Recently in Aviation Category

Long before I joined Snowflake, training courses were being carried out here, on "basic" GML and "hands on " GML . They have always been successful and widely talked about around the world. Up till now Eddie Curtis was the only person we could spare (and he wrote the courses) to carry out the training, with increasing demand from new markets we found the need to carry out more training. To provide these new courses we needed more trainers and we have great people in our Pre and Post sales team with fantastic  industry knowledge so who better than these guys to deliver industry focused training. Eddie embarked on a "train the trainer" course for the guys with the result that we have 2 more trainers in Ballal Jogleker and Richard Rombouts, raring to go.

Then two things happed. A customer wanted to know the value of training  so they could sell that to the boss to get the permission to come on the course. That got me thinking, well actually that got Sheila Drake ourTraining Manager thinking, because she runs all the courses, what is the value of training?

We did our investigation and these are our thoughts:

We are in the midst of a global recession and training is one of the first budget lines to be cut when the need to drive out cost is critical. But good companies taking the longer-term view recognise the value training brings to an organisation on both a corporate and individual level.

Successful companies train successful people.

In other words companies are successful because of fully trained people.

From an organisational perspective professionally delivered, relevant training delivers this value:

Reduced management costs - It is cheaper to train existing employees than to recruit new employees.

With a fully skilled workforce, good shared knowledge and skill base, managers are better equipped to manage the risk to their business of long term absenteeism or loss of key employees.

A trained workforce will make succession planning easier for managers.

Training and qualifications will strengthen your employees commitment to your company.  They'll stay longer and you'll save money on recruitment costs.

From an employee perspective you understand that professionally delivered, relevant training delivers:

Employees feel motivated, confident and are better able to do their jobs thereby gaining greater job satisfaction. 

With greater skills levels, employees benefit from increased salary, greater responsibility and possible promotion.

Skilled employees are more likely to have a successful career path.  

Training can give employees a strong sense of feeling valued by their employer increasing morale and enthusiasm. Attending training courses is not just about what is learnt but sharing ideas and experiences with other professionals ? that leaning is then reabsorbed back into the business.

The next thing that happed was that we had to run two courses simultaneously. Not only that but one held in the UK and the other in Europe! That's a first for Snowflake Software.
So major achievements for the team in such a short space of time and it will only get better as we have a new programme of courses coming up (please check out the Website) and a possible move to bigger premises due to demand.

Training in recession for survival is a requirement and essential!

Are you a Data eXchange business looking for new opportunities?

Snowflake Software is activity looking to recruit new Business Partners to sell its software, consultancy services, training and maintenance programme solutions.

The growth of data eXchange and usage of GML across the globe is increasing and in markets such as Data Providers, INSPIRE, Defence and Aviation. We are building such a high level of demand that we require new Business Partners to help fill that business need.

If you have experience in Data eXchange or the Geospatial market or have experience of handling GML or you are currently working in the above markets then we would be interested to talk to you about exciting opportunities we have now.

You will need to have an experienced sales team, technical support, a good infrastructure to accommodate a demanding but rewarding market segments.

We are looking for partners worldwide so please send you enquiry to:

info@snowflakesoftware.com

or post to:
Phil Lines Sales Director
Snowflakesoftware Ltd
Alleyn House
23-27 Carlton Crescent
Southampton
SO15 2EU

Telephone +442380386577

Ian and I were invited to attend the joint aviation and weather information conference in Washington USA. Ian gave a presentation on our involvement in the OWS6 test bed (testbeds are part of OGC's interoperability programme) which went down a storm because we did the testbed with our COTS products and he had some great pictures (check it out on our Website).  Anyway, whilst Ian was giving his presentation, I was left wondering why aviation and weather has a problem? After all planes fly and the weather happens, however, it turns out that both processes are not as joined up as you may think. Flight information to help pilots avoid problems is currently issued on paper before the plane takes off! Of course new events occur after take off and in some cases those events close an airport where a plane would like to land.  Now, paper isn't a great medium to update at 35,000 feet, so the pilot is updated over the radio and the plane is diverted to a suitable airport nearby.

So timely up to date information is very important, not only for safety reasons but also commercial ones. If airlines could cut aircraft taxi times on the ground by 10% they would save $millions, so up to date information on ground conditions and where to taxi is just as important. Enter the OWS6 testbed and a way forward to deliver real time information (what, where and when) directly into the plane cockpit.

