Matthew Babich
Building an Infrastructure that Cannot Afford to Fail
On-the-job experience has been the biggest contributor to shaping my approach in this regard. I think most people don’t fully grasp the multitude of systems that come together to operate world-class international airports daily. As Information Technology engulfs virtually all aspects of airport operational needs, it is extremely important to be in communication and involved with all the stakeholders and teams. The round-the-clock nature of aviation makes this a truly unique and rewarding IT experience in and of itself.
That experience directly informs how we approach the reliability, security and scalablity of our infrastructure. We achieve this by constantly evaluating our infrastructure and the global online landscape. We’ve expanded our team of information security experts who focus on evaluating our network, software, and systems, and they work with our teams and our federal partners to harden and minimize our attack surface.
“The round-theclock nature of aviation makes this a truly unique and rewarding it experience in and of itself.”
Working with our infrastructure, design, and construction teams, we strive for redundant power and data, with diverse paths, to eliminate downtime and provide scalability. As we work through our equipment refresh lifecycle, we take every opportunity to create redundant systems so system patching, updates, and security enhancements can be performed actively without incurring downtime.
When Modernization Cannot Come with Downtime
Uninterrupted operations are simply the biggest challenge of modernization. We just do not have the luxury of a “time-out” button in aviation. Many of the legacy systems were designed around the technology available at the time of implementation. Of course, it was impossible to know or understand how rapidly technology would change. We can now see clearly that our world is quickly becoming an all-digital one in a way that wasn’t possible in the late 20th century, when most of our facilities were constructed. Knowing this helps us place greater emphasis on planning and forecasting for the future.
Data and system interoperability provide insight into potential trends and cycles based on the various travel seasons, weather, and overall day-to-day operations. As this data is accumulated, analyzed, and interpreted, we can begin to identify those trends and anticipate operational needs more efficiently. This same data can be used in a Digital Twin scenario to simulate events, offline, that could disrupt operations and provide information that would help guide us if that event did occur. These concepts, with the assistance of AI, can provide our industry with insights never before seen in the aviation environment.
All of these points to a broader evolution in what information systems leadership must become. In my opinion, information systems leadership is paramount as our world continues to utilize cloud-based and data-driven technologies. Information systems should be at the forefront of every evolving change to provide guidance and leadership to any organization. Information systems leadership should work side by side with business stakeholders, guiding decisions to promote efficiency, value, and return on investment. Our world has changed drastically over the past few years in terms of information systems. Having skilled and adaptable information system leadership is indispensable.
