Introduction 1. ifids.com ASP Model 1 ifids.com Redundant Communication Routing Model 1 ifids.com System Topology 2. Flight Data Collection 3

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2 Table of Contents Introduction 1 ifids.com ASP Model 1 ifids.com Redundant Communication Routing Model 1 ifids.com System Topology 2 Flight Data Collection 3 EDI Data Collection and the ifids.com FTP Send Utility 3 EDI Flight Updates 3 EDI Schedule Updates 3 Manual Data Collection 4 Airline Applications 4 Airline Schedule Input 4 Airline Data Updates 5 Airport Applications 6 Airport Data Updates 6 Gate Updates 6 Baggage Carousel Updates 6 Flight Data Dissemination 7 ifids.com Custom Browser 7 Display Profiles Controlling Visual Displays 7 Additional Flight Dissemination Products 8 ifids.com On-line 8 ifids.com Image Server and Messaging 8 User Security Settings 9 Schedule Listing Advance 9 Display Listing Advance 9 Display Listing Lag 9 ifids.com Host Site Technical Architecture 10 WinNT Web Servers 11 IIS Internet Information Server 11 MTS Microsoft Transaction Server 11 Crystal Reports 8 11 Data Base Servers 11 (807) i

3 Introduction ifids.com ASP Model ASP stands for Application Service Provider, which entails the delivery of enterprise applications over a network. This network can consist of a private frame relay connection, or leverage the public Internet as a backbone with the help of encryption to make it a virtual private network (VPN). The applications themselves are hosted in a professionally managed data center environment that is typically remote from the customer site. The baseline elements of an ASP offering include: State-of-the-art data center operations. Dedicated server and data storage environment for each customer. Disaster recovery management. Full management and upgrade/patching of the hosted applications. Phone-based customer support for functional end-users and technical super users. While an ASP offering is attractive enough, there are three primary drivers behind customer adoption: Resources and Focus: Given the scarcity of world-class IT talent in today s market, most firms struggle to hire, train and retain the professionals required to operate and maintain a scaleable business infrastructure. By leveraging an ASP relationship, a CIO gets an IT force multiplier that can step in and deliver while in-house staff can be deployed against more strategic initiatives that impact the bottom line and increase market competitiveness. Speed: Most ASP offerings are closely coupled with a rapid implementation that delivers unprecedented time to benefit and payback period. The strategy is to go live with baseline capability and use the ASP to enhance functionality on an ongoing basis thereafter. Lower Cost: ASPs are based on a scale deliver model that leverages a data center and IT staff across a number of hosted customers. The scale advantage typically yields a 30% to 50% total cost reduction in business systems and personnel cost over the course of a three-year service agreement. Internet-based services provided by ASPs are progressively blurring the line between services and software. ASPs serve as the catalyst for this IT industry shift by delivering an Internet service that is flexible and responsive enough to respond to the accelerating changes in today s marketplace. The result is that in tomorrow s high-velocity Internet world ASPs will act as the agents responsible for assembling and operating the high tech components required to power future business initiatives. ifids.com Redundant Communication Routing Model ifids.com uses a number of proprietary tools to ensure incoming and outgoing data communications over the Internet are reliable and secure. These proprietary tools are designed to take advantage of a redundant communications routing model designed and implemented at the ifids.com Host Site. Most people are familiar with Domain Names and Internet Protocol Addresses used for the purpose of locating specific sites (web/http or FTP servers) on the Internet. A typical Domain Name is which is in turn associated with an Internet Protocol Address (IP Address). The Domain Name acts as a mask for the IP Address such that when an Internet user types a Domain Name into their browser the browser will download default documents (HTML Pages, etc.) from the associated IP Address. The physical routing that a request for information takes over the Internet to get data from the specified IP Address is always specific in the sense that an IP address is tied to a physical piece of routing hardware somewhere on the Internet. Because the routing is always specific we can view the route as being the single point of failure in the overall communication process. In fact, most home and business users will agree that the connection to their ISP is their largest problem when working on the Internet. This is because the ISP is the single point of failure between the home or business user and all other Internet locations. (807)

