SITA (originally an acronym for "Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques") is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT services to the aviation industry. A multinational corporation (MNC) or multinational enterprise (MNE) or transnational corporation (TNC) or multinational organization (MNO) is a corporation or enterprise that manages production establishments or delivers services in at least two countries. ... Information Technology (IT)[1] is a broad subject concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information, especially in large organizations. ... First flight, December 17, 1903 Aviation or air transport refers to the activities surrounding human flight and the aircraft industry. ...

SITA was founded in February 1949 as a cooperative by 11 airlines, providing communications between airports and pioneering telecommunications. They were the first to handle data traffic in real time via a packet switched network over common carrier leased lines. 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is a group of persons who join together or co-operate, to carry on an economic activity of mutual benefit. ... A Boeing 747-400 of Virgin Atlantic Airways, one of the UKs largest airlines. ... In computer networking and telecommunications, packet switching is a communications paradigm in which packets (messages or fragments of messages) are individually routed between nodes, with no previously established communication path. ... A common carrier is an organization that transports a product or service using its facilities, or those of other carriers, and offers its services to the general public. ... A leased line is a (usually) symmetric telecommunications line connecting two locations together. ...

Today, SITA SC remains as a cooperative, while SITA INC (Information Network Computing) was spun off in 2000 as a separate commercial entity. As of today SITA INC has over 640 members in the aviation network. This article is about the year 2000. ...

In July 2006, all three branches of SITA entities were combined under a single global unit called SITA.

External links

• www.sita.aero

Chretien, G.J.; Konig, W.M. and Rech, J.H. (1973). "The SITA Network". Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Computer Communication Networks, 373-396, Sussex, United Kingdom: Noordhoff International Publishing.

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