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Gatwick AirportManaging the network for

the world’s busiest single runway airport

In 2009, Gatwick Airport was sold by BAA to

Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) – an

independent long-term investor in infrastructure

assets worldwide.

Following the sale, GIP announced their intention

to proceed with a £1bn investment programme

to upgrade and expand the airport’s infrastructure

and most importantly, transform

the passenger experience.

ChallengesAs a major international airport Gatwick is one

of the busiest public places in the world. With

a firm goal of making Gatwick London’s airport

of choice for passengers and airlines, it needed

to create a common IT infrastructure to deliver

a range of service initiatives to improve the

passenger experience. The airport also needed

to reduce the carbon footprint of its IT, and

to replace its existing infrastructure with more

power-efficient technology.

“Many of the improvements we’re planning

wouldn’t have been possible on the disparate,

legacy networks that we inherited,” commented

Michael Ede, IT Service Director for Gatwick

Airport. We needed to create one common

infrastructure that not only delivers a secure,

reliable and fast infrastructure, but also gives us

the springboard from which to deliver innovative

services to enhance passenger and airline

services,” he added.

Xchanging case study

Gatwick Airport

3© 2012 Xchanging

‘We needed to create one common infrastructure that not

only delivers a secure, reliable and fast infrastructure, but also

gives us the springboard from which to deliver innovative

services to enhance passenger and airline services.’

Michael Ede, IT Service Director for Gatwick Airport

‘With its new infrastructure in place, Gatwick has been

able to take IT off the critical path and direct its energies

into getting passengers where they want to go.’

Garath Lauder, Sales and Marketing Director, Xchanging Technology Services

The approachIn 2010, Gatwick Airport appointed business

process and technology service provider and

integrator, Xchanging, to become its managed

network services provider and to deliver a

comprehensive and flexible managed network

service to meet the current and future needs of

the airport.

Xchanging’s first task was to create a common

infrastructure for the airport that gave Gatwick

greater visibility and control over its IT. The scope

of the partnership included migrating Gatwick

Airport’s legacy network infrastructure from BAA

and delivering a range of enhanced services from

Xchanging’s modern ITIL-based integrated

processing centres.

“We required a provider that could remove

risk,reduce cost, improve service and prepare

for the future. With Xchanging’s experience in

delivering complex, mission critical high availability

systems we felt they were the right provider to

transform Gatwick’s network. The wired and

wireless network we now have in place is secure,

reliable, flexible and fast to meet the applications

needs of the latest airport applications,”

commented Ede.

In early 2011, Xchanging was awarded a second

contract with Gatwick Airport Limited, this time to

provide the airport’s End User Computing Services,

a move that enables the partnership to work

more closely to deliver improved IT services to the

airport’s customers.

This additional contract sees Xchanging managing

and maintaining all endpoint devices used by the

airport, including desktop PCs, printers, projectors,

handheld devices, mobile devices and the flight

information screens (FIS) used by passengers.

“As one of the UK’s critical national

infrastructures, Xchanging’s work with Gatwick

is particularly significant. Gatwick has critical

service level agreements, and Xchanging has

proven expertise in delivering high availability,

high resilience systems. With its new infrastructure

in place, Gatwick has been able to take IT off

the critical path and direct its energies into

getting passengers where they want to go,”

commented Garath Lauder, Sales and Marketing

Director, Xchanging Technology Services.

Control and visibilityHaving access to new network service

management tools increases the network

visibility and makes it easier to proactively

diagnose issues. Powerful dashboards provide

the onsite team with current status reports

of the network and the team are able to

respond to threats quickly and efficiently.

Delivering Green ITNot only does the new infrastructure enable

greater flexibility and the introduction of new

services, it is also improving the carbon efficiency

of the airport’s IT. The use of modern equipment

which is more power-efficient, plus new design

principles that enable Gatwick to rationalise the

amount of ‘kit’ they need, is reducing their power

space and cooling requirements for IT.

Delivering secure flexibility through wirelessDeploying a secure wireless network across the

airport is another improvement that is enabling

greater flexibility for airlines and retailers. For

example, it reduces the need for IT equipment

on piers which frees up space, reduces power

making it simpler for airlines to switch between

gates. Wireless technology is also improving

the efficiency of retail space utilisation because

retailers don’t have to re-wire and reinstall IT

equipment if they wish to move from one unit

to another.

Improving the passenger experienceGatwick’s new network infrastructure is enabling

the delivery of innovative services to enhance

passenger experience. For example, Xchanging is

looking at how Gatwick can set up check-in desks

like ‘hot desks’ that can be dynamically provisioned

so airlines are not tied to a fixed range of desks.

When the check-in clerk logs into their computer,

the network will detect who they are and which

airline they work for so that the correct systems load

and appropriate passenger signage is displayed on

the overhead screens.

Another initiative being looked at with Xchanging

is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tagging,

for example on the passenger’s boarding card, to

enable retailers and airlines to ‘spotlight’ individuals

and provide relevant targeted information and

promotional offers.

“These are just a few examples of the way that

IT is contributing to our goal of making Gatwick

London’s airport of choice. We have aggressive

targets to meet, but with enthusiastic partners on

board, whose ambition matches our own, we’re

up for the challenge,” commented Ede.

In addition to the existing managed network

service and design services, Xchanging continues

to focus on implementing operational and

security improvements for Gatwick Airport.

The latest project involves rolling out a

Microsoft desktop, server, virtualisation and

management technologies to transform end

user computing and provide a more flexible,

reliable and personalised access to IT services.

“Xchanging’s role is not just to provide the

day-to-day running of the network; they are also

helping us to deliver innovative services by advising

us and generating ideas within their area of

expertise,” concluded Ede.

With the busiest single-runway in the world, Gatwick Airport serves more than 200 destinations in 90 countries for around 33 million passengers a year. It is also a major economic driver for the South-East region of the UK, generating around 23,000 on-airport jobs and a further 13,000 jobs through related activities.

2 © 2012 Xchanging2

• Managed service for wired

and wireless networks across

the airport

• ITIL V3 aligned service

• 24 x 7 x 4 monitoring of services,

incident and problem management

and management of change

• Dedicated onsite delivery team,

including service management

• Shared Network Operations

Centre for remote monitoring and

maintenance

• Enterprise class monitoring tools.

The solution

34 Leadenhall Street

London • EC3A 1AX • UK

Telephone +44 (0)20 7780 6999

Facsimile +44 (0)20 7780 6998

Email info@xchanging.com

Website www.xchanging.com

© 2012 Xchanging 2777/1IT 3/12