4 As an ASP ifids.com is very familiar with the problems associated with ISP s and single-source routing. To address this problem ifids.com has implemented two different ISP connections from the ifids.com host site to the Internet, each to physically different ISP s, which means that data requests can get to, and leave from ifids.com via more than one route. All ifids.com proprietary software, including the ifids.com Custom Browser (responsible for displaying data on airport FIDS monitors) and the ifids.com FTP Send Utility (responsible for sending Electronic Data Interchange flight data) are designed to continuously monitor communications health and re-route requests as necessary. ifids.com System Topology (807)

5 Flight Data Collection EDI Data Collection and the ifids.com FTP Send Utility ifids.com is a flexible ASP capable of accepting EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) real-time flight data and flight schedule data directly from Air Carriers using any communication medium. That being said, ifids.com is an Internet-based ASP and therefore prefers to receive flight data using industry standard FTP (File Transfer Protocol). FTP is a widely used and understood protocol, and it supports integrity checking and error reporting during file transfer, ensuring complete file transfer. Furthermore, using FTP on the Internet provides a very low cost data transfer alternative to traditional A to B hard-wire solutions. To help make FTP data transfer on the Internet reliable and easy for our customers ifids.com has developed the ifids.com FTP Send Utility. The ifids.com FTP Send Utility is designed to operate at the client site and is responsible for sending data to ifids.com. Integrated into the ifids.com FTP Send Utility is knowledge of the Redundant Communication Routing Model which allows it to monitor communications heath and re-route communications as necessary. EDI Flight Updates Real-time flight updates can be sent to ifids.com using EDI. The format of this data is for the most part determined by the sender as ifids.com will attempt to accommodate any new data formats it encounters. However, ifids.com does provide a file format specification that when used ensures proper management of Code-Share and Operated By data. For large airlines the quantity of data being sent to ifids.com can be substantial. ifids.com does not recommend sending one data file for each flight transaction, rather a 2 dimensional approach is recommended using both time and quantity as factors determining when a file should be sent: Time: A send period of 30 seconds would determine the maximum duration between file transmissions; A data file would be sent every 30 seconds regardless if it contained new data or not. Quantity: A quantity limit would specify that a data file be sent whenever this quantity limit was reached. Depending on the number of data transactions data files would be sent every 30 seconds or faster. EDI Schedule Updates Periodic schedule updates can be sent to ifids.com using EDI. ifids.com reads flight schedules in advance of flight events and lists those upcoming flight events in the live data tables. The lead-time is user-definable with 30 hours in advance of the flight event being typical. From the point that a flight is listed in the live data table it can be updated in real-time. There is a second lead-time that determines when flights will be displayed on public FIDS monitors, and it too is user definable. From the point that a flight is listed in the live data tables all further updates are managed using manual input through the ifids.com user-interfaces or by EDI Flight Updates. Alterations to live data do not affect underlying flight schedules. Air carriers that use EDI Flight Updates are not required to send flight schedule data to ifids.com, rather all flight events are listed as a result of the EDI Flight Updates and there is no need for EDI Schedule Updates. However, depending on the file format used for EDI Flight Updates there may be an advantage (807)

6 to listing flight schedules with ifids.com even if flight updates are managed using EDI, particularly in respect to Code-Share and Operated By data. Manual Data Collection As well as supporting EDI data transfer ifids.com provides a whole host of Internet-based userinterfaces to facilitate manual Airline Schedule Input, Airline Data Updates and Airport Data Updates. Airline Applications The ifids.com Internet-based user-interfaces for airlines offer a high level of FID capability to intermittent users at an affordable cost. For example, manual input user-interfaces offer an affordable solution for seasonal charters and small carriers, who for reasons of economy of scale would not want to establish EDI links. Airline Schedule Input Airline schedules can be defined in ifids.com using very comprehensive Internet-based user-interfaces. Schedules can be defined with effectivity dates in the future, allowing schedules to be listed in advance of their effective dates. Schedule data in ifids.com is maintained to the leg, or segment level. This means that a user can define an entire flight number record, it s days of operation, and all associated segments. (807)

