Gatwick Airport has partnered with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to future-proof its entire IT network as part of a US$15m deal.
The new network, provided by HPE and Hewlett Packard Enterprise company Aruba, allows the airport to take advantage of new, modern technologies for the benefit of airport users, including more than 250 on-site businesses, 30,000 staff and 45 million annual passengers. The technology will also make the network more resilient and tolerant to disruption.
The network deal was implemented by a team of experts within HPE, Aruba and the Gatwick team. The project strategy has been deliberately streamlined, with HPE designing, implementing, and installing everything from end-to-end.
The HPE Pointnext team automated and simplified the complex migration, and provided a dashboard for stakeholders and an audit trail of activities.
HPE Pointnext will also provide ongoing management of the new network underpinning the day-to-day running of the airport, including flight information displays, ticketing and baggage services, security surveillance and local commercial activities.
HPE will also provide support on the delivery of future projects and provide innovative networking and security solutions via Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.
The network was installed in 18 months while the airport remained 100% operational.
Marc Waters, managing director for UK and Ireland, HPE, said, “Transitioning from old to new networks while keeping the world’s most efficient runway operating is like performing open heart surgery on a patient while he is running.
“We’re delighted with how smoothly the project has run – the world’s most efficient single runway now has an equally powerful and productive IT network to match it.
“All parties have worked seamlessly, while the airport remains fully functioning, to avoid any impact to the day-to-day running of the airport and its millions of passengers. This transition will be one of the most impressive to have taken place in recent years – we’re very proud to have led it.”
Cathal Corcoran, chief information officer at Gatwick Airport, said, “We’ve seen record breaking passenger growth since 2010 and to make sure our passengers have the best experience possible, we needed a new network that could handle our expected future growth numbers.
“The network’s capability has been uplifted by such a scale that it now matches that of an Internet Service Provider and allows the airport to provide the latest technologies across a campus that serves over 250 on-site businesses, 30,000 staff and 45 million annual passengers.
“We also needed a much more resilient, self-healing and fault tolerant network and one that is capable of handling future technologies that process considerably more data.
“HPE’s combined network offering provides this and more as it ultimately supports our vision of an IT infrastructure for a decade.”
Source – Passenger Terminal Today
