Viracopos International Airport turns to HP Networking for a massive, accelerated expansion

The logistics involved in moving people, cargo, and luggage from point A to point B are enormously complex. In any airport, the network is really the heart of the operations that enable that. If the network is down, the airport could basically freeze, right? You don’t even want to think about what might happen.

A massive scale-up in a compressed timeframe

Aeroportos Brasil Viracopos (operator of Viracopos International Airport) wanted to upgrade and integrate its existing network infrastructure to accommodate a rapid, eight-fold business growth with the addition of a new terminal. The airport engaged with HP Technology Services Consulting, as well as systems integrator Johnson Controls and HP Gold Preferred Partner Ziva, to design a next-generation network for this massive scale-out.

Aeroportos Brasil wanted to build a service infrastructure to accommodate a quadrupling of passenger traffic. This was part of its plan to be ready to receive the large number of passengers flying to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup games. The IT team also wanted to have a smooth transition to the new airport operator in a very short time – just three months.

Protecting the initial investment

The team evaluated several vendors and decided to go with HP Networking. Building on what was already working well at their existing facility – HP Networking solutions – they built the new terminal using HP switches and routers in the data center core as well as WLAN access points with unified controllers. According to Systems and IT Manager Marco Beme, while the airport looked at solutions from other leading vendors, only HP could provide the kind of integration that was needed.

One of the big advantages that HP offered was HP Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) technology; in Beme’s words, “HP IRF gives us the ability to preserve the initial investment of the existing network infrastructure in the old terminal while fully integrating it with the network we’re building in the new terminal.”

With the HP network solution, the business outcomes were:

• Rapid scaling to deliver an eight-fold increase in customer services
• Preservation of the initial investment in existing infrastructure by leveraging HP’s leading integration capabilities
• Superior systems visibility and management with industry-leading software tools like HP Intelligent Management Center (and by the way, you can get a free 60-day trial of HP IMC here.)

The fact that many huge organizations like Viracopos International Airport rely on HP Networking is a terrific endorsement of how HP operates in mission-critical environments.

For the full case study, click here.

Learn about HP Campus Networking solutions here.

By Mary Gabra, Senior Global Manager, Customer Excellence