04 September 2018
The new centre looks after a collection of mission-critical communications networks that are used at the airport.
Simoco Wireless Solutions has opened a network operations centre (NOC) at Heathrow Airport, which includes a round-the-clock monitoring, troubleshooting and maintenance service for radio networks.
The NOC has been created to look after a collection of mission-critical communications networks which keep operations within Heathrow running smoothly.
It covers networks at 26 separate locations around the UK, including: 11 bus depots; the radio communications network on the new Elizabeth Line Crossrail link; two data centres and two separate telematics software platforms which are used for tracking vehicles involved in airport operations.
A mixture of Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) and analogue radio technologies are in place at Heathrow, with equipment provided by a range of different manufacturers. As a result, Simoco says the capabilities within the NOC are similarly broad. In total, it is supporting around 11,000 devices and 180 separate customers across the UK and Ireland.
The centre is also being utilised to complete network administration tasks including system statistics reports. Simoco says this frees-up engineering resource to concentrate on mission-critical operations.
The firm adds that whenever a network incident is identified, its specialist operatives categorise the issue over the phone. Simoco claims this “rapid” decision-making prevents smaller incidents from escalating into significant operational disruption. Should a critical incident occur, customers are updated throughout the lifespan of that incident, and provided with up to date progress reports until the issue is resolved.
“We’ve worked hard to build specialist aviation expertise at Simoco, maximising our capabilities at delivering truly mission-critical communications networks,” says Ian Carr, COO at Simoco Wireless Solutions. “Heathrow, like any airport, incorporates a huge range of different security areas and communications networks, all of which need to work seamlessly together to keep the airport operating smoothly. By running a NOC from Heathrow, we can offer a truly end-to-end managed service.”
