He explains that business priorities, communication objectives and the existing technology environment should guide any UC deployment, not the products being purchased or the capabilities they bring to the table. HIAA provides a fitting example. Before considering particular solutions, they settled on an overarching objective: provide a fully redundant, zero downtime infrastructure that can support voice, video and several mission-critical airline applications.
A single communications system
HIAA eventually sought the services of HP and Cisco, who worked in tandem to meet the objective. The two companies developed and integrated a UC solution that includes wireless and IP telephony, HP servers and Cisco networking equipment.
“Halifax International Airport Authority depends on a stable and secure infrastructure in order to service airlines from across the globe,” says Michael Healy, Vice-President of Infrastructure and Technology for HIAA. “Our unified communications solution brought to us by HP and Cisco resulted in a seamless migration to an advanced network that integrates voice, video, data and wireless communications into a single airport-wide communications system. [The solution] enables us to manage risks and achieve better ROI. And now we are known in the industry for our quality service.”
ROI and savings
Today, each airline has its own network at the Halifax Airport that can be accessed through a common portal. Airline employees log in using touch screen monitors located in terminal gates and service desks to securely access their data. VoIP phones at each gate and service desk are also customized per user with the particular airline‘s phone choices. Once an airline employee is logged in, that airline‘s data, rules and policies are applied regardless of the device being used or the location within the terminal.
“None of this was in place,” Healy told SearchUnifiedCommunications.com last October. “We needed a strong integrator to come in and put together the backbone. We sought advice on how best we could configure this. This required a lot more technology than the number of people we had on the ground.”*
Power indicates that HP and Cisco broached the challenge with business questions, not product pitches. As a result, HIAA expects full ROI in just over two years and $15 million in savings by eliminating space requirements. Also, the airport now has a UC infrastructure in place that can be enhanced over time in accordance with business priorities and communication needs.
“We‘re not adding more equipment,” Healy said to SearchUnifiedCommunications.com, “but better utilizing what we have.”
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Printable version
With a $90 million terminal expansion, technology leaders at the Halifax International Airport Authority (HIAA) were considering how to create a “common-use methodology,” which would enable different airlines to share the same equipment.