7. Sony TransCom

7. Sony TransCom

Sony acquired TransCom, a division of Sand Strand and became a subsidiary of Sony USA. Their products and services are for In-flight entertainment and customers as ANA, United Airlines, British Airways, Singapore Airlines etc.

Business model is to purchase consumer spec VTRs and audio players from Sony and to modify them to meet FAA regulations.

Before Sony acquired, it was a customer of Sony so the liability of the modified system is TransCom, not Sony. However, after Sony acquired, it became Sony’s responsibility so Sony USA management were very concerned about this and asked Sony TransCom management to insure all of systems sold to customers.

At the same time, Sony TransCom had a serious competitors from Panasonic, Hughes for in-seat video system which require small size LCD display on the back of passengers seat.

Sony does not have this and massive engineering resources are required as well as new technology for distribution of video and audio signals to reduce the weight of wirings.

We have been discussing with HQ and found that Sony has a technology to distribute digitized signals with a limited wiring.

We started to discuss Sony technology with Boeing and eventually we have agreed to supply this technology ( audio distribution) for their 777 aircraft.

The final discussion of legal matters and fine tunings took place in their HQ in Seattle with top management from Sony, Boeing as well.

This was change of business model from airline customers to aircraft manufacturers which