to its continuedsurvival against the growing competitionfrom Swiss.
TRAX’s oldest customer remains AirAtlanta, but a significant win wasregistered in the past 18 months with AirCanada selecting TRAX to replace Mxiin its home market. The range of TRAXcustomers includes airlines and MROfacilities.
Unlike some of the other vendors, thecompany does not offer an EFB but it hasa full range of modules including:Materials Management; Customer (Sales)Orders; Requisitions; Orders; Receiving;Inventory; Picklist; Packing & Shipping;Fleet Management; Engineering; MXPlanning; MX Controller; Production;Shop; Quality Assurance; Reliability;Technical Records; ComponentManagement; P/N Planning; P/NEngineering; P/N Shop; P/N Reliability;P/N Quality Assurance; TechnicalPublications; Library (Tech Pubs); MEDL(Mfg Electronic Data Loader); TRAXDoc(Document Management); ResourceManagement; Training; Labor Capacity;Site (Hangar) Capacity; Shop CapacityManagement; Electronic DataInterchange; B2B (Sales, Exchanges, andRepairs); and Manufacturer OnboardToolboxes.
The Manufacturer Onboard Systemsare offered via Web Services to allow forthe exchange of data between the airlineand its ground-based systems. TRAXoffers interfaces for all the major aircraft
MXi integrates with Interactive ElectronicTechnical Publications (IETPs) to provide aseamless paperless environment for airlineoperators. The company has a deal with Boeingon Goldcare for the 787.
manufacturers.
Ultramain No data were returned by Ultramain
so this entry is gathered from publicsources. The latest website does notindicate any new customers since the lastsurvey in 2009, but does indicate that theproduct is moving to Java.
Volartec Argentina’s Volartec continues to
grow rapidly and is a vendor worthkeeping an eye on. The .NET product,with the odd name Alkym, now has 26live airlines, eight of which were added in2010. The company has established anoffice in Ireland in order to open theEuropean market place to this newproduct.
The company has 30 employees, ofwhom 10 are software developers.Alkym’s modules comprise: MaintenanceControl; Planning; Engineering;Reliability; Purchasing & Repairs;Inventory; Receiving & Shipping; Sales;Technical Library; System Configuration;Quality Assurance; and HumanResources. Alkym also includes a nativejob card authoring capability, and amanpower planning and scheduling tool.The company is currently developing aninterface to Boeing AHM and AirbusairN@v.
Volartec’s oldest customer is PlunaUruguay, and the largest is theVenezuelan Air Force. Volartec carriesout all its own implementations.
Specialist point solutions There has been a growth in the
market for new specialist software
solutions addressing specific nicherequirements around the edge of aircraftmaintenance and logistics management.There are even new entrants offeringiPhone apps which may be an interestingtrend in the future. Easy integration isalways one of the keys to success in thismarket segment.
AerData In March this year AerData, a Dutch-
based software provider for aircraft assetmanagers announced that it had acquireda majority stake in Waviatech, the UK-provider of STRAM for Aircraft Records,and renamed the company under theAerData brand.
AerData also owns the EFPAC enginemanagement software, and nowcombines the two offerings to the marketplace. This is an interesting, andsomewhat logical, move for AerData,which has a large customer base in theengine- and aircraft-leasing business. Itcombines these two software productswith the CMS software for aircraft leaseand asset management. It will beinteresting to watch for furtheracquisitions in the future, since AerDatamay decide to move into the full MROsoftware domain.
AerData is a relatively new 75-strongcompany operating from Amsterdam,which has 20 airlines live using theSTREAM and EFPAC products. Thisincludes 15 new contracts that weresigned in the past 12 months. Thecompany uses .NET technology for itsproducts.
ARMAC While no data were received for this
year’s survey, ARMAC continues to have
a presence in the market place and seemsto continue to gain new customers andexpand its business for parts andinventory optimisation. The other realcompetition in this segment comes fromServigistics and MCA.
AviITAviIT is a small UK-based company
that provides a library-managementsolution for airlines and a low-costAircraft Communications Addressing &Reporting System (ACARS) messagedecoder. The latest customer was EraHelicopters, which selected the eManSolution in early 2011. No data werereceived from AviIT, but it remains aninteresting point solution for airlinemaintenance departments.
Bytron UK-based Bytron offers the Skybook,
Skybook.aero and Skylight solutions tothe airline market. Survey data wassketchy, but the company, formed in1984, is a niche player in the emergingEFB market.
