Dear IVAO Family,
For some time it has been the Network’s wish to be able to provide you with transparent and regular updates of our plans for, and the progression, of IVAO’s infrastructure and software/web systems. Following a restructure of the Development Operations Department we were able to appoint new Directors and Team Managers. Yannick and Frederico have assumed the positions of Director and Assistant Director respectively. The main focus of their first two weeks was to meet with the new Team Managers and finalise a roadmap for our infrastructure and software/web systems, changing the landscape in around 12 months.
The aim is to provide you with updates every 3 months, on what to expect to be released during that period and an update on what has happened since the previous quarter. So, without further ado, here goes…
What is planned for Q1 of 2022?
World Servers
It is no hidden fact that our current SHARD servers do not have the capability to withstand a tremendous amount of connections to IVAO. December of last year saw a deficiency during the Crowded Skies event that meant we were unable to achieve the figures we had wished. The reasoning behind this issue is that IVAO has no ownership to develop the current source code of the SHARD servers. Our dedicated Developers have now created our own servers, called ‘World Servers’, that will enable better stability, more connections and lay the foundations to be able to implement more enhanced features in the future. The World Server will be cross compatible on release with the latest versions of IvAc, IvAp, Altitude and Aurora but the introduction of new features, later in the year, will see support for IvAc and IvAp versions closed at a later date. The project is under Alpha testing at the moment and is due for release, to all members, by the end of March.
Aurora for Windows
Aurora was responsible for 85% of ATC connections in December 2021, being the most popular of the ATC clients compatible with IVAO. We will shortly be releasing our ALPHA version, currently used by IVAO Staff, as the latest available BETA to all members after which we will not be implementing any new features to Aurora for Windows, instead focusing on stabilizing this latest BETA to remove any existing bugs and eradicate crashes. Anyone who does have an issue with Aurora for Windows should contact our friendly User Support Team by speaking one-on-one with them on the Family Discord, posting in the forum or by emailing devops@ivao.aero where a member of the team will gladly assist.
Aurora for Mac/Linux
It goes without saying that Aurora for Linux and Mac has been a calling for some time now, we are pleased to advise that Aurora for Mac/Linux is being actively developed to achieve the same key aspects of Aurora for Windows. The project is under development and expected for a network BETA release by August.
Voice ATIS
A new feature for IVAO, the Network will see the introduction of Voice ATIS continue its development. Voice ATIS will enable Pilots to be able to get the latest weather, runway and other ATIS information for their departure and arrival airports. Voice ATIS will only be compatible with IVAO’s latest offering of software, meaning it will only be received by Pilots using Altitude and only transmitted by Controllers who are using Aurora. The project is under development and expected for a network release by early August.
What is left to come for the rest of 2022?
IVAO has much more to offer to it’s Family in 2022. Deemed “the year of change” by the Senior Leadership Team, we aim to see the departure of TeamSpeak 2 forever and the smooth landing of our new voice systems including Voice UNICOM. We hope to provide you with further updates in April, July and October to discuss progression and discuss the next steps.
Join the conversation!
Within this update we have tried to relay as much information as we possibly can but we appreciate you may still have some questions and that is great, we would love to be able to answer your questions. Join the conversation by visiting this forum post dedicated to questions regarding this update.
Blue Skies ahead!
~On behalf of the IVAO Headquarters