AMHSConnect – ATS Message Handling System Connector
The AMHSConnect is a software package that performs the conversion of AFTN messages to AMHS and vice versa, in a ICAO SARPs compliant way. The AMHSConnect is written in Java and can both run co-located with the AMHS Switch or it can run remotely.
Even though it’s similar to the AMHSGate product, there are several differences between AMHSConnect and the AMHSGate:
| AMHSConnect | AMHSGate |
| Connects to an AMHS Server using X.400 P3 or X.400 P7 | Connects to an AMHS Server using X.400 P1 |
| It usually sends and receives on behalf of a single AMHS user account, or small group of AMHS user accounts | It sends and receives on behalf of all kinds of AMHS and AFTN users |
| It doesn’t generate X.400 Delivery Reports | It generates X.400 Delivery Reports |
AMHSConnect is ideally suited for AFTN application developers that want to connect their AFTN software to an AMHS network, for example, MET systems, FDP (Flight Data Processing) systems, etc. It allows them to connect via AFTN to AMHS, without having to adapt their program to use X.400 or to convert the AFTN messages through a third party AFTN/AMHS Gateway.
Key Features
- Full ICAO Doc 9880 compliance.
- A Monitoring and Management console to configure and monitor the operation of both ends of the connection
- Flexible AFTN ↔ AMHS address conversion, using either an ICAO compliant X.500 ATN Directory, or the EUROCONTROL AMC Tables with conversion information.
- Supports both XF and CAAS addressing schemes
- Supports the Extended ATS Message Handling Service
- Support of the generation and reception of messages in both Basic Encoding and Extended Encoding [IHE]
- Support the use of Directory [DIR]
- Support for the SEC functional group [SEC]
- Support for Red Hat Clustering
Integration with AFTN
The integration with AMHSConnect with AFTN can be achieved:
- through the use of the standard Internet Protocol (IP) sockets
- by using a shared file system, and then reading and writing messages in configurable directories
AMHSConnect can hold several simultaneous connections with applications that want to connect to the AMHS Switch.
X.400 P3 and X.400 P7 Connectivity
AMHSConnect supports both X.400 P3 and X.400 P7. X.400 protocols are usually operated over TCP/IP using either ITOT (ISO Transport over TCP), or ITOTS (ITOT over SSL), to provide a secure access to the Message Store. Both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported.
Typically, X.400 P3 is used for users that send or receive a large number of messages per day, and X.400 P7 is used for more infrequent users.
Availability
AMHSConnect runs on Windows as a Windows Service (versions supported include 2008 Server, Vista, 7, 8 and 8.1), and also on Linux (Redhat, Ubuntu, and other similar Open Source operating systems) and Sun Solaris, as Unix Daemon.
Conformance
ICAO Conformance
AMHSConnect offers full conformance to the latest version of ICAO Doc 9880, which itself supersedes ICAO Doc 9705. It also complies with messages in the ICAO Annex 10, Volume II.
X.400 Conformance
AMHSConnect is conformant to the core ISP requirements for the 1984, 1988, and 1996, 1999 and 2003 versions of X.400.