Skybook modules available include:Techlog; Flight Folder; Voyage; Library;Cabin Crew; and additional applications.For Skybook.aero, modules include:Dispatch Monitor; Flight Briefing; CabinCrew Briefing; Operational Notices;Weather/NOTAM (Notice to Airmen)Watch; Digital Library; Analytics;Dashboard; Global Situational Display(GSD); and Flight Record Vault (FRV).
Component Control Component Control is one of the
oddities of the airline MRO softwareworld. It provides a low-cost and lightcapability, mainly aimed at parts traders,small fixed-base operators (FBOs) andcomponent overhaul facilities. It remainshugely successful in this market segment,having an almost monopolistic hold overthe market. No data were received fromthe company, but it is confirmed that itcontinues to flourish.
Rusada is one of the few vendors to favour theMicrosoft .NET technology platform.
solution space, Conduce is a year old andprovides a range of iPhone apps rangingfrom Fatigue Reporting to TechnicalLogbook. While the company admits thatno customers are live yet, it has gainedfive orders from customers, and is seekingto break into the segment. The solutionsare offered as bespoke software throughto Software as a Service (SaaS). Thecompany is based in the UK, and thesoftware division comprises five staff,with a total of 20 in the parent companyConduce Group. This is one of severalyoung companies that are worth keepingan eye on.
Corena One of only a handful of S1000D
technical publication solution providers,Corena continues to sell into theaerospace, automotive, energy andmaritime industries. No data werereturned for the survey, but from publicdomain information, Corena continues tocompete with the likes of InfoTrust,Enigma, Euroscript, iBaseT and PTC foraerospace contracts.
EmpowerMX Unique among the point solutions
providers, EmpowerMX provides themaintenance half of a completeengineering and supply solution to theairline market. This limits its marketsomewhat to larger airlines that have yetto invest heavily in a fully integratedMRO solution, but just want to updateand modernise their maintenanceoperation. Modules available include:Production Manager; Line Manager;Maintenance Program Manager;Maintenance Intelligence; and Planning
Manager. The product is Java-based andthe company’s customers include largeairlines like US Airways and AmericanAirlines. It currently has seven livecustomers, and offers the solution as anASP option. The company has been inbusiness for 11 years and is based in theUSA.
Enigma There are several Enigma products
available from the 100-man companybased in the USA, Israel and Sweden.
InService MRO, InService Job CardGenerator, InService Revision Manager,InService EPC and Enigma 3C serve thetechnical publications niche market forairlines and MRO shops. The companyhas close ties to SAP and Oracleimplementations, and the product can beoffered as an ASP option to reduce thecost of ownership and speed upimplementation time. About half ofEnigma’s business is in the airlineindustry. Started in 1992, the product hasevolved into Java technology. Theproduct suite also aims to improve thescheduling of resources and links toelectronic tech logs and EFBs, withcustomers like KLM and FedEx.
Euroscript Euroscript International provides
solutions for content lifecyclemanagement that help customers design,build and run content managementoperations of all sizes. With a marketpresence in over 15 countries, Euroscriptserves customers in a variety of businesssectors including the public sector,aerospace, defence and transport,manufacturing, life sciences, financial
services, and energy and environment.Headquartered in Luxembourg, thecompany offers customers like Air Francethe E-FOS suite of documentationmanagement solutions. The company hasadded 18 new clients in the past 12months, and while airlines account foronly 5% of its business at the moment, ithas three live airlines and is expecting toadd more.
The product is Java-based and isdeveloped by a team of over 80 staff outof a total of 1,350. The E-FOS productsare used for browsing the illustrated partscatalogue (IPC) and aircraft maintenancemanual (AMM) and for integration intoan EFB.
iBaseTWith no data it is hard to comment
on the Solumina product set this year.The company is still marketing to theaerospace and defence market for MROand PLM as a competitor to the otherS1000D content providers, but it is hardto determine from public announcementshow successful it continues to be.
IDMR Solutions IDMR Solutions Inc. Aviation
Services group develops customisedairline software designed to addressmaintenance documentation needs. Thecompany started developing customiseddesktop applications in 1998 and nowoffers a range of Maintenance andPlanning, Records, Flight Ops, andGround Ops products. No survey datawere received from the company, but itswebsite claims jetBlue and AtlasAiramong its customers.
Infotrust InfoTrust continues to offer content
management and aviation-specific jobcard authoring and printing, as well aswork-content planning tools to the airlinemarket place, which accounts for about60% of sales. It also targets the non-aviation sectors, which make up about10% of its business, with the balancebeing military markets.
