Malaysia Airports Technologies : Integrating airport operations with IBM’s SOA platform

Malaysia Airports Technologies : Integrating airport operations with IBM’s SOA platform

IBM SOA Customer : SOA in Travel and Transportation

"MAT can now distribute real-time information from disparate sources, communicating accurate and timely resource, planning, and operations information to essential departments." - YBhg Dato’ Azmi Murad, Senior General Manager

Customer: Malaysia Airports Technologies
Deployment Country: Malaysia
Industry: Travel & Transportation
Solution: SOA Service Oriented Architecture

SOA Overview

Airport operations typically extend across multiple service providers, comprising processes, people and information segregated by location, role and function. Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) opened in 1997 using a suite of disparate solutions linked together by middleware. As passenger numbers, flight frequencies and carrier types continued to grow, these older technologies were no longer sustainable.

Business need: Malaysia Airports Technologies (MAT) needed a flexible mechanism for incrementally migrating to new applications and rolling out solutions to multiple airports while continuing to operate with the existing infrastructure technology and applications.

Solution: IBM offered an SOA-based solution that delivered a universal mechanism to interconnect all applications required to support MAT's worldwide airport operations without compromising security, reliability, or scalability. IBM’s solution also helped MAT to distribute real-time information from disparate information sources and provided a powerful new means of unifying employees across the organization. IBM GBS developed a roadmap for MAT to migrate to this new flexible service-oriented approach.

Benefits: MAT can now distribute real-time information from disparate sources, providing a powerful new means of unifying employees across the entire organization. The solution also enables MAT to replace individual components without compromising the integrity of airport operations.

SOA Case Study

MAT is the subsidiary of Malaysia Airports responsible for the operation and maintenance of all information technology systems and infrastructure at KLIA and for undertaking ICT (information and communications technology) business ventures. Among the services it offers include airport system solutions, system integration, networking, broadband network service, facility management and monitoring.

Business Need
MAT knew that establishing an integrated, end-to-end on demand airport technology environment would help improve the information flow across internal business units. Instead of operating multiple systems that were not designed to work in synch, an integrated environment would enable more efficient and cost-effective processes, enrich collaboration, and create a less complex infrastructure from which to manage relationships with employees, partners, suppliers, agents and customers.

However, replacing all the separate systems with a single system was both cost-prohibitive and logistically infeasible. Malaysia Airports Technologies needed a solution that would allow its existing applications to work together without having to replace its existing technology investment. It needed to ensure that as applications came to the end of their life they could be replaced incrementally without compromising the integrity of the airport operations. MAT needed a flexible mechanism for integrating the operations technology at KLIA that would support ongoing change and growth.

SOA Solution
IBM Global Business Services implemented IBM’s Airport Integration Solution, which provides the common interface between processes, people and information, helping to convert complex airport operational functions into services that can be easily accessed without the need for significant changes in the underlying infrastructure. The solution brings applications from leading specialist providers in airport operations and management information systems into a cohesive and complete solution optimized for airport operations.

Utilizing IBM’s SOA framework and integration solution enables MAT to leverage existing investments and to create a common communications network and operational database. IBM WebSphere, provides the platform that unifies disparate applications across the entire organization.

SOA Benefits
- The solution creates, maintains, and stores resource, planning, and operations data in a secure repository, readily available for reporting, auditing, and analysis purposes.
- Integrates and coordinates resource, planning, and operations information with best of breed front-end systems such as Flight Information Display Systems (FIDS), check-in counter displays and Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), and back-office systems such as ERP and finance systems.
- It communicates accurate and timely resource, planning, and operations information to essential departments: planning, operations, passenger-service, security, ramp workers and service partners.
- MAT can now distribute real-time information from disparate sources, providing a powerful new means of unifying employees across the entire organization.
- The solution provides MAT with a flexible platform to extend and enhance business functionality to the airport's changing needs and enables MAT to replace individual components without compromising the integrity of the airport operations.

Products and Services Used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Software: WebSphere Business Integration
Services: GBS Enterprise Integration, IBM Global Business Services, IBM Software Service for WebSphere