NATS Choose COFFEE as their National OLDI Gateway

Swanwick/Whitley/UK, August 2010 NATS, UKs  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.

The new gateway is based on COMSOFTs market leading multipurpose gateway AIDA-NG and thus it benefits from the renowned maturity of the congeneric product.

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.