7 Per each segment record code-share carriers can be listed. An advanced feature called Operated By allows parent or host companies to list flight segments and indicate the operator. This is particularly applicable in cases where regional carriers operate one or many segments of a flight number owned by a parent carrier. If a regional carrier has been listed as an operator of a flight leg that regional carrier can log into ifids.com and can modify the real-time status of that flight leg. The regional carrier does not have access to modify the flight schedule. Airline Data Updates ifids.com provides Internet-based user-interfaces to facilitate real-time flight updates. Air carriers can log into ifids.com and update any flight event listed in the live table. Security features will determine the access privileges of an individual user. The most important aspect of the ifids.com user-interfaces is that they are Internet-based. This means that anyone with a PC, Internet access and an appropriate log-on can potentially update real-time flight data from wherever they are. Cost and operational issues are improved because users do not have to be physically located at the airport. (807)

8 Airport Applications Airport Data Updates Airport data update facilities use the same user-interfaces as Airline Data Updates. The difference between the two types is determined during user log-on. If the user logging-on is an airport user then that user may be given rights to update flight/gate/baggage data for all flights associated with that airport, regardless of air carrier. If the user logging-on is an air carrier user then that user may be given rights to update all flights associated with that air carrier, regardless of airport. Gate Updates Gate data can be updated using the Airline/Airport Data Update user-interfaces. If necessary, individual users can be restricted through security such that only gate data can be modified. Special gate update screens have been designed for touch screen monitors. These touch screens can be used either as shared access, airport authority or air carrier specific input devices. Baggage Carousel Updates Baggage carousel data can be updated using the Airline/Airport Data Update user-interfaces as well. If necessary, individual users can be restricted through security such that only baggage data can be modified. Special baggage carousel update screens have been designed for use on touch screen monitors. These touch screens can be located wherever necessary, which includes the loading station for each baggage carousel for operation by the baggage handlers. (807)

9 Flight Data Dissemination ifids.com Custom Browser The ifids.com Custom Browser is designed to ensure uninterrupted FID service at your airport. The ifids.com Custom Browser is a software application installed at your airport (or any client site) that is responsible for receiving data from the ifids.com host site and redisplaying that information on display monitors. The ifids.com Custom Browser continuously looks for and solves communication problems before they affect your display pages by taking advantage of the Redundant Communication Routing Model. The ifids.com Custom Browser references Display Profiles by name to retrieve FIDS, GIDS and BIDS data in the proper display format. Display Profiles Controlling Visual Displays Display Profiles are screen definitions maintained through the user friendly ifids.com Internet-based user-interfaces. Through these interfaces users have maximum control over FIDS, GIDS and BIDS visual display layout. (807)

10 The following table outlines some of the ways users can dynamically influence visual display output. FIDS BIDS GIDS GIDS Multimedia Arrival and Departure Yes Arrival Only Yes Yes Refresh Rate Yes Yes Yes Yes Paging Rate Yes Yes Yes Yes Data Rows Per Page Yes Yes Yes Yes Font Sizes Yes Yes Yes Yes Text Color Yes Yes Yes Yes Background Color Yes Yes Yes Yes Row Shading Yes Yes Yes Yes Row Shading Color Yes Yes Yes Yes Status Colors Yes Yes Yes Yes Additional Flight Dissemination Products ifids.com On-line The ifids.com On-line service puts real-time flight information on your web site. This service is part of the basic ifids.com FIDS package, but is also available as an add-on to existing third-party FIDS solutions. The FIDS Display Profile management tools mentioned above are used to refine and control the information displayed on your web site. ifids.com Image Server and Messaging Through our newly developed Image Server application ifids.com makes possible Internet-based, clientdirected, multi-media advertising of various content type (static or animated images or text messaging) on virtually any video output device. Perhaps most important, the ifids.com Image Server can manage Visual Paging activities either on dedicated display hardware or in dedicated sections of the same display hardware (CRT, Plasma, etc.) used for FIDS, BIDS and GIDS. The image below demonstrates three different Display Profiles being displayed on a single 50-inch plasma display. The left frame displays page 1 through n of arrival data, the right frame displays page 1 through n of departure data, and the bottom frame displays one banner advertisement in a profile containing many advertisements. (807)

