Proceedings

Abstract:

Jeppesen is the premiere provider of aviation information for pilots. Historically, Jeppesen delivered this content on paper using print-optimized production systems. The barriers to market entry for paper-based distribution of aviation material are considerable. This fact prevented most newcomers from competing in the aviation information business. However, the digital revolution created an information marketplace where the price of entry is considerably lower. New competitors and customer demands compelled Jeppesen to re-engineer their production systems. Jeppesen’s challenge has been to implement a system that allowed it to redeploy its considerable body of aviation information as electronic deliverables. In addition to competing in existing markets, Jeppesen wanted to position itself to offer new products and services to its customers.

This paper discusses the rationale and design behind Jeppesen’s single-source publishing system.

With the business needs to single-source publishing capabilities becoming more acute, Jeppesen partnered with Astoria Software to develop a solution. The result is a system based on commercial-off-the-shelf software, XML industry standards, and open-source tools. The system incorporates the following components: