Airplane Pioneer Boeing Extends Its Aviation Legacy with the Connexion Network, Which Brings Broadband- Internet Access Directly to Your Passenger Seat

hours hence. On your right is a screaming child who’s already spilled food and crayons all over your lap. The man on your left has bad breath and worse body odor and has just launched into a detailed and comprehensive recounting of his mindnumbing life story. Plus, you’ve got hundreds of unviewed emails sitting on your corporate server from the last intercontinental trip you took, your Web site is staler than a year-old saltine, and the Ebay auction for that rare Joe Schlabotnik baseball card you bid on before you got on the plane ends in a halfhour. What’s a poor traveler, searching for a time-efficient and computer-centric distraction, to do? If your plane is equipped with a Connexion by Boeing network, and you’re willing to shell out $35 or so, you may find the solution to your Internet-access problems as soon as early 2004. (The actual cost will depend on the airline and the flight.) Boeing hopes to emulate the network-access experience that many of you have grown accustomed to in your homes and offices. All engineering projects, including Connexion’s development and rollout, experience, to varying degrees, the same sorts of implementation trade-offs and market-driven midcourse corrections. Alternatives implement different visions of these same trade-offs and market needs (see sidebar “Cautious competitors”). And satellite-centric Internet access isn’t restricted to airplanes; trains and motor vehicles are surfing the same Net wave (see sidebar“Train tracking”at the Web version of this article at www.edn.com). Connexion’s history begins in the mid-1980s, when Boeing AIRPLANE PIONEER BOEING