The answer ... Data eXchange and luckily enough Snowflake does just that, we're a data exchange company. We've been enabling Data eXchange for 8 years, our solutions have been well received in other markets and are very mature for doing the job. The Aviation world wants to solve data exchange through standards based electronic data transfer, with no loss of information, on-time and direct to the pilot. They have the problem and Snowflake has the answer, well part of the answer because the pilot still needs client devices (avionics) to display the data, but we have the answer together. This was what Ian's presentation was all about. We know we can make a difference to both the Aviation and Metrological authorities because we've proven our ability in other markets for some time. We facilitate Data eXchange from existing databases without the need to build new ones. Now there's a change. Not a lot people know that!

With our presentation done, solution demo's complete and customer contacts obtained we left the conference feeling pretty good and looking for a bar (with food) to wind down. Our problem was where to find one and looking in the back of the paper conference guide we found a list of restaurants, the only problem, where are they? It seems joined up data exchange is everywhere not just in aviation, even food and beer needs to be join up with my stomach! Hail taxi, which I think is a metaphor for Data eXchange.

We were very pleased with our time in Washington at the conference and we are very confident that Snowflake can help the Aviation and Metrological markets with data eXchange now and in the future. Check us out to see if you agree.

Phil and I had 3 days in the Netherlands last week seeing customers and attending the ATC Conference in Amsterdam. As I've blogged previously, GML seems to popping up all over the place these days. In this instance we were on a fact finding mission to see how Snowflake’s GO Publisher product could help with the implementation of D-AIM (Digital Aeronautical Information Management). The primary goal of D-AIM is to establish a framework for the information exchange of Aeronautical, Airport and Weather information. To achieve this, the industry has been developing various exchange models using open standards such as those from W3C, OGC and ISO. One such exchange model is AIXM5 (Aeronautical Information eXchange Model). Developed by Eurocontrol and FAA, AIXM5 is a GML 3.2.1 standard for the exchange for Aeronautical information.

As some of you may know Snowflake has been working with AIXM5 in the latest OWS6 testbed where our role has been to prove that AIXM5 could be delivered using WFS and that the temporal elements of AIXM could be queried using WFS. We’re pretty much complete on OWS6 and it’s been incredibly successful for all involved. Given this, attending ATC was great opportunity to see how Snowflake can position its technology and expertise in AIM marketplace. With the likes of Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Lockhead Martin and Thales exhibiting I’ve never seen so many high end exhibition stands, widescreen tvs, 3d visualisations, aircraft cockpits, control stations and of course plenty of free cardboard aeroplanes!

ATC was impressive and a very busy place, 20,000 people pass through the doors over the 3 days. As well as massive conference there were also plenty of free workshops and hands on seminars to attend. As it’s new to Snowflake it was great to attend, listen and just take it all in, it’s been ages since I’ve gone to show and written so much down.I’ve now got a much better understand of the AIM marketplace and where our products fit.

So what did I make of the ATC Conference? Well from Snowflake's viewpoint its the same opportunity we see in all of our markets - organisations want interoperability and data exchange and they see standards such as GML and WFS as a way to achieve this.  Given this, there's a great opportunity for all involved in the OGC world - we're certainly committed to the D-AIM marketplace and you'll be seeing a lot more about our D-AIM offering in the not so distant future - watch this space.

The demand for Snowflake's products and services is growing and we need help!

We're looking for Business Channel Partners to join our Business Partner programme in order to take up demand and provide excellent customer service when selling our products.

If you're a company interested in selling and / or building solutions involving GML in the following markets ...

1. Defence
2. INSPIRE
3. Data Providers
4. Aviation

... then we want to hear from you.

We're putting together a brand new Channel Partner programme with increased benefits to help Partners grow their business through the resale of Snowflake's products. Our new programme offers a new discount structure, added elements such as pre-sales support, pre-packaged training courses, marketing funds and CRM .

In recent months we have improved our market focus and now have an excellent pipeline of opportunities that we need new partners to deliver.

If you don't wish to become a channel partner but would still would like to be involved in promoting or recommending Snowflake's products then we have other Alliance agreements that you may be interested in.

So why not drop us an email at info@snowflakesoftware.com

or write to

Phil Lines
Sales Director
Alleyn House
23-27 Carlton Crescent
Southampton
SO15 2EU