COMSOFT GmbH - Solution provider and consultant to the Air Traffic Management sector

In July NATS UK signed a firm order with COMSOFT for the delivery of FMTP/FDE gateways.

NATS, UK’s leading air traffic service provider, will receive COMSOFT OLDI FMTP/FDE Enhanced Gateway (COFFEE) for two sites providing connectivity via FMTP and FDE between aeronautical centres in the UK and Europe. According to European Commission Regulation 633/2007, all Flight Data Processing systems in Europe are to be capable to exchange their OLDI messages via FMTP and TCP/IP by April 2011. Many current implementations, however, still operate on the previous FDE-ICD specification, utilising the X.25 protocol, which is non-compatible with the FMTP specifications.

COFFEE bridges the gap between FMTP TCP/IP-based and FDE-ICD X.25-based OLDI message exchange. The gateway converts between these disparate message formats, thus enabling transparent end-to-end communication between any OLDI system in Europe.

NATS will have two systems: an operational system at Swanwick and a test/contingency system at Whitley which represent the interface between these sites and the Pan-European Network Service (PENS). While the challenging mission of the project lies within a timely delivery, the COFFEE product promises auspicious results in terms of functional capability and stability as proven in previous projects. The new gateway is based on COMSOFT’s market leading multipurpose gateway AIDA-NG and thus it benefits from the renowned maturity of the congeneric product.