The company started in 1994 andnow has 230 staff based in the USA.InfoTrust’s product set includes: ContentManagement Systems
UK-based Commsoft is at the smaller end of thepure-play segment. It continues to sell intoregional airlines, low-cost carriers and smallerstart-ups.
(ATA/MilSpec/S1000D); Content Viewers(ATA/MilSpec/S1000D); Tech Pubs(Airlines/MRO - ATA/S1000D); Tech Ops(EOs, EAs, Workcards - Airline/MRO -ATA/S1000D); and Flight Ops (Ground& EFB - ATA/Spec2300). The productsare offered as an ASP with threecustomers using this form of productdelivery.
InfoTrust has a long history in theairline market, with customers likeAmerican Airlines using the products forover a decade. The largest customer isUnited Airlines and eight new customershave been added in the past 12 months tobring the company’s total airlinecustomers to 40. This places it as one ofthe leaders in the field of contentmanagement and delivery for commercialaviation.
The InfoTrust product set covers awide range of needs, and includesintegration with manpower planning andfinance systems. EFB functionality isavailable and it links to Boeing AHM andAirbus airN@v.
Jeppesen While no survey response was
available from Jeppesen, recent publicreports of NetJets’ subsidiary ExecutiveJet Management indicates that it hasreceived US Federal AviationAdministration (FAA) approval to use anApple iPad App from Jeppesen as analternative to paper aeronautical maps.This seems to be a precedent-setting movethat will set the stage for this portableEFB solution to be rolled out by businessand commercial aircraft operators alike.
Executive Jet, which is the firstpublicly-disclosed customer of Jeppesen’sso-called Mobile TC (terminal charts)iPad App - which turns the tablet into aClass 1 kneeboard EFB - is now usingthe solution as the sole reference forelectronic charts.
Lufthansa Technik Lufthansa Technik diversified into the
MRO point solution market several yearsago with a bundled software package toenhance and facilitate the execution of itsthird-party maintenance contracts. Thetechnical operations websuite, calledmanage/m®, allows commercial aircraftoperators to manage all core functions oftheir fleet’s technical operations as anentirely web-based system online.
Manage/m® is provided at no extracosts to every customer holding an MROcontract with Lufthansa Technik. Themodules of manage/m® comprise acomplete range of support functions thatenable operators to manage theirregulatory responsibilities. Qualitymonitoring, reliability trends, statusreports, documentation and tracking ofshop events in real-time are just a few ofthe products available as web services.
The company claims to have secured25 new customers in past 12 months,which is an impressive uptake, and mayindicate a trend in the current climatetowards ASP/SaaS type solutions tosoftware requirements.
MINT Software Systems MINT has changed its name, but still
offers a set of specialist tools for trainingand regulatory compliance managementfor aviation MRO organisations. Thisyear it teamed with SkySoft whichprovides SimUnity, a small-scale softwareproduct for airline simulatormaintenance. MINT is a 29-strongGerman company which has offices inColombia and UAE. Its largest client isUnited Airlines, and recently thecompany added Thales and N3 EngineOverhaul Services as the latest customers.It now has a total of 20.
Compliance & Training ManagementMINT TMS is applied to improvemanagement of Flight and Cabin CrewTraining, as well as Technical and AirNavigation Service Provider (ANSP)Training. The Compliance Management& Shift Planning Suite MINT MRO isused by MRO organisations to help themachieve regulatory compliance with theaviation authorities. MINT WebAssistantand MyMint are tools for staffqualification record keeping. These
modules are also used in MINT TMS. Itis mainly MRO organisations thatleverage its functionalities as a stand-alone system in order to manageregulatory compliance. Using MINTWebAssistant lays the foundation forMINT Shifts. The products are basedupon Java and Delphi technologies.
Omega Omega Airline Software from Texas,
USA has grown slightly to 15 employeesand 20 live customers, with three airlinesbeing added in 2010. Now a .NET-basedmaintenance scheduling tool, AMES isthe product sold and implemented forcommercial airlines. Advanced Planningand Scheduling is always a difficult taskand Omega does well to serve a veryspecialist niche requirement.
Airlines joining the AMES communityin the past few years include Southwestand Air Canada. Continental remains along-standing customer with Delta beingthe largest user of AMES.
