Wavelink Case Studies

Wavelink Manages Wi-Fi for Norway´s Leading International Airports

Extensive Wireless Network Serving Travelers, Airlines and Airport Operations Requires Central Management Control

When technology leaders for Norway´s principal airport operator, Avinor, set out to provide a wireless LAN infrastructure for the nation´s airports, they knew they needed a way to manage the entire Wi-Fi® hotspot coverage area across multiple remote locations from one central console.

Today, they rely on Wavelink technology to manage Wi-Fi coverage from the tarmac at each airline gate to the lobby in the airport hotel at the top four international airports in the country.

"Centralized management was a key element of our strategy from the outset," says Jon Thorshaug, Head of the IT Project and Business Development Group for OSL in Oslo. "There´s quite a distance between these airports. We want to deliver exactly the same services at all airports. So we want to have central control of the configurations of all access points and all parts of the network so we are sure that the services are the same at every location. Wavelink Mobile Manger allows us to control that from one console in Oslo."

Four Airports - One Network Operations Center

Norway´s four largest cities are Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger. The domestic routes between them, and the international routes to surrounding cities are among the busiest in Europe.

In just two years, Avinor has rolled out Wi-Fi infrastructure for the traveling public, the airline carriers, and the local business operators across all four Norwegian airports with plans to extend the network to additional airports across the rest of the nation in the near future.

"Oslo airport has maintenance responsibility for networks at the three other airports and the technicians responsible for administering and maintaining the networks are located at Oslo airport. Without central management it would be virtually impossible," says Marcus Barman, Networking Consultant for Data Equipment, Wavelink´s Norwegian partner that designed, engineered and implemented the wireless network for OSL and Avinor. "We tried Mobile Manager and saw very quickly that it would easily handle the desired remote operations that we needed."

Thorshaug explains the circumstances: "We currently man the network operations center in Oslo (OSL) with four network administrators. Their responsibilities extend a lot further than just the Wireless LAN. The wireless LAN is about 15% of the total network operation."

"Because the three other airports are so far away," explains Barman, "The ability to remotely discover, upgrade, reconfigure, and monitor all the access points at all four airports from one central management console in Oslo saves a lot of time and transportation cost."

While a Scandinavian subcontractor, Bravida, installed the physical network infrastructure consisting of approximately 120 Proxim ORiNOCO 2000 Access Points, the Avinor network administrators used Wavelink Mobile Manager to bring up the network remotely from their operations center in Oslo.

WLAN Traffic Control

Thorshaug estimates approximately 14 million travelers pass through Oslo airport per year, and 9-10 million passengers per year pass through the airports in Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger.

"Traffic volume on the wireless network has grown as we expected. We have about 3500 users per month on the public side in Oslo," says Thorshaug. "We anticipate that the individual airlines will start using the network more next year as they expand wireless pilot projects into full operations."

International airline operators including SAS, Lufhansa, KLM and several Norwegian carriers are a relatively small network traffic segment today because they are currently just beginning to test the network in the areas of baggage handling and aircraft maintenance. But Wi-Fi hotspots on the tarmac at each gate promise real cost and time savings for the airlines in the future.

"Before, the airplane maintenance crew had to go back into the airport to find a hardwired PC to enter their reports and release a plane," says Thorshaug. "Wireless will greatly reduce the delays when they have to change planes for maintenance reasons."

VLAN Security

Avinor plans to separate public and private traffic on the wireless network with separate VLANs (virtual wireless local area networks). "I expect that each airline will have a couple of VLANs, and the companies that run businesses at the airport will have some VLANs," says Thorshaug. "Over time I suspect we could reach five to ten virtual wireless LANs."

"Mobile Manager will play a big part in managing the security of those different virtual wireless LANs when they´re implemented," says Barman. "Without Mobile Manager, the job of reconfiguring all the access points would have been overwhelming considering the man-hours required."

Currently a single, central instance of Wavelink Mobile Manager at Oslo manages the entire wireless infrastructure with one Mobile Manager agent for the three smaller airports combined. Within the Mobile Manager system , "we have set up one profile per airport," says Barman. "That may change when we implement additional virtual LANs for the airlines."

Currently, all four airports use a single RADIUS server in Oslo to authenticate users and provide access to the networks (Nomadix Universal Subscriber Gateway). Oslo Lufthavn Tele & Data, a subsidiary of OSL and Telenor, sells the wireless infrastructure services to the airlines, the airport businesses, and Service Providers.

"For the public market we operate as the network owner and we sell capacity to Internet Service Providers who provide wireless LAN service in the public market," Thorshaug explains. "Telenor, NetPower IP and Swisscom Eurospot are the leading operators who buy capacity on our wireless LAN for the public market. They make roaming agreements with us."

In addition, 3C Communications provides a credit card solution so travelers who do not have a subscription with one of the major providers can use the 3C portal page to buy Internet access via the wireless LAN in one, two, and four hour increments.

Managing The Future

In addition to building out VLANs for the airlines and on-site business operators, OSL will rely on Mobile Manager to simplify an upgrade to the 802.11g standard, and extend wireless services to three or four more Norwegian airports in the next year.

"Wavelink Mobile Manager allows us to centralize management of all the access points that we have to control," says Thorshaug. "Central management is important because our network administration competence is centralized. We don´t need to have network personnel stationed at each airport location. We are able to monitor all technical aspects of the wireless LAN and keep it up-to-date from one location with rapid response. Our technicians and engineers are quite happy with it."

And Thorshaug himself is pleased with wireless network performance as well. "I use it almost every day in my office, in meetings here in the terminal at Oslo, and when I travel to the other airports. We have tested it successfully on board airplanes and in the parking lots. People sit everywhere and work with it - in lounges, restaurants, everywhere. We have built one open wireless network available for everybody."