Mial Chooses Nortel For New Communications Infrastructure At Mumbai’s Chha Trapati Shivaji International Airport

MUMBAI - Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (MIAL) has chosen Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT] to build one of the most extensive and comprehensive IP communications networks ever deployed by an international airport in India.

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), managed by MIAL, plans to consolidate the majority of its data, telephony and video systems onto a converged wired and wireless IP-based network, powered by Nortel Enterprise Solutions and its innovative Metro Ethernet-based Provider Backbone Bridging (PBB) and Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) technologies. As a long term technology partner to MIAL, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will provide systems integration for the converged triple-play communications upgrade project.

A joint venture between the GVK-SA consortium and Airports Authority of India, MIAL was awarded a 30-year contract to modernize, operate and maintain CSIA in April 2006. When completed, the new wired and wireless infrastructure will provide network coverage throughout the airport terminal buildings and outside maintenance areas. Passengers, airline staff, retailers, security and airport operations employees will benefit from a variety of airport-wide WiFi and VoIP services.

A key element of the new infrastructure is a 10G DWDM fiber-optic backbone designed by Nortel to cost-effectively leverage optical networking technology to enable super-fast gigabit Ethernet and storage connectivity. This approach is expected to help significantly reduce capital expenses while simplifying network management and optimization. Nortel’s Metro Ethernet-based PBB/PBT technologies will be used to provide VPN and point-to-point Ethernet transport services for the airlines. PBT is a Nortel innovation that marries carrier-grade reliability and ease of management with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of Ethernet to provide a high-bandwidth network with great efficiency and control.

Airport operations and customer service personnel will be enabled to experience increased productivity by leveraging unified communications capabilities such as SIP-based presence, IM, collaboration, conferencing and messaging. These advanced communications services will simplify the way people connect and communicate across the expansive airport area helping reduce cost of operations and equipping staff to respond more quickly to customer needs. The solution includes the implementation of a new emergency notification system for public safety.

"This overhaul is part of MIAL’s long-term program aimed at expanding the capacity at CSIA and making communications as seamless as possible for anyone who visits or works at the airport" said GV Sanjay Reddy, managing director, MIAL. "The state-of-the-art changes that this transformation will bring will help raise CSIA to global standards, equipping it with technology that meets or even exceeds what is currently present at top airports across the world"

"The Indian aviation industry is poised for huge growth and to support such dramatic growth, the airport infrastructure needs to be scalable, resilient and future proof" said Ravi Chauhan, managing director, Nortel India. "With its depth of expertise across optical, Ethernet and enterprise technologies, Nortel is uniquely positioned to help airports like CSIA blend advanced core infrastructure with the latest applications to improve and simplify the airport experience while also providing new revenue-generating opportunities"

"As a long term strategic technology partner for MIAL, TCS will design, program manage and implement this state-of-the-art network that will seamlessly integrate various stakeholders within the airport eco-system" said S Venkatramani, India geography head, TCS. "This will serve as a backbone to support MIAL’s long term vision of leveraging technology for revenue generation and benchmark it against the most efficient airports in the world"

The CSIA network infrastructure will be based on the Nortel Metro Ethernet Network portfolio’s Optical Metro 5200 DWDM multi-service platform and Metro Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 platform with PBB and PBT solutions. As the first vendor to support PBT technology, Nortel is transforming Ethernet into a true carrier-class technology that is simpler to deploy and supports a richer set of business connectivity and triple/quadruple play services, wireless aggregation and backhaul applications.

CSIA will also benefit from a comprehensive suite of Nortel’s Enterprise Solutions including Unified Communications from the Nortel and Microsoft Innovative Communications Alliance, and Nortel converged IP Telephony solutions including the Communication Server 1000 new release 5.0 that further improves service reliability, enables better security for VoIP calls, and simplifies deployment and management. Nortel Proactive Voice Quality Management (PVQM) will provide real-time, proactive notification and problem resolution without end-user involvement or awareness.

From Nortel’s Enterprise Data Networking portfolio, CSIA will also benefit from Nortel’s Enterprise Security, Application Switching and VPN solutions. The airport LAN will be powered by Nortel’s Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 platform with Nortel’s unique Split Multi-Link Trunking (SMLT) technology to support Secure Always-on Networking and the airport’s WiFi network will run on Nortel’s Wireless LAN solutions. Nortel’s Self Service Portfolio will enable multimedia transaction processing.