Omega Airline Software is a privatelyowned company with headquarters inDallas, USA. Airline maintenancesoftware veteran Richard Reno foundedthe company in 1992, after 20 yearsworking in maintenance planning andinformation technology for American andContinental Airlines.
Superstructure Serving the Quality Assurance, Risk
Management and Flight Safety market,Superstructure is a New-Zealand-basedcompany with offices in the UK. It boastsan impressive list of 95 airlines for its.NET Aviation Quality Database (AQD)product, 10 of which were added in 2010alone. Customers range across the worldincluding US, European, Middle East and
One of the companies in the leading pack of full,integrated and deep-level software vendors isSwissAviation Software. The company favoursJAVA technology and has large customers as wellas smaller operators.
Asian airlines, and most recently theRoyal Saudi Air Force.
The company was formed in 1999and is staffed by 20 people. AQDincludes functional modules for: SafetyManagement; Quality Management; RiskManagement; Compliance Management;Remote Workbench; Offline Capture;Automatic Email Alerts; Flight DataMonitoring Integration; and Data ExportUtility (IATA STEADES). Superstructure’scustomers include airlines and third-partyMRO shops that have implemented thetool in order to improve theirmaintenance error management and riskmanagement using the Jim Reason ‘SwissCheese’ model of organisational riskanalysis.
SMART4 Smart4Aviation was formed in 2010
and is already staffed by a workforce of40. The company’s headquarters arebased in Amsterdam, but it also hasoffices in Canada, India and Poland. Theproduct is called SmartSuite and iswritten in Java, aiming at the EFB andline management functions includingfuelling and flightcrew briefing.
Customers already include AirCanada, KLM Dutch Airlines, Finnair,Emirates, flydubai, Thomas Cook and AirCanada Jazz. Martinair was the initialcustomer for the product set. Thecompany is teamed with navAero, a long-standing player in the EFB market, TFMAviation, which is a fuel managementconsultancy, and the Polish IT companyAzimuthIT.
Smart4Aviation is an interesting newentrant to watch out for in the EFB andmaintenance/operations market space.
T&A Systems This German company, which started
in 1994, is an IT service and solutionprovider.
T&A Systems has built upmethodologies and expertise in designingsolutions, especially in the areas of:network design; operations; storage andbackup systems; as well as Identity-,Resource- and Information-Management.For aviation it offers Class 1 and Class 2EFBs and supporting software modulesfor line maintenance staff. The product,Logipad, is developed in .NET and is liveat five airlines.
The launch customer was LTU, whichis still a user. The largest customer isEtihad. The 50-strong company has aninteresting partnership with Ultramainand Jeppesen.
ERP solutions These products offer a complete end-
to-end enterprise-wide software package,hence the name enterprise resourceplanning (ERP) solutions. As withprevious surveys, this market segmentyielded very low response rates. Most of
the data below are public domaininformation.
IFS IFS seems to have gone quiet in the
aviation MRO space, both commercialairline and aerospace and defence. It ishard to tell from their website which newcustomers were added in 2010, or the sizeof the installed customer base. It seemsAlitalia Maintenance Systems was the lastcustomer to be signed, as recently as thisyear, with other customers quoted asBristow Helicopters, Aero-Dienst GmbH,K&L Microwave, Hawker Pacific, EnsignBickford, Todd Pacific Shipyards andLufthansa Technik Qantas.
Previously known for deeper levelfunctionality for third-party MROs andcomponent overhaul shops, perhaps thereis a continued trend away from expensiveERP back towards pure-play softwareand point solutions. Indeed aerospace &defence (A&D) MRO represents only asmall fraction of IFS’s total business inother industry verticals.
2MoRO (SAP) Started in 2004, this 24-man French
implementation and development teamapproaches the aviation MRO marketwith Aero One, Aero-Webb and Bfly as arange of packaged solutions. Thecompany claims to have nine livecustomers, including Safran (Turbomeca)which has been a user for four years.Indeed, Safran also represents 2MoRO’slargest customer, managing an impressive20,000 engines on the system.
2MoRO Solutions also works withother implementation partners, currentlyCapGemini, Viseo and Grupo Sypsa.
The solutions include job cardmanagement and a comprehensivemanpower planning capability. Of courseSAP R/3 has a powerful financefunctional footprint, which is one of thestrengths of a full ERP solution. The2MoRO SAP solution currently lacks anEFB or integration with Boeing AHM orAirbus airN@v.
