Read and identify the topic of the text.

ON-BOARD AND ON-LINE

1. Businessmen will no longer have the luxury of escaping from their office by flying off on a trip. The airlines are going to bring their office to them in seat 3A, and those e-mails are going to have to be answered, like it or not. Such is the coming revolution in onboard flying. A recent poll of 3,000 frequent travellers reported that 60 % use a laptop in flight. The 100 million e-mail messages per day today will grow to five billion by 2005, according to Forrester Research, and the number of people online today will triple. The bottom line is that people want e-mail and Internet in flight, and the airlines that provide it seem set to retain their business.

2. Past efforts at online onboard services have involved problems like laptop lockup, slow connections, limited coverage, high access charges, poor message security, unfamiliar user interfaces and too few access channels.

3. New technologies are becoming available, including higher bandwidth and better connection protocols. Sending e-mails from aircraft cabins will become commonplace. Meanwhile, suppliers are jostling for position in what they perceive as a huge potential market.

4. One might make a guess that the market will be bigger than current satcom services, which suffer from the «night» syndrome – there are limited times when one can call business partners, usually during daylight hours, while e-mails and Internet are not time sensitive. Currently satcom services account for around $ 10 million a year in revenues. Bets are that onboard e-mail and Internet services will far exceed that figure.

5. No single supplier can provide the complete solution by themselves. A group of companies will be needed to provide a complete and seamless solution. Over the past six months, a number of joint ventures have been gelling among satellite manufacturers and operators, airborne radio/avionics companies, broadcasters and programmers, and airlines.

6. There are two main thrusts in this activity: relaying broadcast entertainment material to aircraft in flight; and providing a route «to the seat» for Internet traffic. They do not of course have to be delivered and shown in real time. For Internet traffic, the assumption has to be that every passenger seat will eventually be capable of generating an individual data stream. But e-mails and Web pages can always be batched and distributed later by the onboard server. Traffic will be distributed to seats via the existing in-flight entertainment (IFE) system wiring, by pulsed infra-red (Bluetooth technology) or even by (very) local loop wireless. Both constitute services that are readily available on the ground. The only new thing is their provision for aircraft.

7. The two services can exist alone, and in some cases already do so. «Connexions by Boeing» Internet service is already available to business aircraft, at least in US airspace, said Boeing at the Famborough Air Show at end-July.

Task 1. Topics for discussing.

1. Is flying off on a trip a grief for businessman?

2. Why to worry about businessmen contacts with their offices while they have their laptops with them?

3. Is there any reason for suppliers to jostle for position in providing airlines with new connection?

4. How could you explain the phenomenon of «night» syndrome?

5. Can any single supplier provide the solution of the problem? Are there any examples when such work was accomplished a single supplier?

Task 2. Translate the blocks 6–7 in writing.

Task 3. Retell the text in your own words.

List of Abbreviations

AI – Artificial Intelligence – искусственный интеллект.

ASDL – Automatic Software Distribution Line – линия автоматического распределения информации.

B. S. (B. Sc.) – Bachelor of Science – бакалавр.

BBS–Bulletin Broad System – электронная доска объявлений.

ARPA – Advanced Research Project Agency – агентство по управлению передовыми исследованиями.

CD – Compact-Disk – компакт-диск.

CD-ROM – Compact-Disk Read-Only Memory – ПЗУ на компакт-диске.

CERN – Conseil Europeen pour la Recherch Nucleaire (fr.) European Council for Nuclear Research – Европейский Совет по ядерным исследованиям.

CTI – Computer Telephony Integration – компьютерная телефония.

DOS – Disk Operating System – дисковая операционная система.

DSS – Decision Support System – сложная система поддержки принятия решений.

ENIAC – Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator – электронный числовой интегратор и калькулятор.

GPS – General Problem Solver – система принятия решения.

GUI – Graphical User Interface – графический интерфейс пользователя.

HML – Hypertext Markup Language – язык разметки текстовых документов.

IAB – Internet Architecture Board – Совет по архитектуре Интернета.

IMP – Interface Messages Processor – сопрягающий процессор сообщений.

IPTO – Information Processing Techniques Offices – посты обработки информации.

IS – Information System – информационная система.

LAN – Local Area Network – локальная вычислительная сеть.

MIDI – Musical Instruments Digital Interface – цифровой интерфейс музыкальных инструментов.

MIS – Management Information System – информационно-управляющая система.

MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Технологический Институт в шт. Массачусетс.

M. S. (M. Sc.) – Master of Science – магистр.

NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Agency – Национальное агентство по аэронавтике и космосу.

NIC – National Internet Corporation – Государственная Интернет-корпорация.

NSF – National Science Foundation – Государственный фонд науки.

Ph. D. – Doctor of Philosophy – доктор философских наук.

RCA – Radio Corporation of America – Американская Радио корпорация.

TCP/IP – Transmission Control Protocol/Networking Protocol – протокол с контролем передач.

UNIX – Operational system – операционная система.

VCR – Video Cassette Recorder – видеомагнитофон.

WAN – Wide Area Network – глобальная вычислительная сеть.