AT&T seals E4.8m airline WAN deal

AT&T has won a E4.8m contract to provide Finnish airline Finnair with a global wide area network (WAN).

The three-year contract will cover seven UK sites along with a further 62 sites in Europe, four in North America and 15 in Asia Pacific. The new network will be used by Finnair’s IT services division Aerosystems Oy, which is a joint venture with IBM.

Airport sales counters and cargo offices around the world will be connected by the network to the airline’s headquarters in Finland. Staff will be able to access real-time ticketing information, cargo data, sales figures and email. Remote and traveling workers will also be able to log onto the network using remote access services.

The WAN uses an Internet Protocol virtual private network (IP VPN) with managed data network services running over a common platform.

Kari Hänninen, director of ICT architectures for Finnair, said in a statement: “As a company we owe much of our success to the application of information technology. We wanted to work with a company that could give us that competitive edge in our key markets.”

AT&T said Finnair had built on a strong European base to establish a global presence by using technology to meet its business goals.