Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 1, May 2010
Virtualization in air transport
As one of the hottest IT topics in the industry, IT research company Gartner has identified virtualization as "the highest impact trend" affecting infrastructure and operations through to 2012. And according to the 2009 Airline IT Trends Survey, the air transport community is watching with intense interest, with 90% of airlines investing in virtualization technology.
SITA is adding virtual server capabilities − for example, in its Airport Hub portfolio − and is sharing experience through a dedicated Innovation Focus Group.
New skills and approaches
Within air transport, server virtualization addresses a number of pressing issues, most notably significant cost savings and a sustainable means to cope with the explosion of data processing and storage required for today's and tomorrow's air travel. It will also deliver new ways of managing IT at outstations.
But adopting virtualization does not come without challenges, according to the paper. On the one hand, the industry's IT practitioners must learn new skills and best practices. On the other, the industry needs to ensure an approach that reduces unit costs and avoids unnecessary duplicate investment.
Knowledge and experience needs to be shared, says the paper, in order to gain the benefits of virtualization faster than if we worked alone. It also provides us with a solid baseline from which to innovate further.
Download the latest New Frontiers Paper - Server virtualization: Solving real air transport issues (289.42 KB)
Share or bookmark with:
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Delicious
Technorati
