SOA Supports MAHB: by Mior Azhar

SOA supports MAHB
by Mior Azhar
IN a move to have better cost optimisation and process efficiency, Malaysia Airports is currently
relying on collaborative services supporting integration for real-time sharing of information
among service providers at KLIA.
AIRPORT OPERATIONS TYPICALLY extend across multiple service providers, comprising

processes, people and information segregated by location, role and function. As passenger
numbers, flight frequencies and carrier types continued to grow, older technology models were
no longer sustainable.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), the manager of the KL International Airport in
Sepang, is also experiencing this growing concern.
Mohd Aminuddin Yaakub, General Manager, IT Development, MAHB, says that in today's
digital era, IT has to have a new outlook.
`Now it's about intellectual information. It's a question of deriving more to serve the customers,
getting more to provide the seamless end to end service and getting the correct and right
information to deliver predictable actions.'
`The intellectual transformation is aimed at achieving a knowledge economy. The transformation

involves addressing culture, processes and relying on reliable and auditable data. The best results
of transformation, including intellectual transformation is by working together,' he points out.
According to Aminuddin, data and information at the airports are typically owned by many
parties from multiple resources.
`But the new economy is driving new IT outlook. IT is no longer addressing only the hardware
and the software issues but how to transform the digital footprint to useful analyses. Business as
usual is no longer the core activity, but driving the knowledge transformation is the new IT,' he
explains.
CHALLENGES
Today, according to Aminuddin, MAHB IT primary role is to develope and deliver services that
are correlated with its business needs.
Àirports are hubs, stations for transportation, the beginning or the end of an experience for
passengers. In building intelligent airports, flow of information is important to manage
situations.'
Ìn KLIA, we have done data sharing to the extent of information sharing. But we need to
manage the information towards operational centric processes because sometimes operationally
things many differ from the plan,' he reveals.
`The current and future in the airport industry is to excel in the business of running airports in the
aspects of airports as a business. Situational centric addresses the situation in situ, whereas
operational centric addresses the value chain of service management,' he adds.
Therefore, MAHB needs a solution that would allow its existing applications to work together
without having to replace its existing technology investment.
`We also need to ensure that as applications come to the end of their life they could be replaced
incrementally without compromising the integrity of the airport operations. In short, we require a
flexible mechanism for integrating the operations technology at KLIA that would support
ongoing change and growth.'
SOA-BASED SOLUTION
In the past few years, MAHB had worked with IBM to implement a collaborative solution
through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to achieve its objective of delivering excellence in
airport operations, and ultimately improved service to airlines, tenants and passengers.
IBM's SOA-based solution delivers a universal mechanism to interconnect all the applications
required across the airport - without compromising security, reliability, or scalability.
IBM Global Business Services also implemented IBM's Airport Integration Solution, that
provides the common interface between processes, people and information, helping to convert
complex airport operational functions into services that can be easily accessed without the need
for significant changes in the underlying infrastructure.
The solution brings together applications from leading specialist providers in airport operations
and management information systems, into a cohesive and complete solution optimised for
airport operations.
According to Aminuddin, one core element of the SOA is the Enterprise Service Bus that
provides the àny to any' connectivity between services within MAHB, and beyond its business
to connect to other players at the airport like Malaysia Airlines and other airlines.
`Depending on what your goals are, we are able to use an ESB to connect other services within
the SOA such as information services, interaction services and business process management
services,' he adds.
Utilising IBM's SOA framework and integration solution enables MAHB to leverage existing
investments and to create a common communications network and operational database. IBM
WebSphere, software for SOA environments that enables dynamic, interconnected business
processes, and delivers application infrastructures for all business situations, provides the
platform that unifies disparate applications across the entire organisation.
Àll in all, the implementation has enabled us to harness technology to automate and standardise
systems throughout our business. The results included reduced operational processing time and
effort, and at the same time created efficiency. The solution has, amongst other benefits, helped
us to deliver services that fulfilled one of the company's business objectives, to provide service
excellence,' he says.
Today, the MAHB IT solution creates, maintains, and stores resource, planning, and operations
data in a secure repository, readily available for reporting, auditing, and analysis purposes.
It integrates and coordinates resource, planning, and operations information with best of breed
front-end systems such as Flight Information Display Systems (FIDS), check-in counter displays
and Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), and back-office systems such as ERP and
finance systems.
`The current system also enable us to communicate accurate and timely resource, planning, and
operations information to essential departments: planning, operations, passenger-service,
security, ramp workers and service partners,' says Aminuddin.
BENEFITS OF SOA-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR MAHB
Improvement in KL International Airport's operations
* Minimal disruptions
Shorter time-to-value
* New innovations are introduced much more quickly
* Able to better meet growing business requirements and stakeholder expectations
Greater flexibility in working with solution partners
* Integration of partner solutions is simpler and faster
* Standardisation on WebSphere MQ as the enterprise standard for connectivity
Common and shared platform
* MAHB and Malaysia Airport Technologies can now leverage on the same platform to integrate
all airport operations
Improved risk management with IBM open standard integration technology

* Risk of being locked down by costly proprietary interfaces
Substantial operational cost savings
* Centralised management, monitoring, configuration and maintenance.

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SOA supports MAHB

AIRPORT OPERATIONS TYPICALLY extend across multiple service providers, comprising

`The intellectual transformation is aimed at achieving a knowledge economy. The transformation

BENEFITS OF SOA-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR MAHB

Improvement in KL International Airport's operations

* New innovations are introduced much more quickly

* Able to better meet growing business requirements and stakeholder expectations

Greater flexibility in working with solution partners

* Integration of partner solutions is simpler and faster

* Standardisation on WebSphere MQ as the enterprise standard for connectivity

Common and shared platform

Improved risk management with IBM open standard integration technology

Substantial operational cost savings

* Centralised management, monitoring, configuration and maintenance.

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