The new meshed network – which is built on “many multiples of 40Gb connections” – is designed to remove bottlenecks and single points of failure. It is also intended that the increase in data capacity will enable IoT functionality, including passenger flow analytics, as well as superfast WiFi. According to Helwett Packard, the airport is also intending to introduce facial recognition technology into its operations enabled by the system.
Speaking of the installation, Gatwick’s chief information officer Cathal Corcoran 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. This allows the airport to provide the latest technologies across a campus that serves over 250 onsite businesses, 30,000 staff and 45 million annual passengers.
“We also needed a much more resilient, self-healing and fault tolerant network. The network offering provides this and more as it ultimately supports our vision of an IT infrastructure for a decade.”
The project was completed in 18 months, during which there was no recorded network disruption or downtime. The deal to install the new infrastructure is worth around $15 million, with ongoing management being undertaken by HPE Pointnext.
