SITA launches dedicated Air Transport Industry Cloud

SITA’s investment in shared cloud infrastructure is already well underway and the ATI Cloud applications and services will go live from June. These include infrastructure, platform, desktop and software-as-a-service offerings, which will enable true end-to-end business and IT solutions on demand for the unique needs of air transport.
 
SITA chief executive officer Francesco Violante said: “SITA has a successful 60-year track record of working solely for the air transport community, taking a long-term view and investing for the industry’s future. Our global communications backbone and industry knowledge provides the foundation for our investment in the ATI Cloud.”
 
The air transport industry integrates many different players such as airlines, airports, manufacturers and GDSs that share numerous business applications and must co-operate across the air transport eco-system. It operates on a complex set of national, regional and global regulations and standards, requiring a consistent approach across stakeholders and across IT services.
 
Violante added: “The best way to really serve the industry’s needs is to build an integrated cloud combining network and IT solely dedicated, and specifically tailored, to the air transport industry. SITA has a community ethos of providing solutions to the air transport industry and providing the ATI cloud is the logical next step for SITA.”
 
“The ATI Cloud is firstly about having a secure and reliable global network, and SITA already has that; the ATI Cloud is about managing shared IT infrastructure such as that at airports, in which SITA is a leader; and it is about optimising the operation and distribution of applications from data centres to end users. As the leading provider of air transport IT solutions, SITA has now committed to the delivery of the ATI Cloud.”
 
The ATI Cloud is based on six large regional virtual data centres across five continents; together with virtual data centres based at large airports. Services will be delivered through leading-edge self-service and automation portal technology, providing IT managers with on-demand provisioning, control, visibility and reporting. End-users will be no more than 100 milliseconds away from one of the data centres.
 
The ATI Cloud will ensure airlines, airports and other partners are able to take full and cost-effective advantage of the business solutions that cutting edge IT has to offer. Thanks to its global reach and ubiquity, the ATI Cloud will enable ATI end-users to get simple and reliable access to a large catalogue of applications and it will provide a unique platform for independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers to distribute their applications to ATI customers and their end-users.
 
Gregory Ouillon, SITA’s vice president heading the ATI Cloud programme, said: “Putting an air transport industry cloud in place is not just about the technology but about business relevance.”

“The ATI Cloud will be a game changer for the industry. For example, by deploying new applications on virtual servers and by providing access to desktops in the cloud to its ground operations staff and partners, an airline will be able to adapt its IT to route expansion, disruption or traffic spikes at lower cost. Such deployments would normally take months but with the ATI Cloud all operators at the various locations globally will have their applications instantly.”

You can hear more from Francesco Violante about the ATI Cloud in this Sunday’s Arabian Aerospace Podcast.