Reporting progress in the development of a truly global information society

Back in 2005, the UN'sWorld Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) produced fine documents and promises of action to come. So what progress has been made in some of the most significant areas of concern for the evolution and availability of information and communication technologies (ICT)?

Governments and stakeholders have addressed significant issues, including:

• building infrastructure to enhance connectivity

• fostering access to information services

RFID workshop – deployment and implementation

From e-ticketing to the replacement of bar-coded baggage tags with the more robust RFID tags, ID technology is fast becoming a crucial topic for discussion.

As an emerging technology there are still many barriers to community-wide adoption, one of them being the risk associated with the deployment of RFID infrastructure and the development of applications. This is a risk that can be substantially reduced through the introduction of a shared infrastructure and service.

SITA to release 3-letter airport codes and reserved names

At the last .aero council (DAC) meeting on June 6th, it was recommended that SITA release 3-letter airport codes (location identifiers) and the currently reserved special industry and other reserved domain names for registration by eligible members of the aviation community on a first-come-first-served basis.

This is a last chance for airports to secure their 3-letter codes, which have been reserved exclusively for airport use since 2002.

Skysoft-ATM Launches open source initiative through www.albatross.aero website

Skysoft-ATM, a major solution provider to the airport traffic management (ATM) industry, recently announced the launch of the Albatross open source community project, based at www.albatross.aero.

The company also announced a commitment to contribute leading technologies to the project. The first of these is the Albatross Display - an advanced, flexible air traffic control radar display solution made available to the Albatross community under a GPL licence.

Sporting magic and .aero

One of the earliest supporters of the project to provide the air transport community with its own Internet top level domain was the FAI - the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale - otherwise known as The World Air Sports Federation

Today a growing number of Federation members are enjoying the three core benefits of using the .aero suffix. First, it immediately identifies an aviation industry focus and increases visibility, particularly when set against the "noise" generated by 30 million .com and .org domains.

Spreading the message

At the annual convention of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (see review on page five) SITA and its partners used the opportunity to highlight the availability of three-letter airport codes in the .aero domain.

Representatives from Afilias, registry operator of the .aero domain, and Namesbeyond, a .aero authorized registrar, generated the interest of a wide variety of members of the air transport industry - from private pilots to aerospace supply companies.

Spreading the message

NamesBeyond – the US-based ICANN–accredited .aero registrar – has been successfully using the media to spread the message that airlines only have until 30 November this year to register their pre-reserved IATA-location identifiers within the .aero domain.

After 1 December, those airport codes will be available for registration to any qualifying organization or individual, on a first-come-first-served basis and through accredited registrars.

Spreading the word across North America...

Through June and July, the .aero domain is featuring on the home page of PartsBase.com, the world's largest on-line aviation market place. With a bias towards the massive North American market, the company nevertheless serves 23,000 end-users, representing some 4,500 member companies worldwide.

The .aero domain just keeps on growing

The .aero domain continues to offer a unique service to the industry, providing an exclusive top level domain as a development platform for innovative Internet-based services that use the well-established aviation naming and coding conventions.

Through 2006, there was a significant increase in registrants - 2,175 at 31 December 31, compared with around 1,800 a year earlier. This was undoubtedly helped by the success of the agreement with Afilias to provide registry services, signed at the very end of 2005 and implemented through 2006.

The exhibition domain

When you're running a trade exhibition, you need to get the message across to potential exhibitors and visitors quickly, efficiently and clearly. Air transport industry exhibitions command an increasingly global audience - so precision in marketing is vital.

Relevance is also critical, so 'hats off' to a growing number of exhibitors in the business aviation sector who are using the .aero domain to emphasize their community credentials. Three examples of this trend recently came to our attention.