11 Administrative Features User Security Settings ifids.com controls log-in user names and passwords using a typical user-group system where one user can belong to one-or-many groups, and the user s access privileges are a combination of the privileges of all groups that the user belongs to. ifids.com provides every participating client company with an Administrator user account with full access privileges. This account can in-turn be used to create subsequent user groups and user accounts. Schedule Listing Advance Air carriers who have listed schedule data with ifids.com can specify how far in advance of a scheduled flight event that flight should appear in the live table. It is from the point that the flight appears in the live table that users can begin working with the flight in real-time. A typical Schedule Listing Advance leadtime is 30 hours. Air Carriers who send flight data via EDI will have those flights listed in the live table immediately upon receipt. The Schedule Listing Advance does not cause flights to be displayed on public FIDS monitors. The Display Listing Advance (below) is responsible for that function. Display Listing Advance Air carriers who have either listed their schedules with ifids.com or who are sending flight information via EDI must specify a Display Listing Advance. The Display Listing Advance will determine how far in advance of a flight event the flight event should appear on the public FIDS monitors. The value of this setting can to some degree be determined by the volume of flights at the client airport. A typical lead-time is 6 hours. Display Listing Lag The Display Listing Lag determines how long a flight event should remain on the public FIDS monitors after it has occurred. These lag times are specific to a flight status (i.e. Arrived, Departed, Cancelled, etc.), and are at this time specified system wide. (807)

12 ifids.com Host Site Technical Architecture The ifids.com Host Site network infrastructure is designed to be redundant and avoid a single point of failure scenario up to the server hardware. To this end there are two independent routers, each connecting to an independent 100-Base Ethernet hub. These hubs are in-turn connected to one-or-many web servers (see below) on separate NICs (Network Interface Cards). In future, and based on processing requirement, dynamic web server load balancing can be implemented at the routers. (807)

13 WinNT Web Servers The ifids.com WinNT Servers provide an avenue for future expansion and provide all of the tools necessary for providing dynamic web content using Active Server Pages. All servers feature redundant hard disks, implemented either as RAID 1 or 5, redundant power supplies, and backup battery power supplies. Options are available for Server Clustering as performance clusters and/or as fail-over clusters. IIS Internet Information Server IIS is the Microsoft web server software offering, and is what enables the use of Active Server Pages to produce dynamic web and FIDS content. MTS Microsoft Transaction Server MTS is the Microsoft middleware offering. MTS is used to manage class, or procedure, implementation and to transactionalize data updates. All ifids.com data access code is written either in Microsoft Visual Basic or Microsoft Visual C++, complied in the form of DLLs (Dynamic Link Libraries). These DLLs are in-turn controlled by MTS in the sense that every time there is a call to a DLL MTS will instance the class or object being called in a new process. This allows for tremendous scalability. As mentioned, all data access code is managed by MTS. MTS includes transaction processing features that allow ifids.com to wrap all data access procedures inside a transaction. This means that all data procedures are protected, and that if something fails during a data update the data will be automatically restored to it s previous state. This ensures there will never be a partial update or corrupt data. Crystal Reports 8 ifids.com uses Crystal Reports 8 for all reporting features. Crystal Reports 8 is used mainly because of it s advanced web reporting features and it s open object architecture. Data Base Servers All data access code uses ODBC as a data access layer. This provides ifids.com with a virtually transparent data access method, which in-turn allows ifids.com to prototype on Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and scale to Oracle as required. Data base access generated by ifids.com clients show that very little data mining is carried out, or will ever be carried out. This being the case the data base server processing requirements are predictable in that they are tied to data hits rather than to relatively unpredictable data mining scenarios. Regardless, it is anticipated that in the future ifids.com will have to develop data base server performance clusters. The ifids.com Data Base Servers feature redundant hard disks, implemented either as RAID 1 or 5, redundant power supplies, and backup battery power supplies. (807)