• New luggage handling system will allow Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to handle 70 million pieces of luggage per year or over 8,000 bags per hour
• State-of-the-art application runs on an Avaya data network comprising Avaya ERS 8600 and Avaya ERS 4500 switches

GUILDFORD, UK - Wednesday, April 25, 2012 – Schiphol Telematics, the specialized telecom operator at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, deployed an Avaya data network to support a new, ultra-modern, luggage handling system that will allow the airport to handle 70 million bags per year.

Schiphol Airport is the fourth busiest airport in Europe with almost 50 million passengers per year and is often listed as one of the world’s best airports by Skytrax, a London-based consulting firm that publishes a leading passenger survey of airports. To prepare for future growth, Schiphol Airport recently introduced a new luggage handling system that will allow it to manage up to 40 percent more luggage capacity than today using higher levels of automation and more intelligent routing. With the new system able to process over 8,000 bags per hour, an outage would severely impact airlines and their passengers. As a result, Schiphol Telematics turned to Avaya to provide a rock-solid data network with active resiliency for this critical new system.

Schiphol Telematics, Avaya and channel partner Vosko Networking designed and deployed a network solution using the Avaya Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 8600 and Avaya ERS 4500. The ERS 8600 is a core network system specifically designed to address the reliability, efficiency and scalability requirements of critical business networks. It offers 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) support, and uses Avaya VENA Switch Clustering to deliver true end-to-end reliability and provide Schiphol Airport with always-on access to their luggage handling system. Avaya ERS 4500 switches were used at the edge of the network to provide high performance Ethernet connectivity that is secure, resilient and energy efficient.

Schiphol Airport’s new luggage handling system has been in operation for several months now and the new network has performed impeccably. It provides the airport with both the flexibility they want and the reliability they need to support this critical application. This announcement highlights Avaya’s commitment to bringing The Power of We™ to every Avaya customer to help drive faster collaboration, smarter decisions and better business results.

Quotes
“Performance, reliability and availability - those are the three criteria that matter most for a network. That’s particularly true at Schiphol Airport, where we build our network around custom applications that are critical to the success of our customers, who work hard to improve the flying experience of millions of passengers every day. Avaya’s network has dealt with everything we’ve thrown at it and managed to meet our criteria, time after time.”
- Ras Lalmy, managing director, Schiphol Telematics