Boeing

The Boeing Company's recently launched e-business Web site, myboeingfleet.com, now offers airline customers 32 times more content, thanks to the addition of a huge volume of data on July 1. The additional content, totaling more than 1.5 terabytes of data, includes millions of engineering drawings for almost all Boeing and Douglas commercial jetliners in the world fleet.

The 1.5 terabytes of data are equivalent to digitizing the content of 3 million books of 350 pages each. One terabyte equals 1,000 gigabytes.

Besides the engineering drawings, other content added to the myboeingfleet.com portal on July 1 included searchable parts lists, more than 11,000 component maintenance/overhaul manuals and a fleet status report known as the Boeing FLEET TEAM Digest.

"This moves us very close to the day when our customers can get all the information they need to maintain and operate their Boeing fleets through a single Internet portal," said Barb Claitman, director of e-Business for Boeing Commercial Aviation Services.

The drawings and the other new additions are perfect complements to the information Boeing began providing via myboeingfleet.com when the portal was launched in May.

"The initial offerings included service bulletins, service letters, major maintenance manuals, master minimum equipment lists, and many other documents. We will continue to grow the portal as a platform for expanded support and services," Claitman said.

Boeing first provided online access to the engineering drawings in 1995 through a client/server-based system that required user training and specialized computing hardware and network connections.

Traditionally, airlines relied on cumbersome "aperture cards" to store and retrieve engineering drawings, which are essential for repairing and maintaining airplanes. Under this approach, drawings are photographed on microfilm, and sections of the film are then mounted on individual aperture cards and viewed through an enlarger. A single airplane model can require more than 100,000 cards. Larger airlines were the primary users of the online system Boeing began offering in 1995, while most smaller carriers continued to rely on aperture cards. Now, with the drawings available through a single Web portal, using the drawings will be easier for all airlines that sign up for access.

A key feature of myboeingfleet.com is its use of personalization technology, allowing users to customize the portal's content. Secure and password protected, the portal also provides access to the Boeing PART Page, a business-to-business Web site allowing Boeing customers to order and track spare parts shipments.