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Sunday | 23 November, 2008
CIO
Unified Communications Takes Flight
Profit is the order of the day -- especially if you run an airport. Faced with huge capital costs and losses from airlines throttling back operations -- airport earnings are diving. Mumbai airport's CIO says he can help: by using unified communications on a scale unheard of in India, he plans to generate revenue. But can it do the trick?
Kanika Goswami (CIO India) 04 August, 2008 13:40:11

Turbulence Ahead

To say that the Indian aviation industry is going through some turbulence would be a euphemism. They have been in so much trouble and have received so much media coverage that ATF has become water cooler conversation.

The rising price of airline fuel, about 30 per cent of an airline's cost, is hurting more than just the airlines. As managers at airlines battle to keep their business afloat, they're beginning to up prices, consolidate, and trim the number of destinations they fly to. Air Deccan recently withdrew 18 flights, SpiceJet cut the number of its flights by about a sixth. Go Air went from 1,000 flights a month to 800. Jet Airways has stopped flying routes like Mumbai-Nagpur and Mumbai-Ahmedabad.

These cutbacks affect even hot destinations like Mumbai airport, which used to handle about 740 flights a day before the fuel crunch, and is now down to about 650. Since airports make a substantial amount of their revenues from these flights, airports are beginning to feel the pinch.

Anantheswaran saw a way to help. With UC he would have 100 per cent network availability for applications such as a single backbone for voice, video, CCTV, data and radio. He could charge airlines for many of these services. He also envisioned wireless hotspots, self-service portals, and video conferencing booths, which he could charge passengers. Additionally unified communications could help streamline airport processes and infrastructure -- and reduce cost.

Anantheswaran looked at others who had trod the UC path before him. There were none in India -- not at the scale he was attempting. The Halifax Stanfield International Airport was a possible role model. The airport had implemented UC in 2006 to run a network of voice, video, data and wireless communications on a single, airport-wide system. It took Halifax two years to achieve full ROI and it also saved US$15 million in space.

Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport, which handles over four hundred thousand passengers everyday and is among the world's busiest airports, also worked with UC. For this airport, UC added value in terms of enhanced passenger, baggage and network security. It also improved operational efficiency and flexibility, lowered overhead costs, introduced revenue opportunities; and improved network reliability.

Munich International Airport, Athens International Airport, and Sydney International Airport, Anantheswaran found, were all on their way to completely unifying their communications.

But Anantheswaran was not looking to copy these airports. He wanted more. "We were clear that we wanted to leapfrog and put in the best technology." His plan would also need to meet the additional requirements that eventual expansion would bring. For example, by the end of 2008, the airport plans to bump up its 3,600 CCTV cameras to 6,000. With each camera requiring at least one Gbps of bandwidth, Anantheswaran knew he should prepare now or pay later.

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