Avionics News March 2022 - 66

MEET THE NOMINEES
Continued from page 64
with others, and he established SD Communications and
began offering airborne internet to customers in 2003.
Fast-forward to today, SD now has 16 locations
throughout the world. SD's proprietary technologies span
business aviation, maritime, defense and telecommunications
sectors with the singular goal of leading connectivity
industry standards.
Harnessing a powerful combination of tools, SD delivers
consistent, reliable connectivity across the globe. Proprietary
software, hardware, terrestrial infrastructure, cybersecurity
solutions and award-winning customer services create
tailored data services for each individual customer mission to
enhance the passenger experience, improve efficiencies and
give back precious time.
VIAVI Solutions
VIAVI Solutions is a global provider of microelectronic
and test and measurement systems, instruments, and
solutions for the commercial broadband communications,
aerospace, and defense markets. VIAVI supports customer
research and development, product validation, and
manufacturing in aerospace, satellite communications,
wireless, radar, RF, and microwave industries through its
components, equipment, software, systems, and services.
While VIAVI Solutions is a relative newcomer to the
avionics test market, its products are firmly rooted in a
history of successful avionics test systems. This pedigree
includes well-known names such as IFR, JcAIR, Goodrich,
Aeroflex, and Cobham, where the company established many
of the technologies used today.
Founded in 1968 in Wichita, Kansas, IFR created
specialized aircraft instruments and test equipment. While
under the leadership of one of IFR's founders, Fred Hunt,
the company became involved with the AEA. In 1971,
the company refocused and concentrated on avionics test
equipment, and in 1975, a radio communications test set was
developed, which set into motion a significant push into the
wireless test equipment market.
During this time, another company, JcAIR Test Systems, was
making its name as a leading provider of RF products and test
equipment for the aircraft data bus and fuel gauging systems
and automatic test equipment for general purpose applications.
Between 2002 and 2005, Aeroflex, a company with 65
years of experience with communication analyzers, test sets,
radio receivers, amplifiers, and signal generators, purchased
the IFR and JcAIR lines. The purchase gave Aeroflex
leading products and access to both commercial and military
avionics test markets.
In 2014, Aeroflex was acquired by the U.K.-based
aerospace company Cobham, which later sold off the Avionics
and Radio Test division to VIAVI Solutions in 2018.
VIAVI Solutions continues to build on an impressive
portfolio of instruments and flexible test and measurement
solutions with the release of the AVX-10K. Wide-ranging
support facilities also ensure that customers have reliable,
high-integrity solutions to their testing requirements for
many historical and modern brand names.
WBParts Express
Founded in 2006 by Jerome Pepin, WBParts has become an
industry leader in the aviation industry. Headquartered in Palm
Bay, Florida, WBParts serves as a parts distributor for major
aerospace and defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin,
Raytheon and Boeing. In 2016, WBParts saw an opportunity
to expand in the general aviation community by introducing
lean six manufacturing practices to light-sport aircraft OEMs,
which led to the creation of WBParts Express. WBParts
created the Express division to design timesaving hardware
kits that decrease build time for LSA builders.
WBParts Express became an AEA member in 2017 and
brought those same lean six practices to avionics shops. In
2018, WBParts Express released the Aircraft Maintenance
& Inventory software system. AMI is a free work order
management solution that allows AEA members to fully
automate their shop with a paperless, cloud-based operations/
management system. AMI users are saving tens of thousands
of dollars annually and are utilizing a platform that provides
the visibility and shop controls necessary to grow their business
- quite literally, allowing " small shops to do big things. " With
feedback from AEA members, AMI has become one of the
most-exciting software systems in the aviation maintenance
community. Currently, several AEA members are providing
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Avionics News March 2022

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