HCL-Axon (SAP) AXON and HCL came together in
recent years to form a tailor-madeaviation version of SAP R/3 called iMRO.It utilises the core of SAP R/3 and the
Point solutions, such as Smart4, are a growingsegment for airline maintenance operators toconsider adding to their existing MRO solutions.This includes a growing number of iPhoneapplications.
power of the SAP NetWeaver technologyto produce a user-friendly, powerfulaviation solution. The company claims tohave 75 users among the whole SAPaviation community, with six newcustomers for iMRO in the past 12months.
AXON is a UK-based company thathas partnered with HCL from India, andhas also opened a joint office in the USand Malaysia. The company seems tohave a flexible approach to partnering forimplementations, quoting 2MoRO (seeelsewhere in this article) as a companythat it works with. In addition, HCL-Axon partners with Lufthansa Systemsand SAP itself. As Systems Integrators,HCL-Axon also works closely with PriceWaterhouse Coopers.
The iMRO solution is on offer as anASP option, with one customer using it inthis mode. It offers the full range of SAPfunctionality, together with integration toa third-party job card system, integrationwith Boeing AHM and Airbus [email protected] is quoted as its largestcustomer.
Oracle Little is known about the Oracle
cMRO solution, since the company hasnot provided any data for the survey.Nevertheless, it is believed to beimplemented in Korean Airlines,American Eagle, Siberian Airlines,OGMA, Mexicana Airlines, MRSLogistica Brazil and the US Air Force.
Oracle cMRO integrates servicesupply chain planning, scheduling, andfleet configuration managementcapabilities in a single, real-timeinformation system. The company’swebsite sells the solution as a part of theOracle E-Business Suite, an integrated setof applications that automates businessprocesses, and delivers reliableinformation in one place. It goes on to
say that cMRO touches 22 applicationsin the Oracle E-Business Suite to providean air transportation maintenance andA&D MRO service solution. It is notclear whether this means that the solutionis a collection of other products in a suite,or a collection of modules within a singleframework.
Nevertheless, the company remains apowerhouse in the ERP world, and istherefore a strong contender for acombined ERP and MRO system if alarge organisation were seeking this typeand scope of solution.
SAPUnlike Oracle, SAP’s strategy for the
aviation MRO domain seems to havebeen to leave it to partners like HCL-Axon over the past two or three years.Again no direct data were returned aspart of the survey, so publicly availableinformation has been used for thissummary.
It appears that the latest entrant intothe ‘packaged SAP’ solution is TataConsultancy Services (TCS) from India. Apress release in late 2010 announced thatTCS had joined forces with BritishAirways to launch ‘SWIFT MRO’. Thisbrought to the market a solution, basedon the latest SAP platform, whichleverages British Airways’ best practicesthrough a simplified Graphical UserInterface (GUI).
TCS and British Airways claim to bebringing this product to the MROindustry so that other organisations canbenefit from an end-to-end solution,which can be scaled to support both thecurrent and future needs of the industry.The most interesting aspect of the pressrelease was the claim that the SWIFTMRO pre-configured solution providessignificant cost savings in terms ofimplementation when compared tocompeting solutions, because of the use
of TCS’s proprietary solutionaccelerators.
Undoubtedly SAP has a long future insome form within the aviation MROmarket space, but the battle between thepure-play market leaders and the ERPsseems to be led firmly by the pure-playdomain.
Tier-two solutions A range of very small scale solutions
continues to be available, but most ofthese are not designed for any companylarger than an operator of light aircraft orsmall helicopters. The list includesAirline-Software Inc (SPECTRUM),Amelia, Aviation InterTec Services, AV-Base Systems, Continuum AppliedTechnologies (Corridor), Interglobe(USA), TRACER Corp, and QAVAviation Systems.
Summary The market situation for MRO
software has evolved rapidly over thepast two years. The core pure-playmarket has seen some movement, withclear front runners beginning to emergein TRAX and Swiss AviationSoftware.Other software companies, like Miro andIFS and SAP, for example, seem to beconcentrating more on militarycustomers.
Most vendors have completed thelatest round in technology refreshes, butit is almost certain that the nextdevelopment from Java/.NET webtechnology is just around the corner, andvendors will need to have well fundedR&D departments if they are to continueas realistic players.
Another fascinating trend is thegrowth in point solutions around theedges. Some like Smart4 offer iPhoneapplications. This lower cost ofdevelopment technology may spawn evenmore diversity as niche solutions areprovided to niche aviation MRO andoperations challenges.
Any omissions or inaccuracies will berectified in the next survey. Please contactus to update our database in themeantime.
